Dewitt-Lavaca Special Education Cooperative (DLSEC) located in Yoakum, Texas currently serves 9 school districts and provides a continuum of special education services to students from ages three to twenty-one.
About Dewitt-Lavaca:
Provides special education services to students from ages 3 to21
School districts: 9
Location: TX
Solutions used:
EmbraceSE®
Prior to Embrace®, Dewitt-Lavaca Special Education Cooperative struggled with user-friendly access and locking IEPs.
Switching to Embrace® brought the following benefits:
- quick user adoption across the districts thanks to step-by-step training by the Embrace® team
- clear implementation process that alleviated anxiety for administrators and teachers
- ability to archive and lock IEPs
- ability to translate forms and user input into multiple languages at no additional cost
- responsive customer support.
The Problem:
“Most new people who come on with us have worked with our previous IEP company," said Amber King, State and Federal Programs Director.
The previous IEP vendor wasn't user-friendly enough and did not offer IEP locking, archiving, as well as translation of user input.
This led to anxiety among administrators, staff, took too much time to resolve, and brought potential risks compliance wise.
Amber King
State and Federal Programs Director
“80% of the people who used the previous company would give unsolicited feedback about how Embrace® is so much more user-friendly.”
The Goal:
As Dewitt-Lavaca was switching from one of competitor IEP systems in Texas, King hoped that the new software would transform staff's experience and streamline IEP writing processes while improving compliance.
Amber King
State and Federal Programs Director
"It’s nice that I now have the peace of mind that the document will be there, it won’t be overwritten, and it won’t disappear.”
The Solution:
User-friendly software that staff loves
King shared her experience of what it was like to switch her district over to Embrace® from one of Texas’ top IEP competitors.
“Most new people who come on with us have worked with our previous IEP company. 80% of the people who used the previous company would give unsolicited feedback about how Embrace® is so much more user-friendly,” said Amber. “I don’t have to ask them, they just volunteer that information. These are people who have solely worked with the other main competitor of IEP systems in Texas. I feel like that is a giant plus when you have those diehard users praising Embrace®.”
Seemless implementation and training process
King felt that Embrace® had a good process for DeWitt-Lavaca Special Education Cooperative. “They had it in steps and they’d walk me through all the steps. It alleviates any anxiety and you don’t have to worry about how it’s all going to unfold. The process to help us walk through it all is probably the most beneficial.”
Archiving and locking of IEPs
King wasn’t able to archive and lock IEPs with her last company and she appreciates the peace of mind that comes with knowing that nothing will change unexpectedly.
“They [staff] have to have their ARD completed within a certain amount of days and they know that it’ll automatically lock. This falls in line with our internal procedures to have it completed and ready to send to parents and put in the district file in that amount of time. It’s nice that I now have the peace of mind that the document will be there, it won’t be overwritten, and it won’t disappear.”
Translation of user input and forms
The translation feature is also another favorite. She appreciates that she can translate current documents in addition to any new text added to those documents.
Client satisfaction is one of top priorities at Embrace®. It’s part of why DeWitt-Lavaca Special Education Cooperative chose Embrace® and continues to recommend Embrace® to other districts.
“I’m grateful that it’s user-friendly. That’s important. It seems minimal but when it's 100 users and you’re getting complaints, it’s not so minimal. Also the customer service, I gotta give them props, too.”
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