Global Scholar Discontinues Pinnacle SIS and Instruction Products

You are probably already aware that
GlobalScholar officially announced that they plan
to discontinue the Pinnacle Student Information
System and Pinnacle Instruction products
following the 2013-14 school year. They will be
fixing bugs during the interim period, but do not
plan to do significant enhancements to the
products from this point forward.
MiCase will reconvene the SIS Vision Committee
to do an RFP to look at the various Student
Information Systems available.
This information comes as a surprise, but we are
committed to using this as an opportunity rather
than a crisis. You can be assured that you will
have the MiCase team here to assist in any way
that we can.
We will continue to support Pinnacle SIS and
Instruction and will conduct training as planned,
and as needed.
Please contact Don Daily if you have any
questions, ddailey@kresa.org, or 269-250-9264

Link to story: http://www.mi-case.org/cms/lib4/MI07000830/Centricity/Domain/1/Newsletter%20April%202013.pdf

Police investigate schools' computer shutdown

De Pere police this week were continuing to investigate what may have caused the De Pere School District’s computer system to shut down for a full week earlier this month.

Authorities aren’t saying whether the system was hacked or what sort of information may have been exposed.

“With the complexity of the investigation involving the Unified School District of De Pere, no additional details can be released at this time,” Lt. Chad Opicka said Tuesday.

The computer system — which includes staff email, a student information system and a district website — went down two weeks ago and started to return online May 7.

The east-side district includes a high school, a middle school, an intermediate school and three elementary schools.

District superintendent Ben Villarruel said teachers and staff worked well through the shutdown and that things are running smoothly.

Police said they will release information when the investigation is completed.

Link to story: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20130515/GPG1001/305150310/Police-investigate-schools-computer-shutdown?nclick_check=1

De Pere uses the Infinite Campus SIS: http://www.depere.k12.wi.us/Parent%20Portal.html

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

Maine Going Statewide with PowerSchool

DOE to fund implementation of PowerSchool, Infinite Campus

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Maine Department of Education

The Maine Department of Education has selected Pearson’s PowerSchool as a second state-supported student information system for Maine’s school districts.

Districts can now choose between Infinite Campus and PowerSchool, and the Department will fund the software.

Currently, 60 Maine school districts use PowerSchool, and 40 have implemented Infinite Campus. These two products already support more than 90 percent of the local data on Maine students.

The goal of this initiative is to provide districts with more choice in managing their student data and to reduce the burden of data collection and reporting.

Under the arrangement, districts will be entitled to state funding if they choose to implement either PowerSchool or Infinite Campus. The Department will also fund annual licensing and maintenance and support costs for those participating districts.

When districts receive their funding to implement either system will depend on a prioritization process established by the Department.

More details on this offering will be available in the coming months. The initial round of state-supported implementations are expected to begin at the start of calendar year 2012.

Resources and more information

• Brian Snow, Education Data Manager
  Maine Department of Education
  207-624-6840
  Brian.Snow@maine.gov

LINK:  http://mainedoenews.net/2011/10/12/powerschool-infinite-campus/

Infinite Campus: The Matadors are Not Impressed

Infinite Uselessness

By Smitha Gundavajhala

Infinite Campus is not worth the hype. We students were made to believe that this change would shake the foundations of this school from the earth upon it rests—but instead, we get a small button beneath the School Loop link on the MVHS homepage, and 2600 extra sheets of yellow paper dedicated to giving our parents access to grades that they could have easily seen on School Loop.

For a system with so lofty, a name, it does little. In fact, Infinite Campus serves no apparent function so far. Photo illustration by Smitha Gundavajhala.

“The District is excited about the potential that the Campus Portal provides for keeping parents informed,” the handouts say. However, our parents already have access to Naviance and to School Loop. Right now, the only perceived difference between School Loop and Infinite Campus is that the latter shows a more detailed attendance record, and all the detail MVHS students need (or want) is on the School Loop attendance record anyway.

Aren’t teachers open to communication through email, through Loop Mail, and by phone? Don’t you think that parents (who are so invested in the school community that they would write our finals for us if they could) would have said something if they felt the need?

Infinite Campus is definitely not only about grades and parent communication, or the district wouldn’t be pushing so hard for it. No, there’s something more. But until the administration makes clear why this innocuously useless system is being established, we will have no choice but to rant about its infinite uselessness on School Loop.

