May 2008 — News
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Case Study: Data Warehousing at Hillsborough County Public Schools
Data in Viewpoint's huge student database is updated nightly, allowing authorized users immediate access to the latest student information, including demographic, assessment, and classroom reports. A student summary for every child includes years of specific assessment results and all of the student's class schedules for grades six and up. (Elementary schools do not currently store their grades electronically.)
The original drive behind the database project was a need to allow teachers, principals, and administrators easier access to student data. The district's student information system is housed on a mainframe, which precluded direct access by classroom teachers. A request for a report could take days or weeks.
In building the system, Holden has kept the needs of the district top-of-mind. "We've tried very hard to cater to our teachers," Holden said, because of the specific challenges they face in the district. "We have a large migrant population, as well as a large population of exceptional students." That kind of disparate student population means a need for teachers to have lots of detailed information on students immediately at their fingertips.
For example, one key piece of information that the Viewpoint system produces is information for teachers on how students performed on the most recent standardized test. Teachers can view each student's strengths and weaknesses, Holden said, while teachers or administrators can take a higher-level view, discerning patterns for grade levels, subject areas, and entire schools. With three to four years of student information visible, teachers can examine specific data and click on various areas to "drill down" and find patterns.
Teachers find the system so easy to use that they may consult it several times a day, Holden said. It's exceptionally useful, for example, during teacher conferences with parents, since a teacher can quickly access a child's information on a single student summary screen that includes all information, including grades, absences, demographics, and emergency contact information from the sixth grade on. Teachers, who do not enter any data into the system, but access it only, can also access information from home over an Internet connection.
The Viewpoint system links to the district's custom student information system, which is still housed on the district's mainframe computer. Data is maintained in the mainframe and imported and exported as needed to and from a variety of databases, including Viewpoint, a Lawson information system, and an LDAP directory.
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About the author: Linda L. Briggs is a freelance writer based in San Diego, CA.
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