Grievance

The Buffalo Teachers Federation have filed a grievance with Board of Education over the use of Infinite Campus:

http://www.btfny.org/news/infinite_campus_grievance.pdf

Groundhog Day: Madison Schools' Infinite Campus Usage Memorandum

October 15, 2012

Groundhog Day: Madison Schools' Infinite Campus Usage Memorandum

The Madison School District (PDF):

In the spring of 2012 data was collected indicating a wide array of teacher grade book usage on Infinite Campus. Following the distribution of the letter on August 27, 2012 a number of concerns were brought forth regarding the use of grade book. Music and Physical Education teachers at the middle school level have larger class sizes and teach on an alternate day rotation in many cases. Currently, members of Curriculum and Assessment are working with Music and Physical Education teachers to develop a set of guidelines that are practical due to their schedules.
Following the end of the first quarter, November 7, we will gather data and measure the use of teacher grade book. The Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools will share the data with building principals to address areas of concern.
.........
Across our middle and high schools, a number of you have utilized the Infinite Campus grade book.Parents,guardians and other youth service providers appreciate the information regarding student progress. This year, the MMSD opened an online student enrollment option for families. The feedback is clear, a high percentage of MMSD families utilize Infinite Campus. The Research and Evaluation Department has analyzed the number of Infinite Campus grade book entries in all of our schools and it is evident to me that we have yet to reach our full implementation by having all teachers using the Infinite Campus grade book and consistently updating student progress. Therefore, it is my expectation that all teachers follow the below guidelines as we enter the 12-13 school year.

Infinite Campus (million$ have been spent) usage issues continue...
A few links:

• June, 2009: Madison School Board OK's 1 More Year of Infinite Campus, with More Oversite
• February, 2012: Madison School District Infinite Campus Usage Report
• March, 2010: An Update on the Madison School District's Efforts to Increase Teacher Use of the "Infinite Campus" Student Portal
• Notes and links on Infinite Campus and the Madison School District.
• "Standards based" report cards were introduced just after the District licensed Infinite Campus. Unfortunately, the system did not support this change.
• Groundhog day.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 15, 2012 2:18 AM

LINK: http://www.schoolinfosystem.org/archives/2012/10/madison_schools_83.php

Lafayette Parish to Drop Infinite Campus

State aid expected to drop

BY MARSHA SILLS

Acadiana bureau

March 08, 2012

0 COMMENTS

LAFAYETTE — The Lafayette Parish school system will likely receive about $2 million less in state per pupil funding in the upcoming school year due in large part to the district’s increase in tax revenue, its chief financial officer said Wednesday.

Districts receive per pupil funding based on the Minimum Foundation Program, which uses a formula that takes into consideration a parish’s sales tax and property tax base, district CFO Billy Guidry said.

“It assumes that if a parish has a large tax base that they have the ability to generate more tax revenue,” Guidry said.

Property tax and sales tax revenues in the parish increased by about $4 million between the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years, according to an audit report presented to the School Board on Wednesday.

“This increase in sales tax collections actually hurts us in the MFP calculation,” Guidry said.

Burton Kolder of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Co. presented a favorable audit report.

The School Board has a healthy fund balance that exceeds its own policy of setting aside at least 15 percent of its operating costs, Kolder said.

“You’re at $41 million and board policy requires $34 million,” Kolder said.

The reserve fund is designed to carry the district through any financial “hiccups,” Guidry said.

“Give me an example of a Louisiana hiccup,” board President Shelton Cobb said.

“In 2010, our sales tax revenues decreased by a million a month, so that would be an example of a hiccup,” Guidry said. “In one year’s time, we had a reduction of $12 million in our revenue base.”

Other items discussed during the meeting included:

STUDENT INFORMATION: The School Board approved the purchase of a new student information system, which will cost about $941,000 to implement in the first year and about $129,500 in years two through five, according to cost estimates provided by Logan McDaniel, district chief technology officer.

The purchase replaces the student information system, Infinite Campus with JPAMS by EDgear, a system used by the majority of school districts in Louisiana.

“The main problem we have with Infinite Campus is with state reporting,” McDaniel said. School staff must correct the data in the system for state reporting purposes, he said.

In a five-year period, the switch will save the district about $15,455 and after that period, the district will see an annual savings of about $165,500, McDaniel said.

Superintendent Pat Cooper said the software switch is an example of what “we’re trying to do across the whole district — come up with mechanisms to free up time for teachers and principals.”

LINK: http://theadvocate.com/home/2251536-125/state-aid-expected-to-drop.html

Stevens Point Company Awaits DPI Decision on Software Contract

A Stevens Point software company may be pushed out of the state if it isn't awarded a contract to provide student information systems for all of the state's public school districts.
Wisconsin is now requiring a single provider, eliminating districts' ability to choose, even if they're happy with their current vendor.

Skyward employs nearly 300 people in Stevens Point. The company's software makes it easy for teachers and parents to keep track of students' grades and other information.

Skyward already provides the software to half of the state's districts, but those contracts are in jeopardy.

"We've been here for just over 30 years providing our solution to Wisconsin school districts and we hire Wisconsinites and we want to be able to continue to do our business here," said Scott Glinski, Skyward's president.
If the Department of Public Instruction's plan continues to move forward and Skyward doesn't win the contract, they'll likely move out of state.

"If we win the business that'd be great but if not, if we're not allowed to sell in our own backyard then that would be difficult for us to be able to grow our business here in Wisconsin," he said.

