Wouldn't it'd be great, maybe even amazing to put your hands on the right school document, right when you need it?!
Organizing your child's school records may have been on your To-Do-List for a looong time. I get it. Dealing with paperwork can be more dreaded than cleaning your house.
In our Thursday live training we talked about 5 Tips to Electronically Organize Your Child's Records.
Click and Catch the replay of the 5 Tips in 10 minutes and stay tuned for the Q & A time where we chatted about:
*State Complaints
*Office of Civil Rights Complaints
*Mask or No Mask policies and the impact on students receiving an equitable education
*How long to keep educational records
*Virtual schooling, in-person learning, homeschooling options
Let's get to the 5 Tips to Electronically Organize Your Child's Records.
It’s always a good idea when you save documents on your computer and also have them backed up in the Cloud.
You may have your computer set up to automatically save your folders & files automatically saved to the Cloud. Super!
Some people prefer to use Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, etc. as a cloud-based storage solution.
The nice thing is by using cloud-based storage you can save files online and access them anywhere from any smartphone, tablet, or computer.
You can also share the files and folders, which makes it easy for families and educators collaborate on a project.
You want to have electronic copies of samples of your child's schoolwork, Evaluations, IEPs Progress Reports, report cards, awards, etc.
Once you have electronic copies it will make it easier to get everything saved in the Cloud and/or on your computer.
I highly recommend requesting electronic copies as soon as possible.
(I have some BONUSES for you about requesting copies)
You can also request copies of other documents that are related to your child, such as doctors notes or therapy records.
It will save you the headache of trying to find these papers in a box when they're needed for school.
You want to make sure you have complete copies of your child's records for at least the past 2 years in your electronic folder for your child.
You can get free phone apps to scan documents, or use your phone camera, or if you have a printer/scanner at home, or use your public library to scan paper documents into electronic ones.
The time it takes to do this is so worth it! You'll know for sure that your child's school records are safe and accessible from anywhere at any time.
This might sound complicated, but it's actually not that hard to save your documents with the date they were created and also the name of the document. You will be sooo organized and that's a huge relief!
This one folder will be where you continue to add more of your child's educational records. Here's an example of documents that are in chronological order.
This might sound complicated, but it's actually not that hard to save your documents with the date they were created and also the name of the document. You will be sooo organized and that's a huge relief!
This one folder will be where you continue to add more of your child's educational records, each school year.
Make a folder with your child's name: This is an easy way to keep all of your electronic correspondence in one place. We like that, right? :)
When you get emails from staff at your child's school or any of your child's private providers that have attachments, get in the habit of saving the email in the email folder with your child’s name on it.
Save any attachments into your child's main folder on your computer.
TIP: Also, move all your Sent email to the school into the email folder with your child's name. You want both the emails you get from the school & the emails you send to the school in the same folder.
Please remember that the federal law, IDEA only requires districts to allow you to "view" your child's records. However, I've found most districts are happy to provide you with electronic copies of documents.
One of the perks about opening this email is you get three BONUSES today!
1. Did you know email between staff about you or your child is an educational record you can request? Click here to find a list of items that are considered educational records.
2. Are things going well and you just need to ask for a couple of your child's records? Click here and use this email template.
3. Do you need a "Get-The-School's-Attention" more formal request for educational records? I've got you covered, Click
here for a fillable pdf you can use.
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