REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oracle today
announced that the Tennessee Department of Education has implemented
Oracle(R) infrastructure software to help it to more effectively manage and
improve visibility of state-wide student data. The software, which includes
Oracle Database, Oracle Warehouse Builder and components of Oracle Fusion
Middleware, enables the department and its school districts to access
individual student attendance, assessment, enrollment, truancy and
discipline information and identify areas for improvement. It also helps
the department issue its annual state Report Card on schools and allows
districts to access data on teacher qualifications. Oracle has helped the
department improve productivity, reduce complexity and meet reporting
requirements for several Federal regulations.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO)
As part of an overarching strategic direction to improve student
performance and meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), The
Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) working with the Center for
Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT), provided the Tennessee
Department of Education with a series of recommendations on how to improve
data governance and utilize data warehouses to enhance efficiency and
student education. The Tennessee Department of Education selected Oracle to
create a solution to meet these challenges. Working closely with Oracle
Consulting, the organization developed a data warehouse based on Oracle
Database, Oracle Warehouse Builder and Oracle Fusion Middleware components
including Oracle Application Server, Oracle Business Intelligence Standard
Edition and Oracle Portal.
"The Oracle team has been a tremendous asset to the Tennessee
Department of Education," said Tim Webb, deputy commissioner for the
Tennessee Department of Education. "The Department has greatly benefited
from Oracle Consulting's professionalism, work ethic and proactive approach
to challenges. The team used the Oracle tools to build high-quality systems
in very short timeframes. The data warehouse, Report Card system, Highly
Qualified Teacher application and accompanying reports will serve Tennessee
schools well."
Integrating Data to Generate Valuable Reports
The state of Tennessee has a very complex school system that comprises
136 districts with 1,700 schools. The Tennessee Department of Education
needed a solution that would allow it to generate reports across the entire
state and make that data available to both the department and individual
school districts. Historically, the department has relied on aggregate data
collections from school districts to generate consolidated reports -- a
time-consuming and often error-prone process. The department also was
limited in its ability to drill down into the data to the individual
student level and provide useful, timely reports back to each district. The
Oracle software allows the department to easily and quickly generate
accurate, up-to-date student reports.
For many years, the department has been able to collect data at the
individual student level across the state. With the Oracle tools and data
warehouse, the department can better cleanse, combine, and report the data,
improving data accuracy and reporting for the department's data managers
and districts. The department's Oracle-based data warehouse generates
comprehensive reports in five key areas: assessment data (state-level
standardized assessment grades), attendance data, exit status data (student
enrollment, student withdrawals and graduation rates), student discipline
data (suspensions and expulsions) and truancy data. The department is also
working to allow districts and schools to access data on student course
enrollment, reporting on Special Education (to comply with IDEA) and
teacher qualifications.
Streamlining Regulatory Compliance
With the Oracle system, the department also was able to more easily
meet reporting requirements for NCLB's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and
attendance reports. The attendance report requires each district to provide
attendance records for each of eight individual student subgroups --
African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, English
Language Learners (ELL), Free and Reduced Price Lunch or Economic
Disadvantaged and Special Education.
With Oracle Business Intelligence Standard Edition, the department can
now quickly create reports from its data warehouse helping it to more
easily meet reporting requirements for NCLB and deliver quality data back
to each individual school district.
With its Oracle-based data warehouse, the Department was also able to
release its redesigned annual state Report Card
(http://www.tennessee.gov/education/reportcard/), which provides a profile
of academic achievement, demographics, discipline, and attendance and
graduation rates for the entire state, as well as for each school district
and individual school. The report card provides educators, parents and the
public with important information about Tennessee's public schools.
"The Oracle system helped us to issue the most accurate, comprehensive
Report Card we have released in ten years," said Connie Smith, assistant
commissioner and head of accountability, Tennessee Department of Education.
"The Tennessee Department of Education is focused on providing superior
and consistent data in order to comply with government regulations and
identify areas for improvement so it can enhance education and student
services," said Mark Johnson, senior vice president, Oracle Public Sector.
"Oracle's technology solutions -- paired with the department's aggressive
technology strategy and commitment -- enabled the organization to leverage
its wealth of data to help improve student performance."
About Oracle
Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software
company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at
http://www.oracle.com.
Trademarks
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Oracle
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Related links:
http://www.oracle.com
http://www.tennessee.gov/education
Photo Notes:
NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Katie Barron of Oracle, +1-703-364-2488,
katie.barron@oracle.com; or Janice Hazen of O'Keeffe & Company,
+1-770-938-4753, jhazen@okco.com, for Oracle
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