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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Orah

    Score9 out of 10
    N/ABoardingware, headquartered in Auckland, offers their student management system for boarding schools, built around managing the needs particular to boarding schools, such as student care and student tracking.N/A

    Skyward Student Management System

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/ASkyward, headquartered in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, offers the Skyward Student Management System, a k-12 student information system which provides classroom tools (e.g. gradebook, attendance tracking, etc), Family Engagement tools with portal, as well as admin and student services task management.N/A
    Pricing
    OrahSkyward Student Management System
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    OrahSkyward Student Management System
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    OrahSkyward Student Management System
    Considered Both Products
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    No answer on this topic
    Skyward
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    OrahSkyward Student Management System
    Student and Faculty Administration
    Comparison of Student and Faculty Administration features of Orah and Skyward Student Management System
    Feature
    Orah
    -
    Ratings
    Skyward Student Management System
    6.9
    4 Ratings
    18% below category average
    Integrations with 3rd-Party Education Technology00 Ratings5.92 Ratings
    District Communications, such as messaging and alerting00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
    Roster Management00 Ratings8.34 Ratings
    Platform Customization00 Ratings3.12 Ratings
    Teacher Self-Service00 Ratings6.33 Ratings
    Student Data Security00 Ratings8.74 Ratings
    Community Support00 Ratings3.01 Ratings
    Class Scheduling00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    State and National-level Reporting00 Ratings8.52 Ratings
    Teacher and Parent Mobile Application00 Ratings9.52 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    OrahSkyward Student Management System
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    OrahSkyward Student Management System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (5 ratings)
    7.7
    (16 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    OrahSkyward Student Management System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    This is hands down the best application on the market in terms of making sure parents and staff understand where students are at any given time during the day. It also has done a great job of expanding into buy-in areas for students such as having event sign-ups inside the application. Having parent accounts also does a great job of keeping lines of communication open between the parents, school, and students.
    Incentivized
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    Skyward
    There is nothing specific that I would say sets it apart from any other LMS, but once you are used to the user interface and various features, it does everything that is needed and integrates well enough with other software to function. Probably isn't necessary in a smaller setting, but for multiple building districts, it is certainly robust enough to handle data collection and storage.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    • Keeping all information organized in one place.
    • Having my entire student database at the touch of a screen.
    Incentivized
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    Skyward
    • Flexibility. This multitude of fields available makes it easy to capture data the way we want or need to.
    • Quick response to trouble tickets. The company strives to reach out to the customer within an hour and start the process of resolution.
    • User focused. Improvements to the system always look at how the end user experience can be enhanced.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    • I would like to see all parents having to capture weekend arrangements, whether they are going out or staying in.
    • An automatic reminder SMS sent to parents who have not made arrangements by a certain time.
    Incentivized
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    Skyward
    • Confusion when it comes to student grades- sometimes there are two different letter grades for a student for what is posted as "TR1" and "PR1." How does a teacher know which of these grades will be posted to a student's report card? How does a teacher know what the student's actual grade is for a particular course?
    • Switching between the Educator Access Plus and Student Management tabs can be complicated, especially for those new to the system. Why can't everything be in one place?
    • I recognize that Skyward logs out after a certain period of inactivity to preserve privacy of users, but is there a way to change those settings so that Skyward does not log out as frequently? It is difficult to keep having to log back in completely again.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    No answers on this topic
    Skyward
    It is the system I am most comfortable with, so having to learn a new system outweighs any problems I have with Skyward.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    No answers on this topic
    Skyward
    It takes some time to get used to navigating the features and layers, but once you know your way around it, it's pretty good.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    I gave this rating because Boardingware support is unbelievable. They are quick to reply and have a chat feature that they not only are there for most of the day but you can leave a note if they are not available and they get back to you very quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed any conversations I had with support from Boardingware.
    Incentivized
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    Skyward
    Overall great job, issues were taken care of. People in support do care.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    No answers on this topic
    Skyward
    Yes, I was part of the implementation team.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    Senior Systems did not work as well and the functionality from the administrative side is not as user-friendly. I often felt like it was down and not working properly, or that I could not find where certain documents are. I believe that for a boarding school community Boardingware was much more user-friendly, and did not take as many steps in order to get the job done quickly.
    Incentivized
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    Skyward
    I, personally, have not used other Student Management Systems, but having used Skyward, I do not necessarily feel any overwhelming desire to seek out the competitive software programs. Skyward does what it says it will and provides my school district with an easy and organized way to share and access all of the relevant student and family information we need. It serves it's purpose well and meets our needs.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Orah (Previously Boardingware)
    • We were tracking student leave by hand or by an in-house program. Both of these became inefficient and/or unusable. Having Boardingware has expedited the process. It's hard to give numbers, but we're several days ahead of where we used to be in terms of tracking students' leave for Thanksgiving break.
    • Parent involvement was always an issue, but with Boardingware parents must approve a leave before we (the school) does. This makes parents take responsibility for their child which happens less than it should.
    • Having access to flagged students with health issues makes it much easier to plan field trips. We can easily know who should have what meds or epi pens based on their Boardingware profile. Safety awareness and prevention has gone up due to this feature.
    Incentivized
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    Skyward
    • Overall, Skyward has had a positive impact. One way is the student information that is shared and available to see. If I need to know something about a student’s academic history, Skyward has it.
    • Another way it has impacted our district is the way it has streamlined all of our payroll information. I can see check histories, different parts of my salary, and the year-end totals all in one place.
    • Skyward has also made a big impact on our district by making it easier to communicate with parents. All the parents’ contact information is available and email is even included in the program.
    Incentivized
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