School leaders recognize that data is crucial.  But manually processing data pulls staff away from their most critical task: building relationships with students. Spreadsheets for Schools develops applications that automate these time-consuming tasks. We believe technology must be intuitive and should free staff time for what matters most—students. 

Here are three humanizing tools that use customized spreadsheet solutions to foster student belonging:

1. Who I Am

This tool uses a student questionnaire to gather personal insights at the start of the year. Using automation running in the background, the system emails the teacher each morning with one student’s bio and a specific question to ask that student that day.

Outcome: Within the first two months of school, teachers will have initiated a personal conversation with every student about something each student cares about. This process utilizes data to drive positive interactions with students in the most important months of the school year.

2. Two Truths and a Lie

This tool adapts the classic lie-detector game for the classroom, focusing on classmates learning conversation-starters about each other.  The custom code also generates fun metrics for each class such as the best and worst liars (writing convincing lies), and the best and worst lie detectors (identifying others’ truths).  

Outcome: Within the first month, students learn relatable details about other students that can inform their choices in group partners, elbow partners in seating charts, and conversation starters around common interests. Because spreadsheets are more customizable than rigid Student Information Systems (SIS), 

3. Student Involvement

A crucial sign of student belonging is engagement. This tool systematically tracks student involvement by making it easy to take and track attendance at every club meeting, sporting event, and any other campus activities.  

Outcome: Effective leaders know which specific students lack an extracurricular connection to their school. This knowledge allows leaders to proactively target at-risk students for involvement opportunities through staff mentors, peer buddies, and get-involved initiatives. 

               *                         *                         *                         *                         *                         *

By adopting these next-level data tactics, school leaders strategically use customizable spreadsheet solutions to transform data into a driver for stronger connections and better student outcomes. When technology automates routine tasks, it frees your people to prioritize human connections.