“Effective charter schools have built operating systems that continually inform leadership of what is working and what is not.” This advice, presented by Leaders Building Leaders, emphasizes that strong charter schools rely on operating systems that help leaders understand what’s working and what isn’t. This holds true across both classroom-based and virtual models. For new schools or expanding programs, the Student Information System is a key part of building that kind of visibility and structure.
Being a new charter founder can feel a bit like building the plane while flying it. You often must make system decisions before roles, workflows, or instructional models are fully defined, and you cannot always predict how changes to your student body and instructional needs will shift. Because the SIS shapes how instruction, attendance, grading, reporting, and communication work on a day-to-day basis, choosing one without first mapping out your model and goals can lead to inheriting constraints you don’t yet see. The further you get into operations, the harder it can be to overcome those constraints without causing major disruptions to programs, students, and staff.
This guide outlines what new and growing charter operators should clarify before making lasting decisions about an SIS. The principles apply to both classroom and virtual learning models. Choosing with this outline in mind can help ensure you’re ready to functionally support the school you’re building today and grow with the one you plan to scale tomorrow.
Define Your Instructional Model
School leadership expert Kenneth Leithwood said, “Of all the factors that contribute to what students learn at school, present evidence led us to the conclusion that leadership is second in strength only to classroom instruction.” Understanding your instructional model is central to any other move you make as a burgeoning or growing charter school. The learning model you choose, classroom or virtual, shapes what school feels like for students every day. It also becomes the foundation for everything else, from administration to marketing to staffing decisions.
SIS platforms are built around specific assumptions of time, pacing, and structure. They come with tools for curriculum delivery, assessment, and attendance tracking, and you want these tools to be flexible enough to meet your current and future needs while providing robustness to deliver cohesion and meaningful data.
It’s worth making sure the SIS you choose can effectively support virtual learning, hybrid, and classroom-based models. Even if it’s not part of your plan today, charters often expand into new formats later. Student circumstances change, families expect new options, unexpected disruptions can happen, and authorizer needs can shift priorities. Building adaptability into your model is key to growth.
Here are the questions to ask yourself as you map out your instructional model:
- How will students spend their time learning each day? Consider whether most instruction will take place in face-to-face, in virtual learning environments with synchronous communication, in asynchronous virtual spaces, or a mix of these options.
- How is attendance defined and verified in our model? In a traditional classroom, attendance might mean “seat time.” In Independent Study, hybrid, or flex-based models, it could be work completion, teacher-student interaction, or logged instructional minutes. If your tracking method doesn’t match the approved definition, it can be ruled noncompliant. Getting this right early protects your funding, time, and compliance.
- Are students expected to move at the same pace or progress individually? Individualized education has been a marker of many successful charter schools and is a major draw for families seeking flexible learning environments. If you plan to offer individualized learning pathways, you’ll need a system that supports them.
- How might our instructional model change as we grow or add programs? What starts as a single approach may expand into multiple pathways, schedules, or learning formats to meet changing student needs. With multiple elements at play, schools often need stronger alignment across curriculum, grading, and data practices to stay coherent.
Understand Your Compliance Requirements
A successful charter school meets compliance requirements at various levels. Choosing an SIS built with these compliance metrics in mind makes tracking and reporting an integrated part of day-to-day operations rather than a tedious, time-consuming add-on. Compliance expectations differ by state, authorizer, and funding model, so having them built into your system provides peace of mind and frees up more time to focus on instruction and innovation at the heart of your educational model.
Ask yourself these questions as you consider compliance needs:
- What state reporting systems are required to submit data to? Understanding the reporting cycles and requirements can help you plan internal audits and identify what automation is needed to keep data reporting accurate and predictable.
- How is attendance audited for our instructional model? Depending on how you define and track attendance, audits often require documentation like timestamps, work samples, interaction logs, or signed learning plans. Frequency and unit of measurement may also matter.
- What student populations do we serve that require specialized tracking? When you offer individualized learning opportunities, hybrid programming, and virtual learning or serve populations like SPED, ELL, or foster youth, you will likely need additional levels of tracking and reporting.
- What data will our authorizer expect to see regularly? Take time to understand what’s required (reports, metrics, or updates) and how often it needs to be shared. You can build those processes into your routine and save a lot of last-minute scrambling. Just as important, knowing who to contact with questions or clarifications helps you avoid delays and confusion.
Map Your Operations
Student selection, enrollment growth, and student mobility create operational pressures in addition to the day-to-day staffing-model considerations. The most “future-ready” operational models have clear procedures for permissions, workflows, and data ownership so that changes to staffing and enrollment don’t disrupt operations.
Automation needs to be built into your system, as “we’ll handle that manually” rarely holds up as you grow. Manual operations require staffing consistency, create information silos, and can be easily interrupted by staffing turnover and growth.
As you map your operations onto your potential SIS, ask yourself these questions:
- How will we communicate with families? Communication tools should be well integrated into your SIS so families, whether prospective or enrolled, don’t slip through the cracks. Features like multilingual support and automated messages tied to key tracking points can be especially helpful.
