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A public charter school serving students in kindergarten through grade 12, Westlake Academy was founded in 2003. It is one of a handful of schools in the United States to offer the continuum of three International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes on a single campus. The mission of Westlake Academy is to provide its roughly 950 students with an internationally-minded education of the highest quality.
Curricula Supported
Grade Levels: K–12Implementation History
Technological Integration
Westlake Academy offers a comprehensive curriculum encompassing the Primary Years (PYP), Middle Years (MYP), and Diploma (DP) from the International Baccalaureate (IB), alongside Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Maru Busico-Flight, the school’s Instructional Technology Department Head, says, “In a geographical area boasting high-quality public schools, we stand out as a destination of choice for college-bound students. We’ve always sought to leverage technology to enhance learning outcomes and provide an unparalleled educational experience.”
A decade ago, Westlake Academy’s staff, students, and parents juggled multiple unconnected platforms, each requiring separate log-in credentials, which resulted in process fragmentation rife with the risk of errors in the manual transfer of student data. The school needed a system with the potential to bridge administrative functions and course delivery and improve the user experience of faculty, students, and parents in the process. Maru reflects on the challenge this posed, “We weren’t simply looking to add another piece of software. We were on a quest to integrate systems into a seamless user experience where the platforms talk to each other, without the burden of managing endless usernames and passwords. We needed a system that had both teaching and learning at its core and that is exactly what ManageBac offered.” Since then, the gradual rollout of various ManageBac functionalities and the adoption of SchoolsBuddy have contributed to the advancement of these goals.
Curriculum Support and Assessment Flexibility
Of critical importance was supporting Westlake’s diverse curricula. “We needed a solution that could handle our extensive programmes needs within a single system to simplify the overall user experience. Using ManageBac enabled our teaching staff to develop efficiencies in lesson and class management”, Maru explains.
When it comes to the IB programmes, ManageBac mirrors the assessment modalities of the IB’s Core beyond giving students a grade. “ManageBac simplified our processes: everything relating to Extended Essays, CAS and TOK is centralised in one place, which directly feeds into the necessary transcripts for college applications,” Maru adds, stressing how students can manage their core projects or service within a structured framework that tracks key milestones and submission deadlines. Teachers appreciate the integrated gradebook, the ease of tracking student progress, and the ability to provide meaningful feedback through annotations on student submissions.
“The platform has made it easier for students to manage their assignments, access resources, and engage in reflective learning,” Maru observes. “The integration of service learning and the CAS component enables them to document their activities and reflections, marking an improvement in how they manage and report their project learning experiences.” The ability to upload diverse forms of evidence, such as videos and images, enhances this aspect of learning.
A Customisable Solution
ManageBac’s customisable features have allowed Westlake Academy to tailor the platform to meet the specific needs of its programmes and the learning needs of individual students. This adaptability has been crucial in ensuring that each learner can thrive, including new joiners and transfers. “The platform’s capacity to facilitate communication and seamlessly transfer student records from other IB schools has been invaluable,” Maru says.
ManageBac’s adaptability has allowed Westlake Academy to adjust to changes in the education landscape, such as speeding up the transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. “When COVID hit, we were in the process of integrating SchoolsBuddy and ManageBac more deeply into our operations. Despite the hurdles, we launched these in the middle of the pandemic. It brought us to a much better place in a short period of time, enhancing our ability to respond to sudden change and disruption, tracking student attendance in various learning modes — on-campus, hybrid, or entirely remote,” Maru recounts. The flexibility of ManageBac was on display in the way that it adapted to remote learning, facilitating a smoother transition during an intense period.
