Introduction
In this case study, we look at how to effectively roll out the Athena Tracker in a school environment by taking a close look at Sacred Heart Secondary School in Drogheda and talking to Academic Monitor, James Campbell.
Key Takeaways:
- The importance of having an overall vision and key objective.
- How rollout is enhanced by appointing a dedicated academic monitor.
- James’s advice on how to effectively roll out the Athena Tracker.
Background - Sacred Heart Secondary School
Sacred Heart Secondary School is an all-girls voluntary secondary school in Drogheda, Co. Louth with approximately 706 students and over 50 members of staff. The school has a reputation for academic excellence, striving to ensure that each individual student has the opportunity to reach their potential in a caring, warm and supportive environment.
The school integrated with the Athena Tracker in March 2021, having used Athena Analytics to help with predicted grades during lockdown. James Campbell is a geography and history teacher who was appointed Academic Monitor at Sacred Heart Secondary School in December 2020. While school principal, Ms Leoni Carroll, was the driving force behind choosing the Athena Tracker and integrating it into the school, James Campbell played an integral role in helping the school get the very most out of it.
Pre Rollout: Life Before the Athena Tracker
Before rolling out the Athena Tracker, Sacred Heart Secondary school had a system in place for tracking student performance and spotting students that were not reaching their full potential. However, as James describes, the system was quite onerous.
“Each subject department would take their students’ results — Leaving Cert, Junior Cycle and Christmas results, and input the data into a spreadsheet which compared results with the national average. The student’s CAT4 scores were used to help interpret the results and determine a student’s overall performance. Altogether, the spreadsheet listed a student’s name, results, and CAT4 results, alongside the national averages.
The purpose of collating the data was to highlight students who were not reaching their full potential. However it was a manual process and very time-consuming. For teachers, time is incredibly precious, especially during the busy school year. So, we needed to find an alternative approach.”
Athena Tracker Integration: Setting a Main Objective
When it comes to rolling out academic tracking software, we always recommend that schools have a vision for what they want to achieve. For James and Sacred Heart Secondary School, the main objective was to identify students in what we often call ‘the forgotten middle’.
“Our main goal was to identify students that were being missed in the middle. These are students that have displayed high abilities in the CAT4 results but are coasting along during the school year and not pushing themselves. They weren’t getting into trouble or drawing attention to themselves or failing exams, but they were not necessarily reaching their potential either.
It is easy to see students that are failing or achieving high results. But there is a subsection of students who wouldn’t pop up on your radar during the busy school year. Our goal with the Athena Tracker was to identify these students at the earliest possible stage.
With the Athena Tracker, it is easy to identify these students. We have a system in place that highlights students that are falling below their potential in 60% of their subjects. There are probably about 6 or 7 students on this list that we might have otherwise missed. With this list, we link in with the year heads, the guidance department and the SEN department to see if there are any issues. We then put suitable supports in place.”
Advice for Schools Rolling Out The Athena Tracker
For many schools, one of the key challenges when it comes to integrating with academic tracking software, is rolling it out effectively throughout the school. Sacred Heart Secondary School has been exemplary in this regard.
During our conversation with James, he offered excellent advice for schools that are rolling out the Athena Tracker.
- Take a Step-by-Step Approach: James and the team at Sacred Heart Secondary School rolled out the Athena Tracker in a slow and steady process. The school initially rolled out the software to staff before informing parents and getting students involved. This phased approach was vital to achieving long-term success.
- Get Early Buy-in From Staff: James built awareness initially by introducing the Athena Tracker at staff meetings. He also presented the software to the Board of Management and Parent’s Council. James spoke of the importance of involving staff straight away, getting them used to the software and understanding the benefits of the system. He also made sure to have informal conversations with staff about the tracker outside of staff meetings, taking in any feedback and addressing any staff concerns.
- Demonstrate Key Uses: To help staff understand the system and its uses, James demonstrated how he used the data from Athena Tracker during conversations with parents and at PT/subject planning meetings. This created a greater understanding of how to use the system effectively and, most importantly, built trust between the Academic Monitor and staff.
- Gaining GDPR Consent at the Admissions Stage: To comply with GDPR regulations, James reached out to all parents, seeking consent to transfer data from the school management system to the Athena Tracker. This was a time-consuming process, taking approximately 6 weeks to gain consent from the parents of over 706 students. For this reason, James introduced a policy where the school sought consent from first year students as part of their admissions policy. This has streamlined the entire process and saved a significant amount of time.
- Use Surveys to Track Progress: As the Athena Tracker was being rolled out, James carried out regular surveys to track how many teachers were using the software and how they were using it. These surveys were used to monitor progress over time and gain a clear sense of usage throughout the school.
- Appoint a Dedicated Academic Monitor: James underscored the importance of keeping data up-to-date at all times. For this, he recommended the appointment of a dedicated Academic Monitor. This person takes ownership of the software rollout and acts as a point of contact if staff have any questions or feedback.
To learn more about the Athena Tracker, click here.
