Schools To Switch Student Information System

By Adam Swift

Over the next year, the school district will be converting to a more efficient, robust student information system.

“I-PASS is the student information system that the school department has used for maybe 10 years now,” said Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard. “They have dwindled in their company from having multiple employees down to three. Their three employees do wonders for us and they help us.”

But Howard said, it has become increasingly difficult and time consuming to both enter and send the necessary numbers and information to the Department of Education, including the number of English Language Learner students, special education numbers, and transportation numbers.

“That all gets brought back to the Department of Education, and the end result of that data converts to money in the school district,” said Howard. “We have worked tirelessly to have that system be accurate. The amount of ground level work on the school side is now that we are being outpaced, and the second you let your eyes off of that system, you start to lose money.”

In addition, Howard said I-PASS no longer has the capability to handle the platforms that Winthrop uses in its schools, including curriculum and evaluation platforms. She said those platforms are web-based, and need to be integrated into the student information system.

“So what happens is we end up doing a lot of on-the-ground hand work and data entry into computers, which is wasting a lot of time with teachers and instruction,” said Howard.

The superintendent said the district looked at several options for a new student information system before settling on PowerSchool. Howard said the district has met with representatives from PowerSchool a half dozen times, and that the system has the kind of accuracy and flexibility that the Winthrop schools need.

The PowerSchool system costs $53,000 a year to run, which Howard said is less than the district is currently paying for I-PASS and a consultant.

“We are actually going to make out better in the long run,” said Howard.

The biggest hurdle in switching to a new student information system is the conversion piece, she added. It typically takes a full year to convert a full student information system because of all the data that needs to be extrapolated and the training involved in how to use a new system.

Howard said she will be further updating the School Committee on the conversion process as it gets underway.