About Paperwork Solutions
Thank you for visiting Paperwork Solutions' website. My name is Derek Hyder, and I am one of you – a teacher!
School districts across America have made tremendous progress implementing instructional technology into the classroom. Nonetheless, the vast majority has failed to provide their teachers with the most efficient documentation software to manage the classroom. The result of using less productive documentation tools is that instructors spend more time and energy on paperwork and less time and energy on doing what is most important – teaching!
I began my teaching career eighteen years ago at C.F. Vigor High School in nearby Prichard, Alabama, where I taught social studies and computer literacy. There, using my background in computers, I started designing and developing database software from a "programmable shell” called FileMaker Pro (FMP) to help manage and organize information in my own classroom. Recognizing the benefits of the programs, I was determined to share them with other teachers using the same powerful yet user-friendly technology that is found in more than 70 of the Fortune 100 companies (the FileMaker Platform).
After several unsuccessful years trying to persuade my educational leaders to adopt the technology, I decided to market and distribute the solutions myself. However, a prerequisite to obtain software licensing contracts through the FileMaker Business Alliance (FBA), along with provisions from the IRS to acquire a federal employer identification number in order to legally distribute the programs that I developed, required that I establish a business and possess a business license. In 2005, I founded Paperwork Solutions. The goal of the company is to provide educators with easy-to-use tools to reduce the time and energy required to do paperwork.
In 2007, Paperwork Solutions collaborated with two other FMP enthusiasts and developers, Mr. Brett Benson, a high school independent studies instructor from Chino Hills, California, and Mr. Chip Eaton, a researcher and FMP Advanced developer from North Lawrence, New York, to create the ClassACT (Accountable, Collaborative Teaching) line of database products. ClassACT is accounting software that can be utilized in many different areas of education, including special education and general education inclusion settings and high school independent study centers.
Paperwork Solutions and ClassACT are different! Besides allowing instructors the ability to create most documents in less than one (1) minute, the K-12 programs offered by Paperwork Solutions and ClassACT incorporate as much psychology and pedagogy as they do technology to help teachers strengthen and bridge all areas of communication and instruction. All of the products are based on an “electronic card file" format that allows users to select records and then access data using pop-up menus, checkbox sets, and radio buttons. Efficiently and cost-effectively, the files may be shared across PC, Mac and mobile devices and then emailed or hosted on a server – securing records, insuring end-user compatibility, and eliminating the expenses of paper and material used for filing.
Cost-savings and productivity are especially important today. Insufficient funding and the issue of teacher accountability will continue to be major themes in today’s and tomorrow’s academic climate. Oversized classrooms, student discipline/behavior issues, changes in teacher tenure laws, potential lawsuits, and federal laws and reforms, such as Title I, IDEA, NCLB, and Race to the Top, will require even more accountability of teachers and, as a result, will create more documentation and paperwork for teachers.
As educators, we are all problem-solvers. The kindred spirit felt among teachers is very special – whether you are in elementary or secondary education, teach at a public or private school, teach in a rural, urban, or suburban school district, or whether you are a veteran teacher or a student teacher. As an instructor and developer myself, I know that Paperwork Solutions'/ClassACT's documentation software will greatly benefit you and your classroom just as it has benefited me and my classroom. Today, general and special education teachers representing elementary and secondary education in both public and private schools in over a dozen states, the District of Columbia, and Canada have purchased Paperwork Solutions.
Again, thanks for your interest in Paperwork Solutions/ClassACT. The company will be adding extra features over the next few weeks, so come back regularly. You can contact me at teacher@PaperworkSolutions.com or by phone at 251-604-1663.
Respectfully,
Derek J. Hyder
7th-Grade Civics & World Geography Instructor
Cranford H. Burns Middle School, Mobile, Alabama
Mobile County Public School System (MCPSS)
Founder and Owner of Paperwork Solutions
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
– Wayne Gretzky
