Louisville, Kentucky,

98,000 Students

Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), serving more than 98,000 students with 154 schools in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, needed a Web-based student information system (SIS) with functionality and scalability to accommodate growth, improve ROI, streamline business practices, and support a staff of nearly 14,000. In 2007, Infinite Campus filled these needs and helped JCPS achieve cost savings.

Challenges
As a Great City School District and the largest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, JCPS has data management needs that are in direct proportion to its size. Tracking academic progress, attendance and transportation in a large district could prove to be a logistical nightmare.

JCPS serves nearly 28,000 Homeless Education, ESL and ECE students. Nearly 60,000 students are transported over 85,000 miles per day in 843 buses. And the district is still growing, so JCPS needed an SIS to manage these complex data requirements today and for years to come.

Solution

As JCPS increases enrollment, Infinite Campus is prepared. To keep pace with this growth, internal software architecture must be designed correctly as retrofitting features after the fact can be costly and time consuming. Infinite Campus system designers have developed and adapted technologies that permit growth without undue cost.

JCPS acknowledges that the challenges of a large district presented no difficulty for the developers, trainers, and support staff at Infinite Campus.

According to Cary Petersen, JCPS Executive Director of Information Technology, “Infinite Campus has been an outstanding organization to work with from the Campus Project Manager to the CEO. They have helped us succeed in a very difficult situation. I am sure the benefits will be noticed by all districts in Kentucky in a very short period of time, whether it’s a district of 100 or 100,000 students.”

In addition, JCPS has benefited from the functionality of Infinite Campus. They can see multiple years in one system, to customize screens, fields and reports, to easily integrate legacy systems and to offer home access to students, parents and staff.

Prior to going live with Infinite Campus, JCPS had to assign staff to set up computers with client software to access its student information system. Mac users required special software that had to be purchased and installed separately. Thanks to the functionality of the Web-based system, set-up costs have been eliminated and all employees can access the system.

“Web-based access for employees has been greatly appreciated by our staff,” said Craig Garrison, JCPS Advanced Systems Manager. “They can do their work after hours or even during basketball games.”

Results
In a large district such as JCPS, waste is inevitable unless its SIS is Web-based, integrated, and capable of growth as necessary. Unnecessary system redundancy means reduced ROI, delayed communication, the use of unnecessary personnel and inefficient data management.

“We have saved millions in maintenance and support costs with Infinite Campus,” acknowledged Garrison.

Through the scalability of Infinite Campus, JCPS no longer maintains two different databases for their 154 schools. Infinite Campus enabled JCPS to completely restructure their school year without a major system change.

“The biggest savings has been seen with support,” said Petersen. “We had staff assigned to setting up computers with client software for access to the SIS and since Infinite Campus is Web-based, we no longer need to send staff out to schools and offices for setup.”

Scheduling 98,000 students, nearly a third of whom are enrolled in special programs and necessitate additional tracking for district, state and federal reports, requires a system adaptable to constantly changing needs.

“The design of the student management system is important. It must have all the parts of the system work as one,” said Petersen. “Not having integration throughout the system can mean double entry or missing data. With Infinite Campus, we have a comprehensive system. We have 24x7 access to information; even the ability to locate a student using a wireless device. It is helping everyone do their jobs better.”