EDLD 5362 - Information Systems Management: Week3 SIS Evaluation

Areas To Address	Your Findings and Evaluation
Total Cost of Software Ownership (including reoccurring and ongoing costs)	According to Plano ISD’s SIS Project Manager, PISD runs multimillion dollar student information systems.  The Plano ISD technology department also has ongoing funding support in the following areas: -technology/curriculum support staff- $6,480,922 -staff development PDH courses- $1,033,022 -technology support staff (district based) and operating budget- $12,232,814
Software Features Set	Pinnacle: Pinnacle SIS has many features including; registration and enrollment, performance-based schedule management, demographics, attendance tracking, discipline management, grade management, health and immunization data, transportation information, test scores, assessment, programs, and athletics.  SAS: SAS SIS has many features including; student assessment, college readiness spreadsheets, student exams and diagnostic data, student learning growth charts, scale score distribution reports, final exam reporting, demographic summaries, and spreadsheets grouped by ethnicity, economically disadvantaged, and STAAR/TAKS scores.
Texas-specific Functionality	The SAS SIS allows teachers and administrators to view their students MAP testing scores from the BOY, MOY, and EOY.  It also houses the student literacy assessment data from IRIs, spelling diagnostics, and writing sample scores.  The system will display the assessment scores as a whole classroom, or individual student.  The MAP scores are broken down into specific content strands/skills.  This way it can pre-identify students in need of tier II and tier III instruction in every subject area.  It can also identify students who are highly gifted in specific subject areas.  As students move through the district from K-12, their SAS student profile will follow them too.  It is great that you can access a new student file as long as they cam from within Plano ISD.  Pinnacle allows teachers to input grades, and then allows for the parents to access this information.
Ease of Use and Reporting	SAS: From my own experience, SAS is somewhat user friendly.  Inputting the data can be a time consuming process.  You can easily print out student assessment data and student growth charts.  This is helpful for parent-teacher conferences.  It is also easy for the district office to view our testing information data for analyzing purposes.  Pinnacle: The Pinnacle SIS is very easy to use.  I have only seen a few maintenance issues throughout this year.  Teachers can easily print out report cards, progress reports, student assignment reports, missing assignment reports, class summary reports, and attendance reports.  Pinnacle makes it very easy to communicate with parents and students about how their student is progressing throughout the year.
Customer Support and Experience of the Support Staff	Customer support for SAS is offered through the PISD Help Desk, as well as, online manuals.  Support for Pinnacle is offered through live customer service, email, and online manuals. Feedback is usually given within the hour.  There is no additional charge for customer support as long as you are under contract.    According to a recent staff survey, 97% of our staff members feel that they have all or most of the technology tools they need to do their job (up from 92% in 2007).
Thorough User Training in the Software System	As new technologies are introduced into the classroom, training sessions are included in PISD’s implementation plan.  The district offers a multitude of courses tanging from introductory to advanced content specific experiences.  The district provides trainings during the workday, before and after school, during the summer months, and during regular and early release staff development days.  There is SAS and Pinnacle training offered at new teacher trainings at the beginning of each school year too.  There are also training materials located online at http://k-12.pisd.edu/ for easy access by all staff members to enable “just-in-time” training options.  On-site trainings are also available to review technologies on request.  The cost of providing this level of professional development is around $1,033,002 of district funds along with donated staff time after hours.