Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Alma Announces Student Information System Upgrades

  • By Matt Jones
  • 08/17/21

Alma Student Information System (SIS) recently unveiled updates to its SIS platform, providing new features making it easier for districts to onboard schools and use third-party apps. Both the parent and student versions of its portals are also now available in Spanish. The updates were released in time for the new school year.

“Alma’s upgrades make the onboarding and overall day-to-day SIS experience for schools and districts even better, and also support our mission of increasing educational equity, inclusion and family engagement,” said Andrew Herman, Alma’s founder and CEO, in a news release. “If schools and districts learned anything in 2020, it’s that technology demands on educators and parents are greater than ever. We are creating tools such as the App Center to make it easier for educators to use the apps they love while using their student information system. And we are improving access to student information for Spanish-speaking families, making Alma a comprehensive SIS solution for schools.”

Upgrades to Alma include:

  • Navigator, which helps school districts transition over to Alma. The in-app SIS implementation guide reduces migration and setup time by providing point-by-point onboarding instructions, project management tools, and progress updates. Schools can configure project plans to assign tasks (like setting up GPA scales or class schedules) to team members around the school, and users with permission can track the status of all assigned tasks.
  • The app center, which enables districts to integrate third-party apps into the SIS. Administrators can select their app of choice from Alma’s Vendor Library and select the appropriate files and data to share. They can also add apps to the Vendor Library and use the Integrations Dashboard to view the setup and metrics of its daily use.
  • Multilingual parent and student portals offer access and engagement to non-English-speaking families. Spanish versions of the portals are already available, with other language options coming soon. Students and families can access the system in English or Spanish for tasks like registering their children and viewing grades form a mobile device.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Arizona Approves New Residence Hall

    The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved plans for a new residence hall at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz., according to a news release. The new facility is scheduled to open in fall 2028 and have the capacity for more than 1,200 students, enforcing a new university expectation that all first-year students live on campus.

  • Chartwells Launches Campus Dining Evaluation Framework

    Contract food-service management provider Chartwells Higher Education recently announced the launch of BLUEPRINT, according to a news release. The evaluation framework was designed to provide a data-driven and customizable roadmap towards optimizing campus dining services and, by extension, the student experience.

  • Photo credit - Chuck Coates

    Florida District Modernizes Central Energy Plants at Two High Schools

    Flagler Schools, a public school district in Flagler County, Fla., recently partnered with Matern Professional Engineering to modernize the central energy plants at two of its high schools, according to a news release. The project is part of a larger, district-wide effort to reduce energy costs and operational expenses.

  • Wold Architects & Engineers Acquires VPS Architecture

    Full-service planning, architecture, and engineering firm Wold Architects & Engineers recently announced that it has acquired VPS Architecture, according to a news release. The move will help strengthen Wold’s education and public-sector design expertise, industries in which both companies have strong pre-existing ties and relationships.