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Independent School District of Boise City
Dr. Steve Tyree
Chief Information Officer
Boise, Idaho
25,000 Students

Boise City Experiences the Value of an Integrated SIS
The Independent School District of Boise City serves over 25,000 students in the capital city of Idaho. In 2007, Dr. Steve Tyree, chief information officer (CIO), directed the search to replace its various freestanding data management programs. Infinite Campus® was chosen to help Boise City schools move into the 21st century of student management process and software. 

Needing Integration
Boise was looking for a student information system (SIS) that could eliminate paper grade books, achieve consistent data entry, increase accountability and engage parents through electronic communication in real time.

The district’s previous system used four to five different systems to do the kinds of things that are standard within Infinite Campus. For example, teachers had used a variety of grade book entry tools that were inconsistent and had very little, if any, connection to parents.

“We were looking for a single database system accessible via the Web to replace our aging SASIxp system,” said Tyree. “We wanted a completely integrated package that included a grade book and parent portal. The ability to track, report, analyze and communicate student assessments was also important.”

Selecting the Right Company
As the oldest district in Idaho and, for 100 years, the largest, Boise plays a leadership role in the state. When the time came to purchase a SIS, Tyree looked beyond the systems currently used in his region. His innovative approach in recommending Infinite Campus grew from a vision of taking advantage of 21st century technology to aid teachers and administrators.

“Our district has always tried to identify what our needs are. Whether it is a text book or bus, we ask what our district needs and then make a commitment to finding a system that is best aligned to meet those objectives,” says Tyree. “Whether or not anyone else is using that system is not as high a priority to us.”

A district-wide selection committee of 65 people was created including both secondary and elementary administrators, teachers, health care professionals, transportation, school lunch, and IT staff. During the yearlong search for a data management system, Boise set up a Web page to elicit comments from stakeholders and demonstrate accountability in the purchase of a new system.

After evaluating functionality and cost, Infinite Campus was chosen to serve Boise’s sixty sites. According to Tyree, “Infinite Campus was obviously built as a web-based application from the beginning. It is totally integrated and shows what we thought was the best industry model when compared to the others we considered.”

Advantages of Infinite Campus
“One of the things we love about Infinite Campus is that it’s seamless,” said Tyree. “None of the components are forced to fit together – rather they were made to work together. We feel Infinite Campus is providing us with a long term, modern, integrated and comprehensive solution.

We are getting more from our investment in Infinite Campus than we would have with anyone else.”
Using Infinite Campus, administrators enjoy single point data entry and teachers, counselors, administrators, parents and students all have real time access to information vital to all stakeholders.

“Teachers and staff have worked hard in adjusting to the new system and its comprehensive capabilities,” says Tyree. “Once they know what they can do with Infinite Campus and how it is different from what they did before, it works great.”

Teachers can enter assignments, grades, assessment information and progress within standards-based or traditional grading parameters from school or home at their convenience. Access to the system by teachers, students and parents through the Campus Portal has been a major plus of the Infinite Campus transition.

“We thought the Campus Portal was the best by far,” said Tyree. “Parents absolutely love it,” said Tyree. “We’re in the process of restructuring our district strategic plan, and in the parent comment section, several parents stated how much they appreciate having consistent, ongoing, and timely information about their student.”

The fact that information is transparent to parents is changing how the district manages data. “It brings a higher level of accountability to administrators and teachers to enter information accurately and in a timely manner,” said Tyree.

And web-based scheduling was easy. “We were a little nervous when we first started,” said Tyree. “But after the demonstration, we decided to do scheduling in all secondary schools. It went great.”

Data-driven Decision Making
Recognizing the administrative advantages of an integrated SIS, Tyree says, “We want to use all this collected data for district-wide and classroom decisions. Our central administrative staff feels there is a level of transparency provided by Infinite Campus that has never been there before. When they begin the process of staffing this year, they will know exactly how many students are in each school and in each class, and we will be assured our staffing is most efficiently aligned.”

In addition, Boise will be able to design ad hoc reports using information within Infinite Campus for district management and communication. Campus ad hoc and reporting features will allow the district to customize reports to meet their unique needs. The district is especially interested in developing customized reports for processing student assessment data. This will allow district staff to analyze student performance and make instructional decisions based on a common base of student data.

Support with State Reporting
Infinite Campus provides Boise administrators with built-in state reporting capabilities and works with the district to customize state reporting to meet Idaho requirements.

Boise is now ready for its second state reporting cycle and, according to Tyree, “After making some adjustments to our internal business practices, state reporting went well. Infinite Campus is working just fine and is doing everything it is supposed to do. We push a button and out comes the data. We’re very excited about our next state reporting period.”

Roadmap to the Future
After the first six months of success with Infinite Campus, Boise is ready to look to the future. “There are a few features I know people are going to love,” said Tyree. “Our state’s new intervention program that requires tracking of students’ progress is a perfect fit to the Campus PLP module. We’ll be working on that soon. I believe staff will find these kinds of features a tremendous value.

Campus Scheduling is the next step. Staff training has begun and Tyree is optimistic. “Campus Scheduling was one of the selling points in the initial demonstration,” says Tyree. “Scheduling is a tremendously complex process regardless of how you do it. But what we saw of Campus Scheduling convinced us it was the best of the five programs we considered.”

Having a truly integrated system, as well as the personalized support and services that Infinite Campus provides, will help Boise City accomplish its educational goals today and for years to come.