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DoDEA Delays Fielding of Pilot Student Data Management System

ARLINGTON, VA - Earlier this week, DoDEA officials identified a data transfer problem affecting the 12 schools participating in the Aspen X2 pilot. A delay in the procurement process prevented DoDEA from having a mechanism in place to transfer data from Aspen X2 to the Student Management Solutions (SMS), school information system DoDEA currently uses.

Aspen X2 is a school information system (SIS) that manages student data and applications. Records of newly-registered students and students who changed information in their records over summer break are the only records affected by this situation. DoDEA estimates approximately 2,000 records are affected in the 12 pilot schools.

This process is critical, because the only way to populate GradeSpeed, DoDEAÕs electronic grade book, is through SMS. The projected timeline to correct this problem is estimated to be 4 to 6 weeks. Based on the time estimate to correct this situation, the DoDEA Director has suspended the pilot program for the first semester until a mechanism is tested and in place to transfer data.

The pilot schools are Sasebo Elementary School, Edgren High School, Kadena High School, and Andersen Elementary School in the Pacific; Kaiserslautern Middle School, Kaiserslautern High School, Incirlik Elementary School/High School, and Brussels Elementary School/High School in Europe; Quantico Middle School/High School at the Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va., Dahlgren Elementary School/Middle School at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va., Lejeune High School at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and McNair Elementary School at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The data for newly-registered students will be manually entered by above school level staff into the SMS so that an interface can be made with GradeSpeed. The DoDEA staff began a manual data transfer process to ensure student data records are complete for the beginning of the school year in Europe and the Pacific on Monday, August 31. DoDEA is also working hard to minimize any negative impact this postponement will have in DoDEAÕs stateside schools, which have already begun the new school year.

In launching the pilot last spring, DoDEA set internal benchmarks to be met to ensure accountability and success. When it was evident that the benchmarks were not being met, DoDEA implemented a postponement to mitigate any negative impact on teachers and students. The postponement will allow DoDEA to work with the contractor to build and test an automatic data transfer mechanism; ensure that parallel data systems are in place; and revise the accountability benchmarks necessary to proceed.

Pilot schools will discontinue the use of Aspen X2 immediately and revert to the SMS system. The remaining 179 DoDEA schools are not affected by this situation.

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