Replace Accelify Frontline IEP Program in Austin ISD

One of the most archaic programs I have ever used and I use a lot of cloud based programs. What is with the time to save? Unbelievable!! It is so cumbersome to use. Why is it not set up like a spread sheet in Google where every move is recorded in the back ground many may not like Google but the software engineers there could sure help out whatever is goin on with this software's designers. I hate to complain but this program needs to be shot and buried.

ICYMI - the company that owns Accelify, Frontline Education, has another product, Special Services. They use it in Ohio schools at least.

I agree with all my colleagues. This was the worst system I have ever worked with and it continues to bring on high levels of anxiety!

When a system does not perform the most basic functions for which it was purchased, it is an absolute failure. I have served as a special education teacher in AISD for over 15 years and never had an issue accessing IEPs or completing progress reports prior to Accelify. IEP’s guide the instruction of special education students and, thus, should be easily accessible in any special education software program. This has not been the case with Accelify, which makes me question why the program was ever chosen. While it may aid central office staff in tracking data and special education funding, it is virtually unusable by teachers, and unfortunately that results in a negative impact on our students. Surely there is a better solution than Accelify or any other Frontline product. Special education teachers need resources and support from the district to be able to perform their jobs, not an ineffective program that creates more of a burden than help. I respectfully request that the district return to using SEEDS or provide another effective tool for special education case management.

5 years ago Featured

As a gen Ed teacher, I can no longer look up my students’ accommodations for either SPED or 504. The new Accelify system is clunky and not user friendly for any staff member.

Acceliplan has made being a 504 Coordinator so much harder in an already difficult school year year. Many times, it won’t even load during the meeting so I have to use a Word document and do it later, when it’s finally working. There are far too many steps, making inputting each 504 take much longer than it should. The collaboration portal to get signatures takes so much extra time, it is not worth the bother so I have to use our limited meeting time to share remote access for participants to sign. The process of migrating each individual accommodation took hours for each student. Running reports is confusing and time consuming and once the report is run, it requires modification in Excel to even be readable. e504 was antiquated but simple. It’s 2021– we have virtual reality, CGI, a COVID vaccine, and satellites orbiting the Earth— you can’t tell me this buggy and time consuming system is the best program for a district of our size.

Accelify has been the bane of my existence since it's implementation. SEEDS had it's issues, but in general it worked well, was user friendly, was supported in a timely manner at the district level, and was compliant with the legal requirements of Special Education law. Accelify is none of those things. I've been a SPED teacher in AISD for over a decade and the decision to implement this glitch ridden monstrosity of a program during what is unequivocally the most challenging school year in living memory feels like a slap in the face. I'm sure the logistics involved in changing platforms is daunting, but continuing to use this inept system will only lead to even more highly qualified staff leaving and an increase in the already staggering numbers of noncompliant IEPs. This is a systemic failure and we need to rectify it.

Very time consuming just to do the fist draft of an IEP. Then there is the daily progress monitoring which feels more like their way to check that I am actually doing my job and just takes more time away from the job if supporting students. This is the same program that forced the LSSPs out. Requiring documentation of every minute of our day. Now they are doing it to the teachers. Do they really expect a different outcome?

I cannot access the SPED information readily. As an AISD teacher, this "system" has made it even more difficult to keep up with all my students IEPs and accommodations. Many SpED teachers on my campus have reached "burnout" levels this year. They are working three jobs: managing paperwork, overseeing ARDs, and teaching/co-teaching classes. We will be lucky to have anyone on the SpED staff next year. The students are the ones who will suffer the consequences if this system is not changed. back to SEEDS immediately.

It’s more difficult to navégate. It has bugs frequently. The IEP needs more time to complete. I have been expending one day of my weekend only filling all the services, progress, etc.

5 years ago Featured

As a parent of a student missing and iep for over a year, anything that can be done to alleviate the pressure on sped teachers and stop wasting their time is needed now!

It is too time consuming to complete an IEP. Too many glitches, too many heat tickets.

I agree with everything this petition says. Acceliplan has caused meetings and documents to be late and kept case managers and Sped teachers from working at 100% capacity and doing there absolute best. More time is spent waiting for a page to load than actually assisting students which is what I want to be doing.

This program is terrible, it requires so many extra clicks and steps to do this program. It takes at least 3 times as long to write an IEP in this program; it takes 8 hours.

This district worked for years taking information from staff to improve SEEDs. When they finally got it pretty much perfected, they did away with it. Accelify is just too cumbersome. We have to jump through a bunch of useless "hoops" distributions, responsed to distributions, creating a "student team" to send out a notice" etc. I would like to have SEEDs back.

5 years ago Featured

A better alternative would be ESPED, which is a universal system, very easy to navigate and is easy to send/share forms with other districts when students transfer, etc. This system is used by the majoirty of Texas school districts and SpEd departments.

Terrible platform and terrible implementation timing.

This was poor planning and timing to begin such a system. We are in the middle of a pandemic and leaders had not worked out all the issues before we started to work on this system. This is ridiculous and would love to go back to SEEDs or a more user friendly system that has what we need for our district.

Its is a very difficult program. I do not understand why during a pandemic we would be stressed to learn a new program. A program that did not transfer information.

it has a lot of issues, is nit teacher friendly and I think is not for Life Skills Students