Montrose, New York
2,800 Students

Hendrick Hudson School District (HHSD), in Westchester County, New York, has been a loyal Infinite Campus customer since 2008. During the last five years, they’ve taken advantage of the wide-spread functionality of the Infinite Campus student information system (SIS). In a recent doctoral dissertation executed by Mathew Swerdloff, HHSD Director of Technology, the district leveraged its resources by using fully-integrated tools of the core SIS. These tools included Campus Ad Hoc Reporting, Messenger and Assessments which saved the district huge amounts of time and money.

Using Campus for Doctoral Study
The focus of the dissertation investigated the specific effects of targeted English Language Arts (ELA) instruction using multimedia applications.

According to Swerdloff, “Student reading comprehension, student attitude toward computers, and student attitude toward school were measured in the study. It also examined the perceptions of selected students, and of the use of these applications. Additionally, targeted ELA instruction was compared to similar instruction of ELA skills with the addition of multimedia software applications. We were able to use modules of Infinite Campus to assist us in our research, analysis and communication throughout the study.”

Campus Ad Hoc Reporting
Using the Campus Ad Hoc Reporting Tool, HHSD manages data within Infinite Campus to define, filter, format and deliver information required for instruction, accountability, communication and more. An intuitive wizard-style query interface and WYSIWYG report editor finds data patterns to answer critical questions.

In the study, HHSD used the Campus Ad Hoc Reporting to identify student participants. Swerdloff then broke down the participants into subgroups to learn more about the sample characteristics. Variables included age and gender, as well as ELL status and free and reduced lunch eligibility.

“The flexibility and power of Ad Hoc Reporting enabled me to efficiently get the student data I needed,” said Swerdloff. “It was quick and easy.”

Campus Messenger
With Campus Messenger, HHSD can build, design and send emails for attendance notifications, school closings and more. It’s an effective way to communicate with district stakeholders.

HHSD needed to communicate with the parents of the students involved in the study. They used Messenger to accomplish this task. Swerdloff knew parent contact information was up-to-date because it’s seamlessly integrated with the core Infinite Campus system.

“We sent three emails to the parents,” explained Swerdloff. “First, we informed the parents about the study. Second, we asked them to sign a permission slip. And third, we thanked them for allowing their student to participate in the study. All three emails were smoothly delivered. Being able to quickly and easily communicate with parents gave me more time to focus on the study itself.”

Campus Assessments
HHSD uses Campus Assessments to capture a variety of test scores including teacher scored, school level, district level, state or national test scores. It allows an unlimited amount of summative, interim and formative data to be used as an indicator of student growth.

Swerdloff used Campus Assessment data to prepare for the study. He needed to identify any significant variations between the student groups.

“I was looking for any ‘red flags’ in the data,” said Swerdloff. “For example, I found that one school had a higher number of special education students compared to the other schools. Knowing this allowed me to vary my sampling technique for the study. Being able to access historical data was critical in the accuracy of our results.”

Positive Results
With the help of Infinite Campus, the study was very successful. According to Swerdloff, “We were able to use Infinite Campus to manipulate and analyze our data, as well as communicate effectively with parents. Since all of this could be done using the core tools, the study cost us nothing but our time! And the time spent was drastically reduced from efficient, user-friendly tools.”

HHSD benefits from the continuous innovation of Infinite Campus at no additional cost. Should the need arise for such an out-of-the box use of Infinite Campus again; they will be assured they have the most current, state-of-the art technology on the market.

“Infinite Campus really listens to our needs, and continues to make improvements to its SIS,” said Swerdloff. “I’m confident the most up-to-date technology is always available, so we can rely on them for our future needs.”