A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION directing a comparative study of the STIDistrict and Infinite Campus information management systems.
WHEREAS, accurate data is critical for policy-making, budgetary planning, and program management and improvement; and
WHEREAS, an educational information management system should provide a seamless methodology for collecting the data needed by the local school district, the state, and the federal government; and
WHEREAS, an educational information management system should provide the highest levels of security for the data collected; and
WHEREAS, an educational information management system should generate timely data in a manner that is functional, efficient, and user-friendly and eliminates redundancy for all users of the system; and
WHEREAS, an educational information management system purchased for use in the Commonwealth should be cost-effective and include the training and other supports needed by system users; and
WHEREAS, selected pilot districts in Kentucky testing the Infinite Campus information management system have repeatedly expressed frustration utilizing Infinite Campus in comparison with their experience with the STIDistrict information management system;
NOW, THEREFORE,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Senate concurring therein:
Section 1. Staff of the Legislative Research Commission shall conduct a study of the STIDistrict and the Infinite Campus information management systems in order to ascertain the relative merits and costs associated with implementing each system.
Section 2. The designated staff shall coordinate the collection of information from the Department of Education, local school districts, information management system vendors, and other sources necessary for completion of the study.
Section 3. At a minimum, the study report shall include:
(1) A comparison of the similarities and differences between the features and capabilities of the STIDistrict and Infinite Campus information management systems. This comparison shall specifically reference utility and efficiency in collecting data necessary for district, state, and federal program reporting;
(2) A statement of the total cost projections for the phase-in of the Infinite Campus, including the cost of training;
(3) A projection of the comparative costs for fully implementing the STIDistrict or the Infinite Campus information management systems with equivalent features;
(4) A list of which states use STIDistrict or Infinite Campus for information management;
(5) A summary of the perceived benefits and challenges of each system collected from a sampling of Kentucky users; and
(6) Recommendations for consideration by the Department of Education that relate to improving assistance to local districts in the implementation of contracted educational information management systems.
Section 4. The study shall be completed by October 1, 2009, with a written report presented to the Interim Joint Committee on Education by November 1, 2009.
Section 5. Provisions of this Resolution to the contrary notwithstanding, the Legislative Research Commission shall have the authority to alternatively assign the duties identified herein to an interim joint committee or subcommittee thereof, and to designate a study completion date.
LINK: http://www.lrc.ky.gov/RECORD/09RS/HC125/bill.doc
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Infinite Campus Heartburn Continues
State’s student tracking software has major problem
Infinite Campus is the new student tracking software program that the Kentucky Department of Education just brought on line.
– Well, sort of.
It turns out the software is fouling up the calculation of absolutely critical average daily attendance figures for every school district in Kentucky.
Those figures are essential because a significant amount of the money that each district gets from the state is determined from them.
Henry County Schools superintendent Tim Abrams indicated to his board that they need to get this fixed by May 30th to stay on track for submitting next year’s budget.
Right now, just in Henry County they get numbers anywhere from 1920 to 2000 when they run the average daily attendance calculation. That 80 student difference might not sound like a lot until you realize this is just for one district, and with current state revenue for Henry County running $5,440 per pupil, the difference could change what this small district gets by nearly half a million dollars next year.
Chalk another one up for “Infinite Heartburn.”
Infinite Campus is the new student tracking software program that the Kentucky Department of Education just brought on line.
– Well, sort of.
It turns out the software is fouling up the calculation of absolutely critical average daily attendance figures for every school district in Kentucky.
Those figures are essential because a significant amount of the money that each district gets from the state is determined from them.
Henry County Schools superintendent Tim Abrams indicated to his board that they need to get this fixed by May 30th to stay on track for submitting next year’s budget.
Right now, just in Henry County they get numbers anywhere from 1920 to 2000 when they run the average daily attendance calculation. That 80 student difference might not sound like a lot until you realize this is just for one district, and with current state revenue for Henry County running $5,440 per pupil, the difference could change what this small district gets by nearly half a million dollars next year.
