Lincoln-Way Area Special Education District

Lincoln-Way Area Special Education District provides activities required for maintenance of professional licensure to teachers, psychologists, social workers and others as required by the Illinois State Board of Education. Its participants generally come from an area in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, but its professional development registration process used to be all over the map.

Disjointed process
Whoever answered the phone at the district office took down a registrant’s information, which might be nothing more than a name. Registrants received no confirmation that they were successfully registered. “They just had to hope they were on the list,” says Lincoln-Way Executive Director Sarah Rexroad. Further, time for a workshop would arrive without organizers knowing how many people would show up. Too many attendees led Lincoln-Way to scramble to locate more trainers and materials.

It was also difficult to keep track of who needed re-certification before their licenses lapsed. That meant that some participants had to go through the complete certification again, which was more expensive and time-consuming than simple re-certification.

A world of difference
The implementation of Learning Stream professional development registration software helped Lincoln-Way organize its process. First, registration became centralized; there was no longer any question about who was coming to workshops. Second, staff could tell right away who was due for re-certification before licenses expired. “If you look at the amount of money that it costs us (to pay for Learning Stream), it’s equivalent to four days of salary for us,” says Rexroad. “We were spending much, much more time than that on the process before.”

Because the process is easier to manage, Rexroad says the district can now offer more workshops. “We’ve even expanded on the types and quantities because we’re not using all the man-hours just planning them.”

If you look at the amount of money that it costs us (to pay for Learning Stream), it’s equivalent to four days of salary for us.