California Districts Tap Oracle BI for Student Reporting

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 04/01/10

Two school districts in financially parched California are working with Oracle to develop and implement state-mandated data systems using business intelligence software for managing and analyzing individual student data. Both Los Angeles Unified School District and Santa Ana Unified School District have implemented the company's Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus. This Oracle suite includes modules for ad-hoc query and reporting, dashboards, business activity monitoring and alerts, and other data analysis tools.

Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest district in the country with 615,000 students, has implemented a "MyData" initiative, which provides users with access to student performance and attendance data. The district expects the system eventually to be able to generate 300 reports covering a wide swath of data needs, such as California state test scores; assessment scores and performance levels in English/language arts; attendance data for mathematics, science, and social science; intervention history; discipline data; English learner status and level; and high school exit exam results.

The district hired Oracle system integrator eVerge Group, a Plano, TX company, to develop MyData, which pulls data from multiple internal sources and links to external systems, including a periodic assessment system and professional development resources.

"Our district is looking to support our teachers with more effective tracking systems to monitor student performance so that they can hone in on how best to help individual students," said Shahryar Khazei, interim CIO for the district.

Santa Ana Unified, with 54,000 students, is using the Oracle suite to establish a single source for student-related data, the district said in a statement. In the first phase of the project the district developed a model to provide access to student attendance and enrollment data that could be accessed by cabinet members, principals, and teachers. Since launching the attendance-tracking solution at the principal level in September 2009, SAUSD has increased average student attendance from 93 percent to 95 percent; the ultimate goal is 97 percent. Eventually, the district will implement dashboards to provide an overall picture of enrollment and daily attendance.

"With Oracle BI Suite EE Plus we are able to provide Web-based, personalized dashboards to everyone--from the cabinet level to principals and teachers," said Mobashir Mohammad, assistant director of IT. "This ultimately helps us support data-driven decision-making and transparency in a secure environment."