North Penn Provides Consistent Digital Access for 13,000 students

North Penn School District in Southeastern Pennsylvania serves 13,000 students across 18 schools. The district’s 1:1 Chromebook program required a reliable solution to ensure all students and teachers could easily access digital resources both in school and at home.

When schools made a surprise shift to virtual learning, “already having ClassLink in place was a lifesaver for a lot of reasons,” explains Dr. Kristen Landis, Director of Technology at North Penn School District, PA. “There’s a lot of power in just how easy access is for all of our students,” explains Dr. Landis. She says having a consistent way to access digital learning saves time, reduces support calls, and keeps learning on track.

The district needed a way to provide consistent access to digital tools for 13,000 students and staff, supporting diverse learning environments, including in-class, hybrid, and virtual settings.

With a districtwide 1:1 Chromebook program and more than 40 digital learning applications, Landis and her staff chose ClassLink over three years ago to make accessing digital learning easier.

As Learning Coach Brett Baker explains, ClassLink encourages technology use by cutting out problems that waste instruction time like forgotten passwords and trouble finding digital resources. With access issues out of the way, Landis and her staff quickly learned ClassLink offers much more than SSO support. Today the district has grown to use ClassLink in ways they hadn’t expected.

“It’s the ultimate single sign-on, and we love it for that reason,” explains Landis.

Today, Landis says ClassLink Analytics is an integral part of the decision-making process when it comes to renewing application licenses.

For example, using ClassLink Analytics, Landis and her colleagues noticed one application was only used by seven teachers and about 300 students. Those are small numbers when you consider the district serves 13,000 students. With those details, administrators could decide to provide additional professional development or opt-out of renewing the license agreement.

“ClassLink is the consistency amidst all of this uncertainty. It’s that structure, and routine people look for and need when things are inconsistent. To have ClassLink has been very valuable, no matter where we’re learning from," says Stover.

Learning coach Baker echoes that sentiment, “ClassLink is a vital part of who we are and where we are as a district. For parents, students, teachers, and administrators, it’s been a huge helping hand.”

ClassLink’s Single Sign-On (SSO) ensures that students and teachers can quickly access all digital resources with one login, regardless of the device. Additionally, ClassLink’s automated rostering and data analytics help the district make informed decisions on software usage and professional development, saving time and resources.