Turner Unified School District 202 (Turner USD), located near Kansas City (KS), had used SASIxp for five years. When they began to search for a new vendor, they were looking for an integrated, Web-based student information system (SIS) that could provide single-point data entry to increase data quality and save time. Infinite Campus® was selected to accomplish this goal.
District-wide Access
With its legacy system, Turner USD had silos of information across the district that did not transfer data between buildings, increasing data entry time and the possibility for errors.
“Students who transferred between buildings would have to be re-entered into the new building’s system, which led to multiple copies of student information scattered throughout the district,” says Michael Koonce, Turner Middle School Principal. “As a result, information for a family would be updated in one building, but not for other members of the same family in a different building.”
This problem is now solved. Demographic information is entered by one person and is automatically updated for all enrolled family members across the district. The result is consistent and reliable data available to all district staff.
Reporting Made Easy
Turner USD uses Infinite Campus to extract and submit a variety of data sets for state reporting purposes. There are five data collections annually in Kansas, including information on new students, state testing, title reports, end-of-year reports and graduation status. With Infinite Campus, reporting is accurate and on time.
“The multitude of available reports in Infinite Campus, and the ease of creating new ad hoc reports, have given us access to a wealth of information. We are still finding new ways to use all of it,” says Koonce. “The reporting capability with state requirements helps us to consistently submit required data in a timely manner.
Stakeholder Benefits
To be effective, an SIS must provide accessibility and functionality to all stakeholders.
Administrators
Administrators find that real-time data access permits them to compare behavior, attendance, assessments, scheduling and grade information to make effective decisions. Budgets and reporting are easily tracked and administrators can analyze trends and adjust district policy proactively.
“As a principal, I can determine if there are significant correlations that drive a particular pattern for an individual or a trend for a group of students through a variety of reporting programs,” says Koonce. “I am pleased with the ability to access, analyze and evaluate information through Infinite Campus.”
Teachers
Previously, Turner USD teachers could not work on grades or lesson plans at home without contacting a technician for help. Now teachers have the ability to work from any computer with Internet access, any time of the day.
Viewing all family contact information in one place has been helpful in the classroom. The seating chart with pictures has been a welcomed time-saving tool, and the student summary report is now consistently used during parent-teacher conferences.
”Teachers can set up a grade book for the entire year within 30 minutes using the Campus Lesson Plan copy feature and mass assign grades through the use of Campus Grade by Student or Grade by Task features, both of which have a fill-down option,” says Koonce. “This is especially important for teachers who give daily participation grades. Teachers say ‘this is so much better, much faster and much easier.’”
Students
Having the capability to complete scheduling requests, find homework assignments, and check grades online, students are now more accountable for their own success. Koonce states, “Student’s ownership of their performance has risen tremendously since we began using Infinite Campus.”
Parents
Campus Portal allows parents to stay up-to-date on their child’s academic progress, attendance, and lunch accounts, as well as important school notices. Communication with teachers is also readily accessible to discuss both student successes and challenges.
Integrated Premium Products
Campus Messenger with Voice is used frequently at Turner USD to send updated district information on meetings, parent/teacher conferences and individual building events. It allows the district to select recipients for the message and to send one message to a household, rather than calling the household for each student. In addition, they can expedite calls in an emergency, whether it’s a weather-related school closing or something more serious.
Campus Food Service has made the cafeteria process more efficient. “Parents can see student account balances on the portal. They can send money to a household account that can be divided between students, if they have more than one in the district,” says Koonce. “Campus Food Service can also use Campus Messenger with Voice to send reminders when account balances are low.”
Begin with Effective Data Management; End with Student Success
Since going live in July 2005, Turner USD has come to rely on Infinite Campus to manage information to improve processes, increase data accuracy and positively impact student achievement.
Looking ahead, Koonce says, “We continue to find new ways to use Infinite Campus. We are eager to be a part of its evolution as even more program updates and features become available. We are currently exploring the IEP data management section. We are excited about what Infinite Campus means for the future of Turner USD.”