Catch the early signs. Support students sooner.
Tardies, single period truancies, and disengagement often set root before absences become chronic.
Our tools help staff identify early trends, simplify communications with families, and respond with the right support.
Tardies disrupt classroom learning
Students are already on campus but do not get to class on-time. Tracking, accountability, and family communication can work, but implementation takes time from already-stretched staff.
Absenteeism hinders academic and social development
Absenteeism reduces
learning, introduces social-emotional risk factors, is contagious to impressionable peers, and in some states directly reduces school funding.
Intervention effectiveness is difficult to measure
Schools know the attendance interventions they provide, but often lack insight about which interventions are more effective than others.
Start with the early indicators.
Stop chronic absenteeism before it starts.
Easy to use.
Fits into your everyday routine.
Step 1
Data in
Import data reports as CSV or Excel files. Keep using the same Student Information System your school already relies on.
Step 2
Run the scripts
Our custom scripts automate the data processing and communication for you.
Step 3
Time for personalized solutions
Spend your time where it matters most - working directly with students.
Step 4
See what changed
Analytics and custom reports reveal what works in getting students back on track.
Your data stays yours
No long-term contract
Free first semester
What are other schools doing that actually works?
See how school leaders used clearer policies, improved parent communication, automated data processing, and earlier intervention to create measurable change.
I built these applications to address real challenges at my school
Early in my math teaching career I experienced the power of programming graphing calculators and spreadsheets to enrich math lessons. In 2017 I started teaching computer science which stoked my interest in programming even further.
Emerging from COVID, with our quarantined school staff stretched extremely thin, I helped our staff by automating large data-intensive workflows through programmable spreadsheets, such as COVID tracking, parent notifications, tardies processing, and others. Staff members were amazed! Eager to share other task ideas to automate, they started asking
"Can you also make spreadsheets do ________?"
And that's how Spreadsheets for Schools was born.
I love inspiring and empowering the next generation of talented student developers. It is also a blast helping school staff automate their workflows so they can spend more of their time making a difference directly with students.
Here is my résumé.
Jason Slowbe
Computer Science teacher
Great Oak High School
Temecula, CA
FAQs
Most clients run reports from their SIS and import them into our applications. We teach you how to import your data - this short demo video shows how easy it is.
But if your IT Department is willing, we work with them to create a secure channel from your SIS to the Google Sheets that updates your data automatically each night.
There is one Master Data spreadsheet with standard information about your students, such as names, ID numbers, classroom schedules, and parent email addresses. Each application pulls the specific data it needs from this Master Data spreadsheet, that way you only import this standard data once instead of importing into each separate application that you use. You will update this Master Data spreadsheet more frequently at the beginning of each semester when there are more new enrollments and schedule changes, but can be updated less often during the remainder of each semester.
Each application has its own separate spreadsheet. As often as you want to process tardies records, you will import that data report into the Tardies application. Some applications, like Student Involvement, use handheld scanners to input students’ IDs into the spreadsheets instead of running reports through your SIS.
Our applications and scripts all run within your own Google Workspace account. They utilize the same industry-leading security and privacy policies that protect the student data that you already store in your Google Workspace accounts.
Our applications do not use AI and your data never feeds into or trains AI models. We do not store or retain confidential student information outside of your Workspace account without your consent.
We willingly sign Digital Privacy Agreements (DPAs) - we work in schools and know the importance of data privacy.
Your school does. Your data stays yours, and you can remove our access to your confidential data at any time.
This short demo video shows some scanner options. Handheld scanners are inexpensive and provide a fast way to enter students’ ID numbers into spreadsheets that collect data from students (like Electronic Hall Passes or Student Involvement) instead of through SIS reports (like Tardies or Period Truancies). If entry time is not an issue, then students can manually type their ID numbers instead.
We recommend a scanner model based on your needs, but you can purchase whichever scanners you want. Scanners are not included in the fee we charge for our applications.
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Versatile: https://a.co/d/5tYdSFk ($35). Wired or wireless, QR codes or barcodes, instant or delayed upload, includes stand.
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Basic: https://a.co/d/0AzQrKG ($24). Wired to computer via USB, QR codes or barcodes.
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Be informed when shopping for scanners. Less expensive models may not scan your particular encoding protocol, or may scan only barcodes (1D) but not QR codes (2D), among other differences. Look for free returns so you can exchange the scanner for a different model if it cannot read your particular barcodes.
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No. It works alongside the Student Information System your school already uses.
Absolutely. Our applications are hosted locally in your Workspace account and are designed to be highly customizable for schools' unique use cases.
If more significant customization is needed that does not already exist in the applications, we will negotiate a separate agreement to develop that custom solution for you.
Our applications are built in Google Workspace. If your district uses Microsoft then we work with you to provide access through your Microsoft account. We can also create an external domain hosted through Google to provide native access to our applications.
Yes. We find that most schools significantly underutilize the data they already have. Earlier detection, data-driven insights, and improved communication among parents, staff, and students all help improve MTSS effectiveness.
We first sign an Engagement Agreement together that authorizes data sharing with us for the limited purpose of creating your applications.
Once the applications are created with your actual student data and we train you in their use, continue using the applications for free for the first semester to see first-hand how our applications work before making a purchase decision. If satisfied, simply pay the annual subscription fee to continue using our applications each year thereafter.
The annual subscription fee is pro-rated for one semester if your free trial is in the fall semester and you want to continue using the application in the spring semester.
Typically 2-3 weeks. We guide you in pulling the required data from your Student Information System, customize your applications for your unique data formatting and school policies, then train you how to use each application.
Yes, the annual subscription for each application includes ongoing training and support.
What School Leaders Are Saying
See what educators and administrators say about using Spreadsheets for Schools.
"This program helps us effectively address low level behaviors early. We are now seeing fewer higher level incidents."
- Middle School Assistant Principal
"The tardies program helped us reduced tardies by 44% across every class period. This program is a game changer."
- High School Attendance Intervention Specialist
"My entire tardy monitoring process took me hours a day. Thanks to Spreadsheets for Schools I can get the entire process done in less than fifteen minutes."
- High School Attendance Supervisor
"Thank you for all your work on the LLR application. You should know that we use it all the time, teachers have bought in, we are all seeing the success of it. It may be the single biggest success story of this year."
- Middle School Principal
"We have had great success with the staff and students. [LLR] is a great program!"
- Middle School Principal
"The tardies program takes the burden off teachers and allows them to focus on the real work which is the underlying root cause of the tardy. Thank you so much for creating this for our staff to use!!"
- High School Assistant Principal
"Spreadsheets for Schools has created efficiency and cut down on the manual data processing for our most needy of students within our multi-tiered systems of support."
- High School Attendance Intervention Specialist
"Thank you Jason for all that you did. [LLR] is a fantastic resource."
- Middle School Principal