Eliminating the multi-vendor system also concerns Stevens Point Mayor Andrew Halverson.
If Wisconsin is open for business Mayor Halverson says Madison should support the Wisconsin company already providing service for half of the state's school districts.

"When are we going to put our money where our mouth is as a state and say we are going to stand with Wisconsin companies and we will support them and prioritize how we choose them," Halverson said.
Monday, Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) and Rep. Louis Molepske Jr. (D-Stevens Point) introduced a bill that continues the multi-vendor system.

Rep. Molepske says it makes more sense than paying for districts to convert to a new system.
"The state isn't going to give them any money to do it, there's no guarantee," Rep. Molepske said. "In Stevens Point that's $400,000 to switch over."

He says there's also indication DPI may award the contract to a Minnesota software company.

"We felt there were some problems with some current people at DPI who had some ties with Infinite Campus Corporation, that's the other company from Minnesota; personal and business ties," he said.

The single vendor system was written into Governor Scott Walker's budget and signed into law. $15 million dollars has been allocated for the conversion, $5 million has been released to DPI.

A message for DPI Communications Officer Patrick Gasper was not returned.

---

Latest Comments

Posted by: Where will there be savings? on Feb 14, 2012 at 01:49 PM

When you look at one provider for anything the cost lies in the future. Once a company has the school system hooked it will cost more money. Placing all eggs in one basket never made sense. The extra costs come each time you go back and ask for an update. Why are people not using common business sense?

Posted by: Kay Olson-Martz Location: United States on Feb 11, 2012 at 01:10 PM

I have heard of other school districts being forced to change the program they use. Governor Walker says he is not raising taxes, but when schools are forced to change programs to report grades, and companies that are in his back pocket get free money (our tax money), then he is raising taxes. Remember, these programs need updates and they need to also have support. That all will cost tax dollars every year. It will be levied under our school taxes. Let's support our companies in Wisconsin, and keep them in business and keep our people in Wisconsin employed.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://www.wsaw.com/education/headlines/Stevens_Point_Company_Awaits_DPI_Decision_on_Software_Contract_139127354.html

Infinite Campus fails to calculate grades accurately

19 DECEMBER 2011

By Troy Kleber and Olivia Veira

When Grady students received their fall midterm progress reports in October, several received incorrect grades in many classes.

Though it was unclear when this problem began, teachers first discovered the Infinite Campus student data management system miscalculated grades in mid October. The student data management system is a tool used for inputting and managing student data.

Infinite Campus is a company that provides its web-based student information system in schools all over the country, managing data for more than 4.5 million students. Atlanta Public Schools began using it in 2008.

After teachers noticed that Infinite Campus was incorrectly calculating grades, science teacher Jeff Cramer discovered the problem stemmed from the settings in Infinite Campus. Cramer said the teacher inputted grade weights were being overridden by Infinite Campus’s default settings, thereby causing a miscalculation of students’ final grades.

Many teachers make tests, quizzes and homework different percentages of a student’s final grade, and they can input the specific weight for each category in the settings of Infinite Campus. English teacher James Campbell said that when calculating stu- dents’ grades, Infinite Campus would incorrectly weight these categories since it was “not abiding by the options that the teacher entered.”

Campbell gave an example to illustrate how the grades were miscalculated.

If a teacher were to assign two tests, one worth 100 points and the other worth 50 points, the teacher could set the weight of the 100-point test to be worth twice the 50-point test. When posting these grades, however, Infinite Campus would disregard the teacher-assigned weights and average the two test grades equally.

“If you don’t go back and check the way you set up the original [weights], then we are going to end up giving students the wrong grades at the end of the semesters,” Cramer said. Though Cramer did not discover the prob- lem until after students received midterm prog- ress reports, Campbell believes the problem existed before then.

Registrar Chinaester Holland developed a step-by-step procedure for all teachers to follow to ensure grades are correct. Grady instructional coach Brandi Sabb disseminated this procedure to all teachers.

“Ms. Sabb sent a note out to everyone in the school and asked them to go back in and check [the grades],” Cramer said. “Whether everyone did or not is another matter.”

Cramer also spoke with Principal Vincent Murray and said Murray seemed concerned about the grade misspent grades were being miscalculated and said the teachers who said there was a problem with were wrong. Teachers maintain, however, that they have identified grade miscalculations in their own classrooms. Cramer said that, even now, it is pos- sible that teachers are publishing incorrect grades.

“What I was afraid of was that it was actually happening with every teacher [when] they weren’t checking it, because they didn’t really bother to notice whether the grades were right or not,” Cramer said.

Cramer said the grade miscalculations so far have not resulted in major changes in grades.

“[Grades] are not off by dramatic numbers,” Cramer said. “They might be off by three or four percentage points.”

Cramer has taken steps to fix the problem. He spoke with the APS Technology Support calculations but did not want to make the issue a big deal until he had figured out all the details and how to address the problem. In the meantime, Cramer worked to fix the miscalculations in his own classes. He told his students to calculate their grades and make sure their grade calculations corresponded with the grades in Infinite Campus.

“It would be terrible for me if I gave the wrong grades at the end of the semester,” Cramer said. “I would just be really embarrassed, but it’s bad for the students, too. If it was some- thing that I could have controlled, if I had been observant enough, then I would certainly want to be able to do that.”

LINK: http://thesoutherneronline.com/frontpage/?p=2590