Wednesday, April 17, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NV - CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT: $22.3 million program 'just a pain' System stores information on students

By LISA KIM BACH REVIEW-JOURNAL

Just uttering the name of the Clark County School District's new student accountability network is enough to elicit groans from administrators who have spent the past year trying to tame the $22.3 million computer system.

On Tuesday, the most recent glitch caused by the Schools Administrative Student Information Software -- SASIxp -- showed up in the district's accountability report to the state. Information produced on student transiency and retention rates for elementary schools was incorrect, prompting district staff to re-release the same information with this footnote:

"Due to implementation of a new computer program, all retentions may not be portrayed in these percentages."

The errors are the latest in a string of SASIxp mishaps that have plagued secondary schools since August, when staff members had problems enrolling students, tracking attendance and producing accurate report cards.

High schools preparing seniors for graduation also are having difficulty getting correct credit counts on the system. Guidance counselors have resorted to using paper backups to track seniors who have passed the high school proficiency exam, a state requirement for earning a diploma.

"There are no proficiency results on SASIxp," said Pat Merselis, principal for the Community College High School campuses.

On its Web site, SASIxp's manufacturer, NCS Pearson, says the software "offers instant access to student demographics, attendance, discipline, grades, schedules, health, immunization, emergency, parent/guardian information and more."

Community College High School staff members haven't found that to be the case. They had to omit attendance figures from first quarter report cards because they couldn't get accurate information from the SASIxp system.

"Once they get the bugs out of the system, this will be wonderful," Merselis said. "But right now, it's just a pain."

The district chose SASIxp in 1997 to meet the requirements of the state's SMART Project, created by legislators to enhance the collection of student data from every school district in the state. Since then, the bill for implementing SASIxp has reached $22.3 million. About $10.5 million is state funding. The district has invested about $7 million in SASIxp and spent $4.7 million more on school retrofit and professional services to get the system up and running.

"We are now the largest SASIxp (user) in the world," said Philip Brody, assistant superintendent of technology and information systems services. "The scale has presented us with some problems. But the reality is, we just have to get through this first year of implementation."

Elementary schools switched to the SASIxp system in 2000-01. Data entered that school year resulted in errors in the newly released accountability report, Brody said. Although the transition for elementary schools wasn't smooth, Brody said problems were resolved fairly quickly.

Secondary schools, however, are enduring a rocky transition during the switch to SASIxp partly because of increased demands placed on the new system. Middle schools and high schools must enter class schedules, test scores, grades from different teachers and credits that might have been obtained at other campuses.

Training school staff to use the system further complicated matters. Many employees received training for SASIxp several months in advance because most secondary schools close for the summer. When they returned to work in August, school staff had just two weeks to get the system up and running.

"We've added additional people to our help desk, and we're increasing staff on the technical end," Brody said. "Things will get better."

Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Agustin Orci said an advisory committee of high school principals has been formed to work with Brody on SASIxp problems.

"It's been one of the most frustrating issues of the year," Orci said. "But it's getting easier to deal with."

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-- Anonymous, April 18, 2002