Our campus MTT unfortunately didn’t have a lot of knowledge about the questions that I had pertaining to how the district maintains it data. So I called the records management officer for the district, Chris Stone. Mr. Stone was quite nice about answering my questions he keeps a busy schedule not only in his position but, he volunteers quite a bit around the district in after school programs to help students become technologically savvy.
Q: What do we use for file sharing?
A: Each school has a server for file sharing. For middle school it is separated by department and grade level. Your MTT should have trained each department how to utilize this feature on the server. At the end of each school year the data management holds a training to show teachers how to save the files for the following year so that they are not deleted. Please be advised that all records that contain personal identifiable information are destroyed and recycled. By doing so we are guaranteeing compliance with state code.
Q: What does the district use for records management?
A: DallasISD has implemented two programs for records management district wide this school year. Chancery for attendance and registration and Gradespeed for student grades; although there were a few bugs in the inseption of both programs they have proven to be most beneficial to a district our size. For example instead of keeping up with paper files both programs have allowed us to back this information up digitally on our servers. Data management has also begun the process of taken the paper files and inputing the information into each respective program so that we can become completely paperless. It will take some time to complete the process. Due to budgeting issues IT has not been able to upgrade the data space on the district server, therefore everything will be a year or two behind until we can do so. The other management program we use for student data is MyDataPortal which holds all test scores from TAKS to ITBS. This record follows the student throughout the district. If they were ever to transfer outside of the district upon parent or campus request we can send this information electronically, instead of by paper as we have had to do in the past.
Q: How do you feel about the Project Share, www.epsilen.com , program that TEA is implementing statewide beginning this summer?
A: To be honest I am not that familiar with how this is suppose to work. The concept is one that I am sure students will benefit from as well as teachers. But the amount of work that it will place on the IT department of this district will be huge. Again back to budget cuts, as a district we have had to reduce positions in every department. For DallasISD to take on this project we are going to need more bodies and more internet speed since every campus, administrator, teacher, staff, and student will be expected to have a space. (if you didn’t know we had to downgrade our internet speed due to help the budget) The other issue I don’t think the state has considered is the vast difference we have in our schools when it comes to technology. Some schools are equipped others are not. I think that there are some campuses who will be missing out for the next year or two on this program. I do look forward to attending the training at Region X this summer to learn more about it.
As far as my recommendations go, the only one that I have for my district is to budget appropriately. I work in one of the schools that Mr. Stone talked about not being able to fully participate in the ProjectShare program that is suppose to launch this summer. We lack equipment and not to put down my campus MTT, but district knowledge on my campus. If I end up staying with my district next year I am interested in seeing how all of this will gel together.
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