Chalk another one up for “Infinite Heartburn.”
Infinite Campus Student Software Security Issue?
Student changes grades in a school’s computers
The Courier-Journal is reporting on a student who is being denied access to her graduation ceremonyafter she conspired with another student to change grades in the Jeffersonville High School’s computer system.
While this incident apparently took place up in Indiana, it provides another case in point that some students will work very hard to compromise computer systems – especially those that have things like their grades in them – and there is a history of students sometimes succeeding.
We need to insure that Kentucky’s new Infinite Campus computer system, which now tracks student grades here, is more robust than the system used in Clark County, Indiana. Infinite Campus holds a lot more sensitive information besides just student grades, and a compromise could have serious consequences for parents as well as their student children.
(Corrects earlier version of this post which assumed the high school in question was in Kentucky as the Courier article did not identify the state where the school is located)
The Courier-Journal is reporting on a student who is being denied access to her graduation ceremonyafter she conspired with another student to change grades in the Jeffersonville High School’s computer system.
While this incident apparently took place up in Indiana, it provides another case in point that some students will work very hard to compromise computer systems – especially those that have things like their grades in them – and there is a history of students sometimes succeeding.
We need to insure that Kentucky’s new Infinite Campus computer system, which now tracks student grades here, is more robust than the system used in Clark County, Indiana. Infinite Campus holds a lot more sensitive information besides just student grades, and a compromise could have serious consequences for parents as well as their student children.
(Corrects earlier version of this post which assumed the high school in question was in Kentucky as the Courier article did not identify the state where the school is located)
Does Infinite Campus Cause NCLB Scoring Errors?
Monday, September 28, 2009
NCLB Scoring Errors?
The new Kentucky No Child Left Behind (NCLB) scores for 2009 have been out less than a week, but at least two school districts are already questioning their reports.
The most recent situation was covered by the News-Graphic from Georgetown. Under the title,“Schools score 94.7 percent, fail No Child Left Behind” (Subscription), the newspaper includes comments that the Scott County Public School District found mistakes in the number of its learning disabled students in the new report.
Per Scott County, the NCLB report shows 188 more learning disabled students than are actually in the system. I calculate that figure would be more than 30 percent too high, based on the number of learning disabled students in the system one year earlier.
This error could point to a number of problems, but the leading suspect at this point is the Infinite Campus student tracking computer program. This is a program with teething pains, as we have noted before.
Scott County isn’t the only school district with concerns. The first school system to question the new NCLB results is the Barren County School District. According to the Glasgow Daily Times, the district’s director of Instruction and Techonology, Benny Lile, spotted some “discrepancies” which the paper didn’t discuss further.
I called Mr. Lile, who has a long history of service to state education as the past chair of the statewide School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Committee. He indicated the problem in Barren County also concerns questionable numbers of students who were reported as learning disabled.
It will be interesting to see if more districts have similar problems.
As an aside, I also talked to Mr. Lile about how Barren County is handling the new testing data. He is going to be doing a good job with that task. His district will take a detailed look at the data broken down by individual test and by student subgroup performance. I think that is exactly what the legislature intended when they disbanded the CATS accountability system with its overly simplistic single-score-for-everything approach, which just wound up hiding lots of problems.
Lile’s district isn’t going to do anything with the unofficial, CATS-like number called the “Transition Index” that a consortium of private groups concocted this year. Lile recognizes that single number can hide all sorts of underlying problems and mostly just serves to confuse the public about what is really going on in their public schools.
The most recent situation was covered by the News-Graphic from Georgetown. Under the title,“Schools score 94.7 percent, fail No Child Left Behind” (Subscription), the newspaper includes comments that the Scott County Public School District found mistakes in the number of its learning disabled students in the new report.
