Minnesota District Picks New, Cheaper SIS
A
school district south of Minnesota's Twin
Cities will save $33,000 a year with a new student information system
(SIS).
In
July, the West
St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan
Area School District will begin using an SIS provided by Infinite
Campus. The
district chose the new system to provide better tools for
instruction and
data management than its current system.
Administrators
at the 4,900-student school
district began evaluating its current system last year by gathering
input from
teachers, staff, students and parents. It found via focus groups and
online
surveys that with its legacy system there were often redundancies in
entering
information and there were difficulties with navigating the system.
District
leaders said they believe the new Infinite
Campus system will give teachers and staff more access to data and more
reporting capabilities. They said it will provide a more intuitive
workflow and
streamlined processes.
The
district with eight schools reviewed six
systems before picking this one.
"We're
excited," said District Technology Director
Dave Sandum. "Their software will provide teachers and staff with easy
access
to data and give them better reporting capabilities, which they can use
to
modify their teaching and make better instructional decisions. The
product also
integrates well with the other systems we currently use, it has an
intuitive workflow
and a secure, robust functionality that will help us streamline
processes and
manage our student data."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.