LINK: http://elestoque.org/2011/09/21/magazine/print-opinion/bottom-line/infinite-uselessness/

Matthew Does Not Like Infinite Campus

Dissatisfied with school website, student builds app

When the San Jose Unified School District rolled out its new web-based student information system earlier this year, students immediately noticed some shortcomings.

For one, they no longer could view their current grades for all their classes at one glance. Checking on several classes required several clicks—which for a 16-year-old is, like, so much work.

Instead of settling, Daniel Brooks, then a senior at Pioneer High School, came up with a Silicon Valley-style fix: He developed an iPhone app.

Then he got Apple’s approval to hawk it on the App Store, handed out hundreds of fliers, and now has 2,300 users who downloaded it across the country.

“It ended up on every iPhone and iPad and portable device that any student and teacher had on campus,” said Scott Peterson, a Pioneer High English teacher who doubles as the campus tech support.

In the months since, Daniel has experienced the highs and lows familiar to many software developers who have created wildly popular apps—although he’s getting them a little earlier in his career than most. Daniel’s app is so successful that users want more; in particular, his teachers started pushing him to develop a version for them. But he’s received less enthusiasm from the company whose technology he improved: software developer Infinite Campus, which developed the web-based student information system accessible by teachers, parents, and students.

Daniel said he didn’t write the app to get rich: The app is free. “A student is not going to want to pay 99 cents,” Daniel said. “They just want to see their grades nice and easy.”

Users in 250 school districts across the country also downloaded Daniel’s IC Connector. Infinite Campus, the No. 2 maker nationally of K-12 school and student information systems, has contracts with nearly 50 California school districts, including South San Francisco, San Ramon, Santa Cruz, and Palo Alto.

Peterson embedded a link to IC Connector on the Pioneer High web site. In the spring, the app was getting more than 200 uses daily on its busiest days.

But Daniel, who developed the app without the cooperation of Minnesota-based Infinite Campus, found the company and school district less enthusiastic.

Both he and his father, software engineer Michael Brooks, eMailed the company to seek its cooperation and later see if it was interested in purchasing the app. The elder Brooks received only one eMail message in reply; it said using Infinite Campus’ name and logo in the app’s name confused users and constituted a copyright violation.

Michael Brooks eMailed offering to change the name, but asking for time to get Apple’s approval. Daniel also eMailed and called. They got no response.

Eric Creighton, Infinite Campus’ chief operating officer, said the company simply wanted the Brookses to make clear that they weren’t offering an official Infinite Campus app. The company doesn’t outsource software development nor encourage third parties, he said, and plans to release its own free iPhone app next month.

Creighton acknowledges receiving the Brooks’ eMails. “I didn’t respond. Our nonresponse was, ‘We’re fine,’ ” he said. “Silence on our part was the appropriate communication.”

Daniel and his dad said that being ignored was “just weird.”

Daniel’s graduation compounded his difficulties, leaving him without an Infinite Campus school account, although his family has one for his younger sister.

Because he has no sample account to test how his app works in San Jose Unified and other school districts, IC Connector often crashes, Daniel said.

San Jose Unified’s Infinite Campus portal will reopen for the new school year in a couple of weeks, allowing families to see grades, assignments, schedules, and attendance. The district’s technology director, Mitzi Macon, hopes it will include an updated version of Infinite Campus.

The district purchased the system, which integrated all its student data, two years ago for $650,000. Annual maintenance and support costs about $280,000.

Daniel, who heads to California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo this fall as a freshman, continues to try to improve the app and hopes to put out an Android version soon. Still, he feels snubbed by the company and school districts for not cooperating more. “I have a working app that could be really useful, but they don’t want to use it,” he says.

Infinite Campus maintains that it isn’t hostile to Daniel. “We have a soft spot for kids hacking out tech solutions for the betterment of schools,” Creighton said. The company’s founder, Charlie Kratsch, began his IT career in high school, developing software for school districts in Minnesota.

In the spring, the company even offered Daniel a summer internship at its suburban Minneapolis headquarters.

No thanks, said Daniel. “I already have a good job here,” he said—a paid internship creating apps and doing other programming for marketing services firm SolutionSet. “And,” he said, “I can work from home.”



LINK TO STORY: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/23/business/la-fi-student-app-20110923

‘Infinite Campus’ causes headaches

New grading system has new features, but is more complex to use

By Melina Singh
Staff Writer, Senior

After first semester ended, the Pinnacle Internet Viewer that has allowed both parents and students to view their grades online was replaced by “Infinite Campus,” a change that many find fault with. To begin with, no teachers were involved in the process of developing this new system, they have had tremendous difficulty in entering grades. As a result, students are currently unable to stay updated on their progress.