Per Scott County, the NCLB report shows 188 more learning disabled students than are actually in the system. I calculate that figure would be more than 30 percent too high, based on the number of learning disabled students in the system one year earlier.
This error could point to a number of problems, but the leading suspect at this point is the Infinite Campus student tracking computer program. This is a program with teething pains, as we have noted before.
Scott County isn’t the only school district with concerns. The first school system to question the new NCLB results is the Barren County School District. According to the Glasgow Daily Times, the district’s director of Instruction and Techonology, Benny Lile, spotted some “discrepancies” which the paper didn’t discuss further.
I called Mr. Lile, who has a long history of service to state education as the past chair of the statewide School Curriculum, Assessment and Accountability Committee. He indicated the problem in Barren County also concerns questionable numbers of students who were reported as learning disabled.
It will be interesting to see if more districts have similar problems.
As an aside, I also talked to Mr. Lile about how Barren County is handling the new testing data. He is going to be doing a good job with that task. His district will take a detailed look at the data broken down by individual test and by student subgroup performance. I think that is exactly what the legislature intended when they disbanded the CATS accountability system with its overly simplistic single-score-for-everything approach, which just wound up hiding lots of problems.
Lile’s district isn’t going to do anything with the unofficial, CATS-like number called the “Transition Index” that a consortium of private groups concocted this year. Lile recognizes that single number can hide all sorts of underlying problems and mostly just serves to confuse the public about what is really going on in their public schools.
Infinite Campus Errors Causes Heartache in Kentucky
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Knox County – Corbin Independent Schools deal just got MUCH bigger
We’ve been covering the loss of parental choice options because of the Knox County Public Schools’ recent cancellation of their long-standing student transfer agreement with the Corbin Independent School District since January.
Initially, it looked like around 160 or so kids would be forced to return to Knox County schools, but a new announcement says that number is in serious error.
The problem is that the Infinite Campus student tracking computer system (which we have raised concerns about before such as here, here and here) had many address errors.
Now, it looks like over 400 students are impacted, which could cause serious repercussions for the Corbin Independent School District if it looses that many students.
According to enrollment data from the Kentucky Department Of Education’s Growth Factor Report, Ethnic Membership By District And Grade, for School Year 2009-2010, the entire enrollment in Corbin Independent was only 2,681 students for that recent school term. If this small district suddenly looses over 400 students, the sudden enrollment drop of 15 percent could be devastating.
If those kids were being forced into a better school system, this might be justified, but as we have pointed out before, when it comes to graduation rates, middle school EXPLORE and high school ACT test scores, No Child Left Behind performance, and increasing performance and participation on the Advanced Placement tests, the facts are that Corbin Independent provides a much better education than Knox County does.
Given the sudden surprise about how many kids are impacted, look for this battle to get even more heated as Knox County’s lust for power faces off against what is best for (a lot more) students.
Initially, it looked like around 160 or so kids would be forced to return to Knox County schools, but a new announcement says that number is in serious error.
The problem is that the Infinite Campus student tracking computer system (which we have raised concerns about before such as here, here and here) had many address errors.
Now, it looks like over 400 students are impacted, which could cause serious repercussions for the Corbin Independent School District if it looses that many students.
According to enrollment data from the Kentucky Department Of Education’s Growth Factor Report, Ethnic Membership By District And Grade, for School Year 2009-2010, the entire enrollment in Corbin Independent was only 2,681 students for that recent school term. If this small district suddenly looses over 400 students, the sudden enrollment drop of 15 percent could be devastating.
If those kids were being forced into a better school system, this might be justified, but as we have pointed out before, when it comes to graduation rates, middle school EXPLORE and high school ACT test scores, No Child Left Behind performance, and increasing performance and participation on the Advanced Placement tests, the facts are that Corbin Independent provides a much better education than Knox County does.
Given the sudden surprise about how many kids are impacted, look for this battle to get even more heated as Knox County’s lust for power faces off against what is best for (a lot more) students.
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