With 2,400 students under their care, teachers and administrators found it pretty much impossible to tell if a student they ran into in the hall had a good excuse to be there. And if another problem came up before I got there, I'd end up letting him go. It was just too time-consuming. That's where the handheld devices come in. Now, when administrators run across an errant student, they simply swipe the bar-coded student ID card through a scanner attached to the diminutive computer.
Administrators immediately can see the student's schedule and discipline record.
If the student is supposed to be in English class, the administrator can give him or her a discipline referral slip, enter that information into the Palm and later upload that information directly into the student information databases. And it not only saves time, but it really is preventive because it solves problems right at the point of activity. Once uploaded to the school database, administrators will know immediately if a student has skipped class. Snyder said teachers are also using the Palm as an electronic gradebook, inputting grades and performance evaluations as they go. I want them to be in the classroom with the kids.