Logging in for the first time, the changes from the previous grade viewer are immediately apparent. While the previous grade viewer was simplistic but extremely easy to navigate, Infinite Campus has a lot more detail regarding class information but is unpleasing to the eye and difficult to manage. Infinite Campus was installed district-wide and for unknown reasons.

This new portal gives teachers access to their students’ home telephone numbers, addresses, names of parents and siblings, email addresses, attendance records, previous test scores,  doctors’ phone numbers, racial backgrounds, and even photographs, perhaps in the event that a teacher momentarily forgets what their student looks like. Granted, this information was always available to teachers, but now it is presented to them nicely on one convenient page. The new system also allows students to view upcoming tests and due dates, teacher contact information, missing assignments, and most importantly, their grades for each class.

Seeing as how most teachers haven’t been quite able to upload any new grades, student opinions on the matter are currently nonexistent. English teacher Mr. Peterson, who is something of an expert in grading systems, calls Infinite Campus “a good idea, but one that is unfortunately ugly, inelegant, and hard to use.” Bernhardt agrees, stating, “The new Infinite Campus system has substantially increased capabilities but substantially decreased efficiency.” Both teachers agree that “user interface is terrible.” It is unclear how long this system will last, seeing as how it has made no improvements in grade management as of yet.

In case you have yet to log in, here’s how to find your ID and password:

Login = current ID number with four zeros in front of it: 0000_ _ _ _     
Password = first and last initial and your birth date: MD09/21/95 (example)

LINK TO STORY: http://pioneerhigh.org/high/school/more/18523/

Infinite Campus Related Support Issues

by misdtechnotes August 25, 2011

Some of the connections used to import IC data into some of our third-party programs (such as Cybersoft Student Nutrition, Destiny Library Automation, and Teleparent Notification System) have not been functioning properly.

The new contractor that Infinite Campus has enlisted to provide these services to the District has not resolved these problems and continues to work on them.

We appreciate your patience as we work with the vendors involved to restore service. We regret any inconvenience that you have experienced.

LINK: http://misdtechnotes.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/infinite-campus-related-support-issues/

South Dakota Misses Second NCLB Data Deadline

S.D. misses second No Child Left Behind data deadline

State could be penalized, school districts missing facts

BY BOB MERCER

12:04 a.m. CDT, July 26, 2011

PIERRE—

The state Department of Education is days past deadline already and doesn’t know when results from this year’s round of No Child Left Behind tests can be delivered to South Dakota school districts.

State Education Secretary Melody Schopp said software vendor Infinite Campus is at fault.

The department and districts could be found out of federal compliance and penalties are a possible result.

School districts were supposed to get their data Friday, with statewide data becoming available today to the general public.

She said it’s unknown when the malfunctions will be cleared. She called the situation “a black eye” for the department.

Million dollar contract

State records show the state Office of Finance and Management engaged the Blaine, Minnesota-based company in a new contract for $5.3 million that runs from July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2014.

Three state officials’ signatures on the contract are dated from a five-day period in September 2010. None are still in their positions from that time.

Infinite Campus was hired to run the student information system at the statewide level and at the district level for all South Dakota school districts.

Schopp disclosed the problem Monday afternoon during a meeting with the state Board of Education.

School districts were promised the data would be delivered to them Monday but that wasn’t possible, she said.

“Due to a number of issues with our vendor, we’re not even close,” she said. “Bottom line, we don’t have the data ready.”

She said DOE staff worked throughout the weekend trying to clear up the latest problems.

Schopp revealed that the department faced problems with the vendor in past years but nothing to the degree of the current breakdown. She said she will “explore” the contract with Infinite Campus going forward.

Success story

Infinite Campus lists the South Dakota Department of Education as a success story on the company’s Internet site.

Featured is a quote from Schopp regarding the use of the Infinite Campus system for determining adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind.

“From a state data professional’s perspective, the system has been a lifesaver,” she says on the company’s South Dakota website.

Since she was appointed as secretary by new Gov. Dennis Daugaard in April, Schopp has been alternately defying and working with the U.S. Department of Education regarding NCLB.

She is trying to get federal clearance for South Dakota to keep its annual standards for measuring NCLB progress at 2009-10 levels rather than moving ahead to 2011.

She said she’ll ask the U.S. DOE for flexibility regarding South Dakota’s inability to get the latest adequate yearly progress data delivered to schools.

“But right now, I’m probably not on their favorites list,” Schopp said.

