Los Angeles Unified Hopes for a Good First Day Back to School

Oh boy.

I'm glad my kids don't go there, or a least my little kid. My 19-year-old graduated from Irvine High last year, and that was tough enough.

At the Los Angeles Times, "L.A. Unified looks for smoother tech operations this school year":

Getting students into the right classroom on the first day of school is a modest goal.

But it's a huge improvement over last year, when thousands of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District were left without class assignments and teachers couldn't even take roll.

Officials this week are trying to right two major technology debacles: a malfunctioning records system and a now-abandoned plan to provide iPads to all students.

Last year, the records system caused chaos at campuses around the district. The iPad project led to an ongoing FBI investigation. And both contributed to the departure of the superintendent and other top administrators.

As schools opened Tuesday, officials are hopeful that they've turned the corner on their technology fiascoes.

A recent spot check of district schools found about 3% of students still needed to be assigned classes. At Jefferson High School, south of downtown, only one student, a new arrival to the campus, was lacking a schedule.

This time last year, Jefferson couldn't determine how many students it had, and few, if any, had correct class assignments — let alone accurate transcripts or grade-point averages needed for college applications.

Although Jefferson may have been most affected, the system failed districtwide. It couldn't handle the volume of data or the complexity of tasks.

"We feel good that students are in the right classes," said Jefferson Principal Jack Foote. "We had kids pick up their schedules last week."

The student records system had seemed like a bargain at first — it was based on free computer code, obtained from Fresno Unified, which could be modified as needed. It was intended to unite all student records in one place, including attendance, course schedules, emergency contacts, past performance and special needs. Such coordination, officials hoped, would lead to faster and more appropriate services for students and more efficient business practices.

The new program, called My Integrated Student Information System (MISIS), cost $133 million to get on track. Officials set aside $80 million this year to pay for additional fixes.

Veteran school system lawyer Diane H. Pappas was placed in charge of salvaging the records system. She assembled consultants, district technicians, volunteers from the private sector and staffers from schools.

A software company might update a program two or three times a year, Pappas said, whereas the district has had to push through 100 fixes some weeks.

"We've been rebuilding on what was here," Pappas said. "MISIS was in a complete state of disarray."

More.

Note that the district had a graduation rate of 77 percent for the 2013-14 school year, an improvement from previous years, but still meaning that almost one fourth of all students don't receive a diploma. Irvine Unified has a 95 percent graduation rate, which is on the high side of statewide averages. You can see why families like living in Irvine.

Also, "The mismatch between LAUSD's diversity of students and teachers."