Bronzeville Academy Charter School in Chicago, IL, serves K-8 students with a commitment to educational excellence in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Their mission is to “Develop scholars into contributing members of a global community, through a nurturing, comprehensive, and meaningful education.” When Rebecca Parker came on as the new Director of Special Education, she set out to do precisely that.
About Bronzeville:
Serves K-8 students
Location: Chicago, IL
Prior to Embrace®, Bronzeville struggled with user-friendly access and compliance checks.
Rebecca Parker comes from the fourth-largest school district in the country. As a new leader of a smaller charter school, she brought her expertise and experience to update Bronzeville’s processes and carry out the school’s mission.
By signing on with EmbraceIEP®, Bronzeville saw the following benefits:
- improved compliance
- real-time collaboration thanks to the autosave and other features
- managing IEPs and 504 documentation in one place
- human customer support
The Problem:
“Providing staff with access to our former system was just archaic,” stated Parker.
“It seemed like the technology wasn't new enough that people felt comfortable. They would get into the system, and they couldn't figure out where to go. They could also damage some things, because you couldn't really give people read-only access. It was just very nerve-wracking.”
Rebecca Parker
Director of Special Education
"The fact that we can chat [with customer support] - oh my gosh - that is awesome."
The Goal:
Bronzeville's goal was to implement a modern web-based solution that would alleviate stress for both the admin staff and teachers and ensure maximum compliance for their school.
Rebecca Parker
Director of Special Education
"Now, everything is in one place - MTSS, IEP, 504, and Medicaid billing. Having all of that together is definitely one of my favorites."
The Solution:
Autosaving and ability for multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously
One of the biggest reliefs is that staff can now work on IEPs and 504 plans at the same time.
“That's a huge piece that wasn’t something that we could do [previously]. Sometimes, people would be working on the same thing, at the same time, and you couldn't tell...or, you were working on it and you think you saved it, [but] somebody else, apparently, had it open and it didn't save your work. That was really stressful for our team.”
One central location for IEP and 504 documentation management
Parker expressed how the EmbraceIEP® system is much easier to use. Before Embrace®, they were putting various documents in various different Google folders, which created duplicate work, and presented numerous challenges.
“Now, everything is in one place - MTSS, IEP, 504, and Medicaid billing. Having all of that together is definitely one of my favorites. It’s web-based and super easy to use.”
Enhanced compliance checks
“Our former system would allow our teachers to add things that were incorrect or miscalculating, which caused errors in a finalized IEP. That was really a struggle, whereas in Embrace®, there are certain things that only allow you to get to a certain point and it'll say ‘hey, check on this.’"
Embrace® constantly tracks changes to state guidelines and updates forms quickly to ensure districts maintain compliance.
Human customer support
Another feature that Parker raved about was the customer support chat functionality. “The fact that we can chat [with customer support] - oh my gosh - that is awesome.”
Hands-on training and implementation
“I had given Embrace® all my staff, but then with turnover in that first week, we had new staff those first days, so we had to pause and get people access, so the implementation specialist had to backpedal a little.”
Parker also appreciated that the implementation specialist adapted to meet their needs as things changed. “He never made a big deal out of any of the little things happening because of the new people or people saying ‘Oh, I just don't get it.’ He made it a very peaceful and calming experience.”
Embrace® has created an easy-to-use, thoughtful, and intuitive system where seamless collaboration can happen. It’s why Bronzeville loves the system and why Parker continues to recommend Embrace® to colleagues. “I’m very happy. I love it.”
“I’m very happy. I love it.”
Ready to improve special education processes at your district?
Join Bronzeville Academy Charter School and 1,100+ school districts across the country and book a live demonstration of our software by filling out the form below!