As education shifts further into the age of technology, many schools have encountered barriers in going paperless. The Center for Spectrum Services, a New York based day school program supporting children with autism, is proving what’s possible when the right tools meet strong leadership. By adopting CR LiftEd, this special education team is replacing paper notebooks, simplifying IEP updates, and making progress tracking a seamless part of their daily routines.
The Old Way: Paper Binders, Printouts, and Lost Notes
At the Center for Spectrum Services, teachers previously spent hours each week preparing their lesson plans and student binders. This process was tedious and cumbersome. They had to create and print data sheets, copy lesson plans, and organize notebooks for each student. After all that work, they’d often face challenges like lost papers, difficulty managing data sheets, and time-consuming IEP report writing.
Marissa, a teacher at the center, recalled just how much effort the old system required. “It’s a lot of printing and copying,” she shared. “I would spend probably an hour on each student, setting up their books and whatnot, because I wanted my staff to have copies of all the lesson plans instead of just one.” For Marissa and the other educators, valuable time was consumed shuffling through paperwork.
Making the Switch: CR LiftEd in the Classroom
Marissa spearheaded the transition to CR LiftEd within her classroom, using it for both academic and behavioral data tracking. Once she added the learning objectives, data tracking was a breeze. She explains, “The work was still there because you have to set up the activities, but it was just so much easier for me to sit down, type up the activity, assign it, and set up a session.”
Updating targets also became a smoother process for Marissa. She shared, “I don’t have to flip through 900 pieces of paper. [In LiftEd], I can go to that child and update the target list.” This ease of use was one of the features Marissa and her lead TA most appreciated early on, and it quickly built momentum. Her early success has given other teachers the confidence to begin adopting LiftEd into their classrooms.
Behavior Tracking at Scale
What started as a pilot in Marissa’s classroom has now expanded schoolwide. Today, all 13 classrooms at the Center for Spectrum Services use LiftEd to collect and monitor behavioral data, simplifying what was once a manual and fragmented process. The behavior specialists have worked behind the scenes to activate each student’s behavior programs within LiftEd.
With a structured, digital system for behavior tracking, the school has ensured that ongoing data collection is an integral part of its daily operations. Each student’s progress is documented accurately and efficiently, giving the team clearer insights to support student growth.
IEP Management
With LiftEd, staff no longer have to juggle multiple notebooks, binders, and data sheets to prepare quarterly reports or share progress with caregivers. Centralized digital access to goals and real-time data makes collaboration more cohesive, keeping everyone aligned on student progress. Marissa appreciates that she no longer has to shuffle through binders to find the data she needs, when she needs it. Consolidating IEP goal data and documentation within a single platform offers time savings and error reduction. But most importantly, it allows the team to focus on what matters most: creating learning experiences that drive meaningful outcomes.
The Path Ahead
While every class has fully transitioned to using LiftEd for behavior management, not all have adopted it for academics just yet. The team is following a phased rollout plan to continue working toward school-wide implementation. The goal is for all 13 classrooms to become paperless. As staff experience the immense time savings and ease of use with LiftEd, adoption continues to grow organically.
“There are so many notebooks that teachers are maintaining per student. This will alleviate that because it will all be in one central location, and everybody can access it at any given time.”
Educational Program Coordinator
Kingston School
Posted in Review
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