LINK: http://www.aberdeennews.com/news/aan-sd-misses-second-no-child-left-behind-data-deadline-20110725,0,508772.story

Zangle Sues Their Own User Group??

Read More: http://www.zangle.com/uncategorized/zangle-inc-files-suite-against-the-zangle-national-users-group-john-getchell-graham-hellewell-troy-leach/

Zangle Sues One of Their Customers?

Read more: http://www.zangle.com/legal/zangle-inc-files-suit-against-the-san-diego-unified-school-district/

Thoughts on a Statewide Student Information System

Lately there has been increased interest in the world of student information systems for centralized state-run systems that aim to replace district-wide systems.  The reasons cited for such a change tend to revolve around convenience and cost.  However, many are questioning the benefits of such a system, and are voicing their skepticism.

Cost

Would a centralized state-run SIS save a state money?  The first thing to consider is the amount local districts have already invested in modern, web-based systems and advanced training to maximize the benefits of those systems.  Are the potential cost savings from having a state-run system enough to outweigh the investment to date? 

Another important consideration is the amount schools must pay for advanced training.  In some states, administrators are required to pay for certification courses before given back-end access to their own data. 

Finally, schools must carefully consider the prospect of being handed the bill for what was initially promised to be a free system.  This happened last year in Kentucky where the state began to charge local schools for the cost of maintaining the centralized state-run system.

Privacy

While the prospect of housing student records on a single, statewide database might seem convenient to some, the question of student privacy is one worth careful consideration.  If student discipline, teacher comments, health records and attendance history were all kept on a statewide system, who’s to say that the information on that system wouldn’t be used for background checks in the future?  

Database administrators at the state level would have access to this data, but would promise not to look at the data and would likely be legally bound not to.  Certainly any vendor implementing a centralized state-run SIS would go to great lengths to reassure districts that information would be kept private, but bugs in software happen.  This is exemplified by one case in Maine where administrators at one school district were able to view the private student information of a student at another district.  In Kentucky, the prospect of tracking all residents of a household raised concerns with stakeholders in school communities.

The concept of a centralized state-run system similar to the DMV is drawing criticism from privacy advocates in Maine and Kentucky.  Students and parents have organized protests and state officials have found themselves at the center of controversy.

Convenience

It is true that a centralized state-run SIS for all students would greatly simplify the data collection process at the state level.  State administrators would be able to reference student data on demand without first asking for permission from local school districts.  This data could potentially be used to provide useful information to the state relating to student performance, identifying at-risk schools and students, as well as under performing teachers.  Teacher performance could be quickly evaluated by the state in near real-time with rapid-response procedures put in place to address situations as they arise.

Of course, any halfway decent, web-based SIS would provide these features at the district level, so the question remains... how would a centralized state-run SIS benefit local schools?

Local school districts may find the advent of a centralized state-run system less convenient.  Would they be able to add, remove or edit the features of the system?  Would they be able to create their own custom reports without outside help?  Would they be able to call the SIS company directly for support, or would they have to deal with a state agency?  Would they be able to integrate their own 3rd party systems such as Transportation Management, Lunch Management and Learning Management Systems?  More often than not, a one-size-fits-all approach offers little flexibility to school districts who have their own culture, business processes and traditions.

Could a centralized state-run system be vulnerable to outages?  A system of this size is typically designed with a great deal of redundancy to prevent system downtime, but this does not preclude such systems from glitches or bugs that cause major problems across the state.  Distributed statewide systems are much less vulnerable to these sorts of problems.

These concerns have been enough to dissuade many school districts from moving to a
“free” centralized state-run system.

• In Maine, three years after the state began implementation of a centralized state-run system, over half of the districts in the state have not migrated, opting instead to pay annual maintenance and support costs for their existing systems.  Others have recently migrated to other systems besides the centralized state-run SIS.
• In Montana, at least 34 public school districts have opted to not use the centralized state-run SIS, including five of the largest school districts in the state.  
• In South Dakota, schools have been using a centralized state-run system since 2002, but several school districts have yet to make the switch.  In March of 2009, Yankton School District selected a different system over the state-run system stating: “We look forward to integrating the web-based grade book, which is vastly superior to the other offerings in the educational technology market."  

The simple answer to the issues of student privacy and local control is to keep student data at the district level, creating a wall of separation between the state and local districts.  This approach has been implemented successfully in several states, including South Carolina and North Dakota where schools maintain their own SIS database with support from the state as needed.