- How will we handle the enrollment process? Enrollment involves many important steps, from attracting families and managing applications to selecting students and running a compliant lottery. Having those tools built into your SIS makes the experience smoother for families from day one.
- Where are the integration gaps in our systems? Ideally, your operational systems should work together without gaps. When systems don’t connect, staff often end up entering the same data twice, which increases the risk of mistakes. Identifying these gaps early and addressing them through SIS integration can help keep workflows smoother and more reliable.
Define Your Student Data Needs
Student data is the pulse of your school’s operations. Knowing what’s happening with your students quantitatively and qualitatively allows you to make data-informed decisions about programming and staffing and innovate for the future with guided clarity.
Ask yourself these key questions about student data:
- What data do school leaders need to make weekly decisions? Don’t rely on annual reporting requirements to push you toward data collection. Compliance data and instructional data serve different purposes. Build rhythms that regularly collect data and enable leaders to make weekly decisions.
- What information do teachers need to support students effectively? Teachers, especially those working in hybrid and virtual learning environments, rely on real-time data on participation, attendance, and progress to effectively use outreach and support tools. Daily data capture is key, along with easy access to the specific student information staff need to take action.
- Who needs access to what data and how often? Disconnected systems limit insights and slow down important decisions. Balance privacy concerns with access needs by creating thorough, well-considered permissions that are integrated into your system based on well-defined roles.
Align Your Tech Stack
Today’s schools often rely on a heavy slate of tech tools, but if they aren’t well aligned, they can quickly become more of a burden than a help. Make sure you’re getting the most out of your technology investments by ensuring that your Learning Management System (LMS), assessment platforms, communication tools, and special education/intervention tools all work in conjunction.
Ask yourself the following questions about your tech stack:
- What tools are non-negotiable for enrollment, instruction, or operations? Consider the platforms your staff and students rely on every day, and assess which tools support your enrollment, instruction, and day-to-day operations.
- Which systems must share data automatically? Based on what you know about your data needs, map how information should move across your tools. Look at where information is being entered, updated, or referenced more than once. Those are strong signals that systems should be connected.
- Are we prioritizing flexibility or standardization? Most charters need a balance of both. Schools can offer personalized pacing or more adaptable schedules while leaning into operational routines or a consistent curriculum. However, understanding your current model helps you make decisions that align with your budget, needs, and staffing.
- How will our tech stack change as we scale? You don’t need every tool upfront, but understanding what growth might look like allows you to choose a foundational data system that will integrate well with new technologies as you grow.
Consider a Realistic Implementation Timeline
SIS implementation often overlaps with authorizations, hiring, and curriculum decisions, so there’s not one single order of operations. Months or even years of planning culminate in the weeks leading up to your launch. This is a good time to be honest about your timeline and what core functionality really needs to be in place from the start.
- What decisions must be made before configuration can begin? Core decisions involve all the factors outlined above this section. Additionally, SIS configuration relies on aligning with specific expectations from your authorizer as well. Make sure you have clarity on both before moving forward.
- When do we realistically need the SIS to be fully operational? The timeline depends more on how quickly your school can make key decisions, provide accurate data, and dedicate staff time during an already busy launch period. Most charters need their SIS fully operational before the school year begins, which often means going live over the summer when enrollment, scheduling, and reporting are ramping up.
- Who on our team will own implementation and training? This person is often an operations lead, registrar, or data/compliance coordinator who can connect the system to school workflows. In smaller schools, this is usually one person wearing multiple hats, so the focus should be on core setup and vendor support.
- How much time can staff dedicate during launch season? Many schools only have a few focused hours each week from key team members, which makes planning, prioritizing, and phased implementation especially important. Make sure to account for staff onboarding and training in advance. Rushed implementation can lead to poor adoption and data issues that will be hard to overcome later.
What to Look for in an SIS
Your SIS is going to become a central touchpoint for your entire school. Make sure you choose one that can handle your current needs and your future plans. Use this checklist as you consider SIS options:
- Can the SIS handle your attendance, scheduling, and grading model without workarounds?
- Will the SIS support both virtual and in-person programs (even if you don’t need both now)?
- Is the system intuitive for families, teachers, office staff, and administrators to use?
- Does the SIS integrate with existing technology, including LMS, assessment, and communication tools?
- What does implementation and ongoing support look like (especially for new schools)?
- What measures are in place to protect sensitive student and staff data?
As you make these considerations, it’s important to rely on your own needs and not market popularity. The right SIS is the one that works for your instructional and operational models. Look for a configuration that allows you to adapt without costly custom development so you have the freedom to flex as your school grows and changes. However, you should also look for a system that’s ready to go with minimal frustration for your current operations. Scalability matters, but so does support at launch. Insist on an SIS that allows both.
Support Long-Term Success in Both Classroom and Virtual Learning
SIS selection is more than a software purchase. It’s a systems decision. Start with the questions in this guide rather than picking the longest feature list. Define how your school will run so that you have the leverage and flexibility for long-term success. When you know what you need, the right tech stack becomes clear. If you want to learn how the School Pathways’ SIS measures up against your school’s list of must-have features, set up a time to chat today.
