Emmett, Idaho
2,568 Students

Emmett ISD 221, located in west-central Idaho, needed to upgrade its student information system (SIS) to better manage information and gain administrative efficiencies. Its legacy system, SchoolMaster, was not fully integrated, resulting in extra work and inaccurate data. The power of Infinite Campus integration gives Emmett the tools they need to improve processes, make informed decisions and increase communications.

Challenges
Without an integrated system Emmett’s resources were spread thin. With SchoolMaster, each school had its own database and they could not communicate to each other, requiring many people the time consuming task of entering and re-entering information. Data was inaccurate with duplicate students and student numbers. There was no way to get a district-wide view of student information for proactive interventions that would help keep students on track.

“District staff who needed access to all schools had up to nine different logins for each,” said Joanne Anderson, Emmett Data and Testing Coordinator. “And the system was not accessible outside the school network.”

Solution
State reporting is a mission critical process that must be executed with precision to ensure the district receives all of the funding to which it is entitled. Included in the core product, Infinite Campus has invested in the development and understanding of the ever-changing Idaho state reporting requirements. A dedicated group of professional business analysts constantly monitor state and federal reporting requirements and work
closely with customers to ensure they get what they need, when they need it.

In addition, Campus Special Education is included in the state reporting requirements for Idaho. This provides customers Idaho-specific special education features such as special education editors and forms for individual education plans.

“I don’t know how we would manage state reporting without the capabilities of Infinite Campus,” Anderson said. “They quickly react to changes required by the state so our reporting is accurate and on time.”

Making good decisions is at the core of a successful district. With Campus Reporting and Analysis, all data is integrated and easy to access. Because Campus houses multiple years of data, it is used for longitudinal analysis, to identify trends and to understand results. Reports can be generated right out of the system – no extracts year after year.

“Having access to historical data is really useful,” said Anderson. “And, with the included visualization tools, we can display data in grids and charts for a quick snapshot of what’s happening.”

Emmett recognizes the importance of engaging parents and students in the educational process. The Campus Portal allows parents and students to login to a student-specific page and access information on grades, assignments, behaviors, assessments, and more.

“Parents and students love the portal because they can see assignments, grades, and attendance as soon as they’re posted,” says Anderson. “With SchoolMaster our data was only refreshed once a day. Also, there is so much more information available on the Campus Portal to help keep parents and students informed.”

An additional convenience for staying up-to-date is the ability to access student information from a mobile device. Campus Mobile Portal is a fully-integrated, easy-to-use mobile app that displays schedules, upcoming assignments, attendance details and grades. Users can subscribe to the notification feature to push alert notices whenever an update is posted.

Results
The selection of Infinite Campus for Emmett has proven to be both cost effective and responsive to the needs of a modern district. The implementation and training went smoothly and the services and support have been helpful and responsive.

Infinite Campus was the best solution for Emmett. Staff and parents can access real-time information from any computer with Internet access, including the comfort of their home. As a truly integrated system, data is entered once and the potential for entry error is greatly reduced. Emmett has a unified solution that satisfies the needs SchoolMaster could not.