Is this a political question?  You bet it is.  But the current trend suggests that the monumental decision of rolling out a centralized state-run system is being made by select groups of committee members in closed-door meetings.  In fact, in some states these committees are only consultative with no voting authority.  A final decision on a centralized state-run system is often made by a small group at the state level.

This sort of insular decision making rarely ends with successful implementations as frustration and confusion over the state’s agenda conflict with that of local school districts.  States can avoid controversy and nurture an atmosphere of cooperation by ensuring that their efforts include the following considerations:

1. How many districts have recently switched to new web-based systems?
2. What are the “switching again” costs for these districts?
3. Should the statewide system be optional to districts?
4. Is a “free” system effectively a mandate given the current budget climate?
5. To what degree can the state guarantee to cover costs for the statewide system for the next 5 years?
6. Does the proposed statewide system maintain a wall of separation between the state and local districts with districts maintaining their own SIS database?
7. Does the SIS provide an electronic records transfer system to move select student data between districts when a student transfers?
8. Does the SIS provide vertical reporting to the state for select data?
9. Does the statewide SIS committee have broad representation from across the state, including Superintendents, SIS Administrators, IT Directors, Principals, Office Secretaries and Teachers?
10. Does the statewide SIS committee have equal voting authority for the ultimate decision?

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Infinite Campus Review - February 2011

Posted by hshawjr at 4:56 PM 

Infinite Campus - How do I describe thee: the bain of my existence or absolutely indispensable? Very few computer programs will get so many differing opinions and so much emotion from educators and students, who are required to use it. Many hate Infinite Campus with a passion, while others love it see Infinite Campus as the answer to all of their problems. How do I feel about it? Let's see how I use it first.

Product Name: Infinite Campus District Edition
Company Name: Infinite Campus
Type: Web Application
Website: http://www.infinitecampus.com/pages/top_menu1/solutions.php

Company Product Description: " Infinite Campus provides districts with the integrated tools needed to streamline student administration, enable stakeholder collaboration and individualize instruction. The entire system is web-based so educators, parents and students have access to information from anywhere at any time. The system also serves as a district-wide data warehouse allowing student data to be entered once and used across the entire district supporting data-driven decision making.” from Infinite Campus' District edition page. 

Below is a screenshot of Infinite Campus:

How much does Infinite Campus cost? To use it as a teacher, parent or student - no cost, but it does cost $$$ for the Districts to purchase a License.

Is this the first time reviewing this product? I have never reviewed Infinite Campus in depth on my blog, I have mentioned it a couple of times.

Do my students have easy access the product? Yes, it is our school student management system and as long as they can remember/find their student number and password they can access Infinite Campus from any computer than connects to the internet.
Do I currently use Infinite Campus in my classroom? Yes, there is no choice in the matter, all teachers are required to use Infinite Campus at my school. 
Is Infinite Campus easy to use? In a word No. There are so many different components to learn and sometimes "hidden" commands to ensure that you have everything reportable can be frustrating at best. Infinite Campus is not something that you are able to sit down and simply start using without either prior training or help from someone who is knowledgeable of how it works. 
When I started using Infinite Campus in October 2009, I had no formal training in how to use it and have learned how I use it today by trial, error and bugging my IT department. I have tried to read the documentation, but it is difficult to follow and I just give up after a while. The best word that I can use to describe Infinite Campus is cumbersome and it while it is supposed to be an integrated reporting system, it feels as if it is a bunch of separate modules and projects that have been patched together over time to become the program it is today. My experience with Infinite Campus is that there is a long learning curve.
How does Infinite Campus apply to Special Education? The ability to easily use a program to access parent contact information, student data (schedules, grades, attendance) is a great help in completing your duties as a Special Education Case Manager. At this time Maine's version of Infinite Campus does not have the Special Education Module included as yet. Infinite Campus is a great way to quickly answer questions during a PET on a student's grades, their attendance history etc. are features that I have come to depend upon.

I like the contact log to document when I have contact with Parents, Case Workers, other teachers, etc about a student. It has saved my butt a couple of times, but at the same time it is cumbersome to get to and just isn't that easy to use, plus cutting and pasting is not recommended and it does not have the capability to forward an email into the system, like you can with Evernote or other management systems. Therefore, I don't use this feature as much as it should be used.

