Statewide Student Information System (SSIS)

 

Latest Update - May 2, 2013

This morning, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) responded to the protest filed on February 15, 2013 by Skyward, Inc. regarding the state's letter of intent to award a contract for the statewide student information system (RFP #PA1150422).

After carefully reviewing the protest filed by Skyward, the DPI has found that Skyward's protest lacks merit, and that no law was violated in the RFP process. As such, the DPI denies Skyward's request to vacate the department's intent to award a contract for the statewide student information system to Infinite Campus.

The DPI conducted a thorough review of the protest in reaching this conclusion. In addition, the DPI obtained the services of an independent outside consultant, former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice and Marquette University Law School Professor Janine Geske, to ensure the DPI properly and appropriately reviewed and responded to the protest.

Per Wis. Admin. Code § Adm 10.15, the protester may appeal this decision to the Secretary of the Department of Administration (DOA) within 5 working days of issuance of the procuring agency's decision. The DOA secretary, or designee, shall take necessary action to settle and resolve the protest and shall promptly issue a decision.

We will continue to keep everyone informed through this website as the process continues.

Click here for more information.

 

February 2013 Update

The Request for Proposals (RFP) process was run and managed by the Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA), following state procurement rules and guidelines.

All proposals for this RFP underwent an exhaustive review process by a knowledgeable, experienced evaluation committee (Committee) to ensure the organization selected was in the best interest of the taxpayers. In addition, an independent third party monitored the RFP evaluation process, and declared that the process was open, fair, impartial and objective, and consistent with the RFP criteria.

Click here to view the SSIS History and Timeline PDF.

Click here to view a PDF with details on the background of the SSIS project and answers to questions about the process.

Based on the Committee’s review of proposals, a letter of intent to award the contract for the SSIS was issued to Infinite Campus. Details can be found in DOA’s news release: http://www.thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/0201doa.pdf.

If you have additional questions regarding the SSIS procurement process, contact the Department of Administration via DOACommunications@doa.state.wi.us.

How can a district sign up?

The first set of school districts to implement the SSIS will start their migration soon after the contract award.  School districts will implement the SSIS in groups over the next five years. Each district’s full implementation will take no more than a year.

If you are interested in participating in the SSIS implementation please click here.  You will be asked to provide us with some basic information about your district indicating when you would like to participate in the project. This communication will prompt the SSIS Implementation Team to provide you with materials to help your district prepare for the conversion to the new SSIS. The information provided here is to indicate preference and is not a commitment or guarantee of the timeline selected. 

 

What is a Student Information System?

A student information system is the core software for operating a school district. It Involves:

  • Handling the admissions process
  • Enrolling new pupils
  • Automatically creating class & teacher schedules
  • Handling records of tests, assessments, grades and academic progression
  • Maintaining records of absences and attendance
  • Recording communications with pupils
  • Maintaining discipline records
  • Providing statistical reports
  • Communicating pupil details to parents through a parent portal
  • Special education/individualized education program (IEP) services
  • Pupil health records

 

Why a Statewide SIS?

Wisconsin is uniquely organized for this sort of solution with a large collection of relatively small districts.

  • Extends SIS features beyond what many districts have now
  • Ensures equity in such systems across the entire state
  • Eliminates many separate state reporting tasks for districts, thus reducing operational costs
  • Eliminates repeated tasks every district performs, e.g., updating software, databases, servers, etc.
  • Allows much more timely access to student data: “yesterday”, versus the current system which is “last year”
  • Improves efficiency of student records handling
    • All student records in SSIS will transfer with a single click
    • Teachers and other educators will have needed information for instruction on day 1
    • No more school clerical staff mailing student folders from district to district
  • Return on investment in under one year; school districts reporting $30M+/yr. now; with SSIS, license fees should discount sharply
  • Technology scales well; 1,000 vs. 1,000,000 students - same system
  • Technology advances, e.g., bandwidth, cloud computing

The overall goal is to establish the SSIS as core to a statewide data warehouse. This warehouse will store and allow access, through the WISEdash reporting tool, to:

  • the coursework and transcript data,
  • the new Smarter Balanced Assessment System,
  • a proposed educator resource portal called WISElearn
  • and other systems.

All systems will be tightly integrated.

For questions about this information, contact Lisa Jo VonAllmen (608) 267-9222