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Weatherford Independent School District
Amy Rankin
PEIMS Coordinator
Weatherford Independent School District
Weatherford, Texas
7,612 students

Infinite Campus Simplifies PEIMS Reporting for Weatherford
Weatherford ISD (Texas) was facing many limitations with their outdated student information system (SIS). They needed a web-based, fully integrated SIS that could provide accurate documentation for PEIMS reporting. Infinite Campus® gave Weatherford more than an updated data management system; it offered solutions for increased communications, for data-driven decision making and for streamlining PEIMS reporting.

Facing the Challenges
Weatherford had been using a mainframe database system that could not keep pace with their increased demands. For example, the system held only one year of data, so there was no historical information. Reporting was very limited; when running a report, it was not clear what data the report contained until the entire report was printed in hard copy.

“It was a waste of time and supplies…sometimes hundreds of pages,” said Amy Rankin, Weatherford’s PEIMS Coordinator. “The reports were also dependent on the service provider. When several districts were running many reports, we had to wait our turn.”

Finding Solutions
Having worked with multi-systems, different school structures, and silos of information that could not be effectively analyzed, Weatherford realized that an integrated system was essential. In the past, they had to shop around for different components and find ways to make them work together. With Infinite Campus, everything was right there in one system.
“We now have our student records, PEIMS records, grade book and parent portal all in one system.

They are updated in real time and integrated so anyone in the district who has rights to that information can see it at any time, from any place. It saves time, has increased accuracy, and allows us to spend our resources where it is most needed – with the students.”

Excellent for PEIMS Reporting
Infinite Campus houses all Weatherford’s student data. They can easily pull their data file to submit to PEIMS Edit Plus. “One very important benefit of Infinite Campus is that most of the data is date sensitive,” says Rankin. “We do not have to pull our data to a ‘frozen’ file on the PEIMS ‘as of date,’ but can continue to work with our live data. We tell the program to pull our data as it looked on the ‘as of date’ during the file extract.”

Another benefit of Infinite Campus is storing of historical data. Weatherford now has records dating back to their go-live year that will be available in perpetuity. This will provide a resource of information for future analysis to predict trends and make good decisions.

In addition, the built-in reports and ad hoc reporting function allows Weatherford to keep their PEIMS data clean throughout the school year. Rankin and her staff pull reports from the data so they can have an early look at the data to be submitted to PEIMS.

“This allows us to be proactive, monitoring our data throughout the school year,” says Rankin. “The TEA attendance reports give us a good idea of our PEIMS numbers during the school year, instead of waiting until April when the state reports are available in Edit Plus.”

Rankin also finds it helpful that the PEIMS codes have their description included in a field. The previous system would only have a code number. Infinite Campus lists the code number with the name or description of the code, which helps eliminate errors at the data-entry level.

Keeping Current on PEIMS
State reporting is complex, with constantly changing requirements. To support customers in state reporting, Infinite Campus designates a business analyst to work closely with PEIMS and with the Region 10 Education Service Center, a Campus Education Services Agency Partner that provides local service and support to Weatherford.

Twice a year, a Campus Business Analyst attends the PEIMS vendor trainings in Texas. In April, they learn about changes for the upcoming school year. In August, they review any further changes since April’s meeting.

In addition, the Campus Business Analyst works directly with the PEIMS coordinator at the state level to gain more in-depth knowledge about PEIMS and its reporting changes. They also provide updates and guidance to the individual districts. Having Campus Staff working diligently to keep up-to-date with PEIMS’ changes, Weatherford’s reports are accurate, on time and inclusive of current reporting requirements.

A Complete Package
Weatherford works closely with the Region 10 Educational Service Center for ongoing training for end users so they understand where their PEIMS data is pulling from in the system. They also help create and run scripts, saving Weatherford staff hours of time.

Weatherford has experienced tremendous improvement in their data management and PEIMS reporting. “Infinite Campus is excellent software for PEIMS reporting,” says Rankin. “Keeping our data clean throughout the school year allows Weatherford personnel the opportunity to spend our time doing other things for students.”

Campus Clerks at Weatherford can now devote more time to parent communication, and department clerks can assist in improving processes which impact student achievement.

“Beyond PEIMS reporting, there are many other great features about Infinite Campus,” says Rankin. “Teachers and administrators are excited about Campus Messenger and Campus Portal to increase communication to parents.”

With Infinite Campus, Weatherford is using dollars and time saved from more effective PEIMS reporting to help students succeed.