4 Ways To Use A Student Tracking Sheet

As scholastic technology and techniques continue to move into the future, offering educators and administrators access to unprecedented tools with which to do their jobs, a few "old-school" methods remain the most effective way to accomplish certain tasks. One of those methods is the student tracking sheet: a simple, yet versatile, tool to assist with scholastic administration. 

Here are 4 ways the student tracking sheet can help:

1) Locational Awareness - This is perhaps the most straightforward use of a student tracking sheet. Simply put, the sheet provides an overview of where each student is, from the moment they step on the bus in the morning until the bus drops them back off in the afternoon. This allows a transportation supervisor to quickly locate a student in the event of a family or medical emergency. And if a student is missing (i.e. not where they are supposed to be at a given time) the sheet becomes a ready reference to retrace the student's location, potentially leading to a quick end to what can be a unsettling situation.

2) Teacher and Staff Accountability - One of the principles of modern day education is that teachers are accountable for the students under their charge at any given time. The same can be said for bus drivers, cafeteria staff, and other employees of the school who take responsibility for students as part of their job capacity. A properly utilized student tracking sheet allows administrators and senior faculty to quickly assess the movement of students through the process of their day, hopefully identifying areas where perhaps the efficiency of staff performance could be improved in one way or another. An example of this would be if the tracking sheet shows an unnecessary amount of downtime between a particular group of students' session in the computer lab and the resumption of their normal class. An examination of the downtime reveals it to be the result of a mandatory meeting the teacher must attend on the other side of campus that doesn't end until five minutes after the computer class. By adjusting the meeting time, the administrators would be able to eliminate the unnecessary downtime and improve the quality of the student experience.

3) Student Discipline - Students tend to be quite intelligent in their mischief, and are constantly looking for "cracks in the system", whether that involves opportunities to skip class or sneak into areas that are "off limits". A student tracking sheet provides an easy way to spot anomalies in students' routines which can point to undiscovered mischief making (which can be quite detrimental to the productivity of the educational experience of those students - along with any others they distract. In addition, the student tracking sheet makes it easier to preemptively spot holes in the student discipline protocols, thus helping to avoid some mischief problems from ever cropping up in the first place.

4) Bird's Eye View - A common thread among the previously listed uses of a student tracking sheet is the fact that is gives administrators a "bird's eye view" of the students' movement through the process of the school day. In addition to the areas previously mentioned, this wide-angle overview can generate insight into multiple aspects of scholastic administration. Efficiency of meal periods, physical location of elective classes, and placement of security personnel are just a few of the areas where a properly maintained student tracking sheet can be a vital tool in the improvement of the institution. One would be hard pressed to find an aspect of scholastic administration that wouldn't be assisted by the use of a student tracking sheet.

Student tracking sheets have been around ever since we moved beyond one-room schoolhouses, but their usefulness has not declined one iota. In fact, in this age of ever advancing technologies, this simple tool can actually be more valuable than ever, allowing administrators to maintain a quick and ready assessment of the flow of the school.