District 204 buying new information system

When repairs are needed for Indian Prairie School District 204’s student information system, officials have to go hunting for spare parts.

First purchased in 1986, the system’s hardware was updated in 2002 and is no longer available. “If something breaks, we’re using spare parts,” said Jay Strang, assistant superintendent of instructional services. “I think we’ve gotten our mileage out of this system.”

The school board this week voted to purchase a new student information system, including software for special education plans and support services, for about $1.9 million from SunGard. The new system will be installed over 16 months with different features being available for use during that time until it is fully functional.

The student information system will be used for such things as tracking attendance, disciplinary information, grades and test scores to compiling that information into reports that can then be analyzed. It will also be used to keep track of education plans for special education students and to compile state reports. In addition, students will be able to register for classes through the system, and parents will be able to go to one place for information like sports practices and grades. “We know how much our community values timely information with as little effort on their part to provide information,” said Stanley Gorbatkin, director of technology services.

Beside receiving information easily, the system also will help parents give information to their schools more efficiently. “Our current registration process is very paperwork intensive,” board President Curt Bradshaw said. “You fill in your address and critical information multiple times over.”

Staff members noted the system will cut back on such repetition, with parents being able to do many things through the system including registering their children for school and signing up for conferences.

Also, schools will be able to more easily craft reports from student test scores to better uncover strengths and weaknesses. That information then is used by teachers who can target specific students who need help or to tweak curriculum. Now, school officials are creating the reports on their own in their efforts to improve students’ test scores.

“We’re getting more and more data driven in terms of our decision making,” board member Alka Tyle said. “What I think is that this will allow us to make a big leap in that area. It’s a big investment, this system. But the benefits that it will accrue in the long-term are very significant.”

The first step will be to make sure that 10 to 12 years of data in the current system is “scrubbed” or cleaned up in a format that can be transferred to the new system. That work will be complete by August. Then, the district plans to use the new system to register middle and high school students for the 2012-2013 school year.