What I like: Infinite Campus provides a great deal of data regarding a student that is accessible in one location and I believe that all schools should give teachers access to information that they need to best serve the students that they teach, without having to re-invent the wheel every year/month/day.
I really like that it is cloud based and doesn't take up any space on my hard drive. This means that I can access Infinite Campus from any computer or location that has web access. Therefore, I can work from home and easily enter my grades, etc. into the program.
The Grade Book program is mostly straightforward to use and enter data into and you have a couple of different methods to enter the grades. There are a couple of peculiarities that you have to be careful about "right clicking to post grade", ensuring that the numeric is selected in lesson planner and a couple of other "things" that you find out about when grades or progress notes are due and Guidance is breathing down your neck to get the data in so they can process the data.
Student and parent access is a great feature that allows them to track the work they are missing, what the current grade is, upcoming events, etc. It alleviates much of the routine questions that teachers used to get regarding those issues.

What I don't like:

Infinite Campus is a Student/School data management system that appears to have grown from separate modules, that attempts to do everything that someone wanted at one time or another. At this point in time Infinite Campus appears to be in transition from a tree based database to tab based (which is not available in all the modules). In my opinion it has grown bloated with far too many features "that some see as necessary, but are they really? I personally would prefer to have a program that provides the basic data that teachers are required to input and have access too and then can be manipulated into higher level reports for those further up the food chain, but is much more user friendly than it is now.
There are some days when Infinite Campus is snappy and quickly gets you to where you need to go and there are other days that it is slow and/or unresponsive. When you have those days it is frustrating to use.
Another issue is that sometime you will hit save and it doesn't - it is a pain to have the secretary call and say "Did you do your attendance yet?" When you did and it didn't, like they believe you when you say, "Yes I did", but you have to do it again. Or to have your grades entered and then have to go back and redo them "again."

The lesson planner section is next to impossible to use effectively to help plan your activities. It seems it is there more to provide documentation to the grade book than it is to help teachers with lesson planning. You can not add images, videos or anything other than text into your lesson plan on Infinite Campus and in today's multi-media rich world, it just isn't enough to only use text. The copy lesson plan/lesson function is byzantine and is it the lesson planner, lesson, activity, the nomenclature is a little confusing at first It warns you to not copy and paste from Word into the lesson planner.


You have to input into your lesson planner before you can use the grade book - there is no quick add feature to the grade book.

I personally do not use this module any more than I have to, basically just in order to be able to input my student's grades into the grade book. Which is unfortunate because there are other lesson planner software that allow you to really plan your lessons, this module is it is a duplication of work that I do elsewhere and cannot use that data here.

Something that really bothers me a lot is on general student information screen, the lack of Special Education information available to regular education teachers. There is a small flag that indicates that a student is Special Education

actual sizeand no other information as far as classroom accommodations, goals, etc. I know that there is supposed to be a separate Special Education Module, but the regular educators need much more information than a small flag beside the word Special Ed for the students who receive those services. 
Maybe it will all be integrated and regular education teachers will have access to the Special Education module when it becomes available. Until that happens there must be a way to give those teachers more information about what they need to know to provide better instruction for those students who receive special education services.
These are my biggest gripes for me at the teacher level.

The reality is that I hear a great deal of grumbling and complaining from other teachers and office staff (and others) about how difficult it is to use Infinite Campus at our level. I personally find it to be cumbersome and difficult to use at times and I have been using data base programs since the 1980's, it reminds me of a program that was state of the art in 1990's and has had new features or updates added to as the need arose and is a very powerful tool that due its difficulty of use, is not used as effectively as it could or should be..
I fully see the need and want to have a student data base system available to input and have access to student data. However, I want that database system to be intuitive and easy to use and on that requirement Infinite Campus does not succeed. I don't know if any school-wide data management system will ever be completely intuitive, but Infinite Campus does need to work on this - a lot.
I find myself avoiding Infinite Campus unless I have to use it, instead of it being a product that I want to use (which is the way it should be), because as I have said a good student data management system is necessary and the data does get used by everyone from the student to the Superintendent of the District.

Recommendation: If I was on a data base search/purchasing committee and dependent upon how the RFP was written, I would have a difficult time giving a thumbs up for Infinite Campus to be a District's choice for a School-wide data base system; strictly from my perspective as a Teacher and Special Educator, due to the reasons I have listed above.

I believe that Infinite Campus needs to be re-designed from the ground up (and there are rumors out there that Infinite Campus is doing just that), to get rid of the bloat, create a more intuitive experience and a tighter integration of the software as a whole. If so I look forward to their "new" Infinite Campus, because the old one, is tough for me to use at times, even though I do use it when I have to.

What have you done to make a difference today?

LINK: http://www.onefootinreality.com/2011/02/infinite-campus-review-february-2011.html