The Los Angeles Unified School District’s oversight of the development of a computerized student information system was “grossly inadequate,” leading to its implementation before it was properly tested, according to a report released Wednesday.
The report by Ken Bramlett, the district’s inspector general, is the latest condemnation of the district’s handling of the My Integrated Student Information System, which has been plagued with bugs since its inception, leading to problems with student scheduling and the production of report cards and student transcripts.
Teachers have also been unable to use the system to track student attendance and enter grades.
“Overall, we found the district’s project management of the MiSiS development and implementation to be grossly inadequate, resulting in the software being rolled out before the data integrity issues were resolved, end- to-end testing done, user acceptance testing completed, load testing was properly carried out and interfaces with other systems determined to be functional,” according to the report.
The report also concluded that information-technology officials failed to “allocate adequate resources for program oversight, and management relied heavily on information provided by the project director without the benefit of independent verification and validation.”
It also faulted the district for failing to properly train people who would be using the system.
The report made a series of recommendations, including the development of a new project plan and allocation of sufficient resources to resolve the issues.
LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the school board Tuesday that fixing problems with the system will likely take at least a year. He will ask the district’s School Construction Bond Oversight Committee on Thursday to approve more than $53 million in funding to help fund repair efforts over the next several months.
That would be in addition to $33 million in previously approved bond funding for the effort.
“I want to thank the inspector general for providing this report,” Cortines said in response to Bramlett’s audit. “His conclusion validates concerns over rolling out the student record system … and lays bare the work ahead for the district.”
He reiterated that the problems will take time to fix.
“That period is required to create the system that L.A. Unified deserves. Toward that goal, we continue to make steady progress,” he said.
A separate consultant’s report released earlier this month faulted the district for failing to adequately take into account the opinions of LAUSD employees who would actually be using the system — most notably teachers — when the program was being developed. Cortines said Tuesday that would not be the case during the repair process.
“We are going to involve the people who use it in helping make decisions — students, teachers, counselors, assistant principals, principals and all of the staff of this district,” he said.
Glitches with the MiSiS system have continued throughout the school year, at one point leading to a walkout at Jefferson High School, where students complained they were unable to register for classes they need to graduate, were assigned to duplicate courses or simply sent home or told to sit in a library for certain class periods.
Cortines said he has been working with officials from Microsoft and talking to them about a “potential long-term partnership to improve the system.”
Cortines also said there are now more than 50 retirees working with the district on ensuring the accuracy of student transcripts, grades and report cards.
— City News Service