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LAUSD bond panel OKs another $25 million for MiSiS, devices
The LA Unified Bond Oversight Committee today agreed to approve another $25 million in bond fund spending to help the district fix MiSiS problems and equip schools with computers for standardized testing in the Spring. A team of district officials, including Superintendent Ramon Cortines, made lengthy presentations to the nine member committee, insisting that in...
By Vanessa Romo | November 20, 2014
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Viramontes criticized, Common Core confusion, 5K Challenge
Earlier this month, Arnold Viramontes, an outside expert hired by former superintendent John Deasy, issued a report to LA Unified that was a scathing indictment of the new MiSiS system, finding that “red conditions” arose early and should have signified “No Go.” This week, in it’s weekly newsletter, the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) expressed disappointment with...
By LA School Report | November 20, 2014
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Long-awaited LAUSD report calls MiSiS ‘grossly inadequate’
The long awaited Inspector General report on LA Unified’s botched MiSiS program found the development and implementation of the student data management system “grossly inadequate,” lacking sufficient resources, oversight and management. While the report, requested by board member Tamar Galatzan, took three months to complete, the overall findings by the district’s Inspector General, Ken Bramlett, largely echoed observations...
By Vanessa Romo | November 19, 2014
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Cortines tells LA Unified board MiSiS fix needs another year
LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines told the school board today that the beleaguered MiSiS program will need at least another year of remediation before it functions properly. “The MiSiS project isn’t going to be a quick fix,” he said, as if that came as much of a surprise. “It’s estimated that it will take a...
By LA School Report | November 18, 2014
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LAUSD report says nearly 5,000 students affected by MiSiS issues
The outside consultant hired by LA Unified to help fix the district’s new data tracking system is reporting that, through yesterday, nearly 5,000 students had been affected by flaws in the MiSiS computer system. In a breakdown the district released today, the Viramontes Group found that 2,580 students were without schedules, 1,251 had duplicate IDs and another...
By LA School Report | November 14, 2014
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Microsoft sending team of experts to help LAUSD with MiSiS
LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines told board members today that Microsoft has agreed to provide additional help, including “two top executives,” to aid the district’s efforts in resolving problems with the MiSiS data tracking system. The decision arose out of a request for help the district made to Microsoft last week. The first wave, 16 people,...
By LA School Report | November 10, 2014
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Cortines seeking more outside help to resolve MiSiS issues
LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines, in his latest weekly update on MiSiS, told district staff today that he has reached out to Microsoft, the U.S. and California Departments of Education and other agencies as part of his effort to fix the district’s new student data tracking system. And while he assured that district officials are...
By LA School Report | November 7, 2014
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MiSiS system ‘not feasible unless modified,’ says analyst for LAUSD
* UPDATED In a scathing critique of LA Unified’s implementation of its new student data tracking system, a team of independent analysts found problems from the beginning, including an overall “lack of communication or understanding of application stability” critical to the project’s success. In short, Arnold Viramontes, an outside expert hired by former superintendent John...
By Michael Janofsky | November 6, 2014
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Microsoft sending LAUSD help for MiSiS: One technician
After Tuesday’s two-hour MiSiS meltdown, Superintendent Ramon Cortines called for Microsoft to send in the cavalry and the Seattle-based company responded by sending a total of one — count ’em, one — expert to help with the glitch-plagued student data program serving 650,000 students. The system crashed when too many teachers logged on to update...
By Vanessa Romo | November 6, 2014
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MiSiS system crashes for 2 hours and Cortines apologizes
Oops. Despite efforts by Superintendent Ramon Cortines and LA Unified‘s Information Technology team to get MiSiS back on track — or at the very least, semi-functional — it seems that the data management system remains unreliable. The system went down between 2 pm and 4 pm yesterday, he said in a memo to staff. It...
By Vanessa Romo | November 5, 2014