The ability to customise service and CAS requirement tracking within ManageBac highlights the challenge of engaging students and parents where assessment differs from traditional grading methods. “It’s sometimes difficult for parents to grasp the concept of service as action. To address this, we’ve devised a points system that makes service participation more tangible and meaningful over the full student IB journey,” Maru explains. “For instance, a one-time service experience earns a student 1 point, while ongoing commitments, like playing the violin at a senior citizens’ home every Friday, earn 4 points. If a student’s service is tied to a unit of inquiry, that’s 6 points, and creating a service opportunity for others, like starting a school team, earns 8 points.” The gamification of service has increased student engagement. They can better appreciate their progress, understand the impact they are making, and feel successful in their achievements. Noting the importance of having clear checkpoints and measurable objectives, Maru added, “our system, documented in ManageBac, aligns service checkpoints across all grades, making it easier for teachers to track and assess student progress.”
Streamlined Data Management
Westlake Academy and the Faria Schools Technology team joined up in a project to oversee the synchronisation of ManageBac with PowerSchool and identify practical steps to improve educational data management and administrative efficiency at the school. This research initiative has eliminated countless hours of manual data entry and is ensuring data consistency. Ray Workman, the Systems Administrator, appreciates the peace of mind: “This has saved us a lot of time,” Ray began. “Not having to worry about incorrect data due to other user input has lifted a huge burden off our shoulders. Any errors are now quickly fixed on the PowerSchool side, and with the next sync, or a forced sync, corrections are immediately reflected in ManageBac.”
Yi Zhang, the Database Administrator, sees all benefits in the project: “I joined Westlake two years ago, at a time when constant corrections and data changes during the enrolment period would make manual updates incredibly difficult. The system sync we have implemented between ManageBac and PowerSchool spells relief. It saves us time and effort.” She goes on to share a personal experience, saying “As a parent of Westlake students myself, I see clear benefits when I enrol my kids in after-school programmes and forms are automatically populated with their information. That’s the result of my work here! Seeing that data flow effortlessly between PowerSchool, ManageBac, and SchoolsBuddy makes me feel very good as a parent and an employee.”
Maru praised ManageBac’s integration capabilities, noting the importance of integrating tools like Turnitin for middle and high school students, alongside the seamless Google Drive integration, labelling it as a best practice. “The task creation feature has transformed the way I assign work, integrating perfectly with Google Drive,” Maru noted. Additionally, she highlighted the contributions of Adam Morris, Schools Technology and Integrations Director for the Faria Group. “Adam’s work to streamline the transfer of PYP homeroom teachers’ information to SchoolsBuddy and simplify the process for managing student assignments to single teachers in grades 6 through 10 makes it easy for us to oversee student activities. It significantly enhances our ability to organise and access data across platforms.” She celebrated the implementation of Google single sign-on, a milestone that extended to SchoolBuddy, greatly improves the user experience. Maru believes that consolidating access points and creating a central launchpad for users significantly enhances the overall experience, reducing the need for multiple clicks and navigation steps.
Ongoing Communication Boosts Engagement
In Westlake’s estimation, one of ManageBac’s outstanding features is its robust communication tools. “It facilitates the efficient dissemination of alerts, tasks, and general messages, thereby fostering stronger connections within the school community. The ability to message anyone in your class, be it students or parents, is invaluable. A staff member can send group or individual messages and assign the same task to the various groups or classes to which they belong. making it easier for teachers to engage with students and parents alike.” Maru reflects, “In my role, seeing our student and teacher engagement grow with the use of ManageBac has been most rewarding.”
Maru strongly recommends taking full advantage of the bite-sized training sessions and emphasised the importance of leveraging the platform’s support and training resources. “What I would tell anyone looking into ManageBac is to take advantage of the support on offer. The support team is patient, tuned into your challenges, and responds quickly. They adapt their information to your specific questions so it’s more relevant. The resources, events, and courses are invaluable for getting the most out of the platform,” Maru explained.
As Westlake Academy continues to explore new features and pursue systems integration, the focus remains on enhancing the educational experience for their students. “Our next step is to hone the class information syncing process to further reduce manual work,” Maru concludes with optimism about the future.
