Jenks School District & Putnam City Schools

ClassLink Solutions Speed Up Learning Time

In Oklahoma, two large school districts, serving over 30,000+ students combined, struggled with multiple challenges. Each process, from single sign-on to rostering, proved difficult without the proper solution to solve them.

Paul Goodenough of Jenks School District realized students and teachers lived in a world of bookmarks used to access their online resources. Without a single source of information or a way to store credentials for various platforms, resources were often underutilized. Attempts to access them took too much time. Analytics also proved to be troublesome. Administrators mistakenly deleted important resources because it was difficult to determine what software was or wasn’t being used in the classroom.

For Putnam City Schools, too much time spent rostering students took time away from teaching. Rostering became increasingly hectic due to the district’s size and student mobility. Director of Instructional Technology Charri Stratton noted that students slipped through the cracks during the rostering process and could not connect to the necessary online resources leaving them unprepared for their classes. Additionally, students of all ages struggled to remember credentials to access their learning platforms.

Quick Access Combined with Reliable Analytics and Rostering

Goodenough says ClassLink was the obvious solution for Jenks School District because it provided a “one-stop-shop” for all online resources. Teachers and young students didn’t need to rely on memory for a multitude of unique credentials. Password lockers, QR codes, and facial recognition assisted all students, no matter their age or stage of development.

Jenks implemented Analytics+ and immediately gained a more robust picture of usage. Schools could see detailed usage data for software, even if students accessed it outside of ClassLink. With accurate data, administrators could safely eliminate underused platforms to support budget decisions. At the same time, teachers kept relevant, highly-used programs

Stratton explained that, when it came to addressing Putnam’s rostering needs, ClassLink provided a level of privacy not seen in competitors and “kept more data in-house” as part of its smooth, speedy process. Once the district started rostering with ClassLink, new students that joined the school connected with the products they needed “within 24 to 48 hours of showing up on site.” The process saved administrators time and energy while helping new students begin learning earlier than they could in the past.

As a Mac district, Putnam had the added benefit of seamlessly using Apple products in conjunction with ClassLink. Integration was simple, and with ClassLink’s SSO, students could access their programs on their iPads and other Apple devices.

ClassLink Goes the Extra Mile

Goodenough says Jenks School District found it was easy to implement ClassLink “out of the box” providing students with quick access to applications that were already being used. They also noted that a significant benefit of ClassLink was the customer service and easy access to support in whatever capacity needed–from products to in-classroom assistance for teachers during instruction time. 

Stratton shared the same positive experience and noted that ClassLink’s “quick responses” helped guide them throughout their processes. “Whether it was a setup issue or a challenge with a product,” ClassLink allowed for quick integration and made back-to-school time much easier. 

Oklahoma schools agreed all around: “You can’t do education without ClassLink!”