Elgin Area School District U-46 serves families in 11 communities, across 90 square miles, within Chicago’s northwest suburbs. More than 38,000 Early Childhood through 12th grade students are served by 57 schools and programs in this district. Additionally, the student population speaks 103 different home languages and more than half of the students are from Hispanic families.
About Elgin:
Student population: 38,000+
Schools: 57
Location: IL
Solutions used:
EmbraceIEP®
Embrace504®
EmbraceDS® (Medicaid Billing)
With a large student population, the ability to ensure IEP compliance and maintain student files was imperative to Elgin Area School District.
They chose Embrace® software to house all of their program needs (IEP, 504, and Medicaid services) across 57 schools and saw the following benefits:
- growth in goal-writing
- more accurate records and reporting
- easy organization of the student files
- ability to translate data for their heavy Spanish-speaking community at no additional cost
- documentation of consent with electronic signatures
- improved compliance
The Problem:
Elgin struggled with ensuring compliance as their previous IEP vendor did not provide the option to lock historical documents. Any IEP was able to be edited by anyone.
There were also no alerts or notifications of errors on the forms.
The program did not speak to Elgin's SIS (student information system).
Amanda Giacalone
Special Services Coordinator
“It was really diffi cult for us to ensure compliance and maintain the documents.”
The Goal:
Elgin recognized it was time for a change, but was hesitant about transitioning to a new software.
“We knew regardless we needed to change. Our biggest question was would we be able to download and, fairly easily, upload our files to the new system."
As a large district, Elgin also feared that the learning curve would be too great.
They didn't want the teachers to spend more of their time trying to navigate a new system, instead of educating their students.
Amanda Giacalone
Special Services Coordinator
"Our biggest question was would we be able to download and, fairly easily, upload our files to the new system. We could and we did, it went really well!”
The Solution:
Step-by-step implementation and attention from staff
Elgin felt the implementation was one of the biggest strengths of the entire process! “All of our trainers were amazing, and the staff at Embrace® is so knowledgeable. If you have a question, they always have an answer. [We] never had to wait for the team to get back to us with answers.”
Central location for all special education needs
By moving to Embrace® software, Elgin was able to house all of their program needs (IEP, 504, and Medicaid services) in one location and implement SIS integration on a nightly basis.
Seeing the big picture for each student in one location
“With our old system, [student data] was broken up or it was something you had to click on to open a new document. With Embrace®, if you open a student file, you see the running records of all the previous meetings. If I need to reference something, it’s really easy,” said Amanda.
Customization
“Additionally, the Embrace® software was user-friendly and customizable, so we could customize not only the forms, but even how the system worked,” said Amanda.
Having a great partnership with client districts is crucial to Embrace® to ensure the software fits district needs and can be as successful for clients as possible.
“We love how Embrace® continuously updates and improves the system. When input is given, it is always heard and considered, which is always appreciated,” Amanda noted. “We would absolutely recommend, not only the product, but the company.”
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