Driggs, Idaho
1,650 Students

Teton School District 401 is located in the heart of the Teton Mountains. As a rural community, Teton needed a student information system (SIS) with up-to-date technology so the district could stay connected. When they discovered Infinite Campus, they were amazed at the system’s functionality. Today, with the help of Campus, Teton uses a completely Web-based product, and district stakeholders have real-time access to information.

Challenges
Teton used the outdated technology of SASIxp for more than 10 years. The system was not Web-based, so data could only be accessed from inside district walls.

According to Teton School District 401 Superintendent, Monte Woolstenhulme, “With SASIxp, it was very difficult to get any usable reports and information from the data. Only a few individuals in the district understood how to use the system, so sharing and compiling data was almost impossible.”

In 2010, Teton was notified that SASIxp would no longer be supported by its parent company, Pearson. The district staff saw this as an opportunity to look for a new SIS with updated technology.

During the selection process, three vendors were considered; Infinite Campus, Pearson and Skyward. After demoing each system, Infinite Campus was chosen for its fully-integrated, Web-based capabilities. Woolstenhulme stated, “We implemented Infinite Campus in August 2011, and it was the happiest month of my career!”

Solution
Teton saw instant benefits with their new SIS. “Immediately, we realized Infinite Campus was simple to access and user-friendly. Staff could easily find the data they needed,” Woolstenhulme remembered.

Infinite Campus was built from the group up as a completely Web-based system, not as a “Web-enabled” system that forced usability. According to Woolstenhulme, “Parents and students can access their information from anywhere with Internet, even from a smartphone.”

The Campus Portal is one of the most important and popular features of Infinite Campus. Parents and students have real-time access to grades, attendance, assignments, schedule information and much more. It allows parents and students to track academic progress, stay up-to-date with assignments and increase communication with teachers and staff. In addition, the new Campus Mobile Portal is an intuitive app that can be accessed from any Apple® iOS or Android® device. The mobile portal provides ‘push notifications’ that automatically alert users of grade, assignment and attendance changes.

An interesting story was related by Woolstenhulme, “A family from the south moved to Driggs this school year. The divorced mother has children in three different schools. The children’s father called from another state, and he asked for school information about each child. After verification of his identity and approval to access their information, he was given a username and password for the Campus Portal. He was blown away that he could access attendance, grades, assignments, and staff contacts at any time. In amazement, he shared he couldn’t believe a rural school in Idaho was using this type of technology, and that the Campus Portal was free for parents to use. This situation would not have been possible with our previous system. We are so thankful we upgraded to Infinite Campus!”

Results
Infinite Campus helps Teton streamline educational process, which in return, saves district stakeholder’s valuable time. “Accessing, storing and using data in all aspects of education is more and more a critical skill of educators today. Infinite Campus provides this for us, and allows our district to get data quickly, simply and efficiently,” said Woolstenhulme.

In addition, Infinite Campus has improved communication in the district with the Campus Portal. According to Woolstenhulme, “Students often demand access to the portal before parents do. It empowers student to take more ownership of their own education. This pressures teachers to grade assignments and enter scores into Campus more quickly, which increases the level of accountability.”

Woolstenhulme has become a huge advocate for Infinite Campus. “If you’re a district who may be looking to change your SIS, call other individuals, schools, districts and states using Infinite Campus. You’ll find they love the product, support and staff. I can share many stories about the dramatic improvements it has made at my schools. Infinite Campus presents a level of professional and technological ‘WOW’ that is rare to find, but hopefully will be found more and more.”