Parker IT is proud to collaborate with Carey Baptist College in WA on the first implementation of the “Golden Path.” Now, if you’re imagining a 70s Kung Fu movie with Shaolin monks and mystical journeys, you’re in for a surprise. The Golden Path is cool—it’s just not that kind of cool.
The Golden Path is the Schoolbox/Veracross term for the optimal integration the two systems in the context of a single school. Your school is different and in your context some decisions may be different. If you are more knowlegable and spot a mistake, please post a note so I can correct the article. Thanks to folks at both Schoolbox and Veracross for providing information on the topic, in particular to Duane Cox and Rob Sayad!
Both Schoolbox and Veracross bring robust, overlapping features to the table, which can make it challenging to determine the best platform for specific user groups.
This project is our first foray into navigating this path, and while we aim for clarity and usability, we know development is occurring and priorities may shift as we learn and adapt. In some cases like timetable and calendar it may make sense to display the information in both systems, while the source of truth may still be a work in progress.Let’s dive into what this means for Carey Baptist College and how we’re defining the Golden Path for their community.
Defining User Groups
At Carey, we’ve outlined several key user groups that will interact with Schoolbox and Veracross:
Students
Parents
Academic Staff
Non-Academic Staff
Each group has distinct needs and preferred workflows, which inform how these systems will be utilised.
Students' Golden Path
Students will primarily operate within Schoolbox for their daily tasks, as they’re already accessing classwork there. Requiring them to log into Veracross would add unnecessary complexity.
Their primary uses in Schoolbox include:
Timetables
School calendar
Assignments (view/submit)
Intranet
Co-curricular resources
Self-reflection
Wellbeing/pastoral care
Portfolio of work
School news
Parents' Golden Path
Parents will mostly use Schoolbox for their engagement but may occasionally need to log into Veracross for specific administrative tasks, such as payments or updating personal details.
Schoolbox:
Viewing assignments
Grades- Timetables
News
Calendar
Student portfolios
Intranet
Wellbeing/pastoral care
Veracross:
Updating contact information
Payments
Agreeing to policies and procedures
Academic reports
Academic Staff
Academic staff, including teaching staff and support roles like teacher aides, will spend the majority of their time in Schoolbox. As integrations with Veracross strengthen, the need to access Veracross directly will diminish. However, senior academic staff may require Veracross or a data analytics tool for broader reporting needs.
A typical day for academic staff starts and remains in Schoolbox: reviewing daily notices, covering requirements, and accessing timetables.
Schoolbox:
Class Attendance (recorded via integration with Veracross)
Lesson planning aligned with curriculum standards support
Assigning and grading homework
Inline marking with rubrics
Veracross:
Locating students
Leave requests
Formal parent correspondence
Academic reporting (possibly handled within Schoolbox)
Event management (may involve third-party solutions)
Reimbursement requests or policy acknowledgments
Non-Academic Staff
Non-academic staff, defined as those not directly interacting with students in a teaching capacity, will spend the bulk of their time in Veracross, though their day may begin in Schoolbox for daily notices and news.
Primary uses of Veracross include administrative tasks and other operational systems.
Schoolbox
Intranet
School News
Daily Org
School Calendar
Teachers Timetables
Veracross
Locating a Student
Bulk Communication (SMS/Email)
School Calendar
Teachers Timetables
Accepting Policies (if not done in an HR System)
Nurse
Finance
Admissions (Carey will use Digistorm Funnel)
Allumni
Addressing the Unknowns
Some key areas remain undefined in terms of which system will serve as the source of truth. Here’s how we’re approaching these challenges:
Calendar
Currently managed in Google Calendar, with manual entry for events. Veracross offers a robust calendar, but without integration into Schoolbox, manual subscriptions would be required, this would be impractical solution but an API integrations could automate subscriptions. Further investigation is needed.
School News
Currently managed by a third-party solution with robust features like click tracking, extensive photo uploads, and external access. While Veracross Composer integrates seamlessly with Schoolbox, it may lack the full functionality of the current software.
Academic Reports
Traditionally handled in the SIS, but Schoolbox has introduced new features for academic summative reporting. As teachers already enter grades in Schoolbox, it might streamline the process to generate reports there, making them accessible to students. If the markbook is setup correctly and if comments are brought over, either systems could be used. There may be a benefit to have the Academic reports be presented from Schoolbox. From the Teachers point of view, they probably don't care as long as they don't have to enter the same data twice.
Medical and Contact Updates
At Carey this is managed via Consent2go, which syncs updates into Synergetic. Medical updates may shift to Veracross, with a read-only sync back to Consent2go.
Co-Curricular Activities
Both systems offer functionality, but many schools prefer third-party solutions like Clipboard, which integrate well with Schoolbox.
Resource Booking
Currently handled through Google Calendar, but this process may be revisited as calendar systems evolve.
Long-Term Considerations
The decision-making process must also account for data retention and deletion policies for areas like wellbeing data, attendance, co-curricular activities, and academic reporting. Ideally, systems would share this information seamlessly, but I don't think we have ever seen that and it would take a small miracle here, even with two companies that are so willing to work together.
The Journey Ahead
As we take the first step down the Golden Path with Carey Baptist College, our goal is to balance efficiency, user experience, and practicality. This is a dynamic process, and we’re prepared to adapt as we learn more about the strengths and limitations of these systems in real-world application while working with the vendors to make thier products and integrations even better.
One last thought
If you happened to read all of the article and noticed the use case of Schoolbox seems higher than Veracross it is. Schoolbox typically does the heavy lifting with Parents and this seems to be the case here. That isn't to say that Veracross' role is, lets say a junior partner. Veracross' elegant approach to integration allows Schoolbox to shine, providing a better overall user experience for Academic staff. It should also be noted that roughly the same percentage of time would likely be spent by staff overall in both systems. Furthermore, if you take up the Veracross modules for Admissions and Allumni, you may have a higher overall use of Veracross then your current SIS.
"Like the mango and banana in a perfect smoothie, the LMS and SIS blend their strengths into a seamless whole, one nourishing the mind and the other sustaining the journey. Neither can stand alone, for balance is the essence of their flavor."
-Chatgpt (with a little help from me)
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