February 2003 — Applications
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Portage Public Schools Touts Excelsior Software's Open Database Architecture Solution
Results Tell the Story
As part of the system rollout, Portage Public Schools has also launched the Pinnacle Plus Parent Internet Viewer, which, according to Vomastek, has been enthusiastically adopted by both students and families. "We're supporting thousands of queries and that's just what we want," he says. "Students and parents are using this real-time information to take ownership of student achievement."
At the same time, Portage Public Schools continues to train its staff to use more of the system's functions, including the electronic report card capability, which district officials expect will save significantly in printing, mailing and handling costs. In addition, the district is extending the number of subject areas in which standards-based assessment will be used, and is continuing the process of incorporating more of its core subject benchmarks. On the reporting front, the district now uses Pinnacle Plus to extract attendance and other data for Michigan's "Successful Completion of Classes" credits program and the state's new funding-related school "report card" requirements.
"Our vision was to find and implement a true, enterprise-wide grade control and reporting system with one comprehensive software solution," says Vomastek. "Our ability to extract data from Pinnacle system's open source DDM database represents a huge time savings for our staff. We could not accomplish this with the static reporting capabilities of a canned data-mining tool. Excelsior's service and support have been a true asset, and together we're working on the next generation of functions Portage Public Schools will need. We've made a 'future-proof' decision, and our students are the true beneficiaries over the long term."
Visit Portage Public Schools online at www.portageps.org.
Contact Information
Excelsior Software
Greeley, CO
(800) 473-4572
www.excelsiorsoftware.com
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