evaluation 2013

OneSchool

Department of Education, Training and Employment

Background In 2005, the Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE) released the Smart Classrooms strategy guiding digital education in Queensland state schools, placing the learner in the driver’s seat of their learning journey.

As part of the Smart Classrooms strategy, senior management in the strategic information and technologies arm of the department embarked on a long-term, future-focussed agenda to provide state schools (and the department) with technology solutions that would:

• provide eBusiness transformation of key common business processes in schools;

• deliver an information repository that is characterised by its real-time validity to provide schools and corporate with a single-point of truth for key information assets; and

• a reliable, consistent technological base for ease of end-to-end use (whether it be for technology specification for enhancement, or to school staff undertaking more and more business processes within the application).

To meet this agenda the department internally built the OneSchool application, through a combination of teaching and learning and technical staff collaborating, and engaging with industry partners throughout the build. In the years following, the development of the OneSchool application was resourced through $94.7 million of state government funding with releases of functionality to state schools beginning in 2008. As of 2013, all 1240 Queensland state schools in Queensland have OneSchool fully operational, providing eBusiness transformation functionality to principals, deputy principals, teachers and school administration staff, across student management, curriculum and learning management, finance and asset management, resource management and performance, reporting and analysis.

OneSchool, at its inception, was to provide the above functionality as guided in development by these principles:

• Technology: A consistent user experience; Access anywhere, any time; a standardised ‘core’ technology and functions for all of Education Queensland

• Information: A single-point-of-truth; integrated to its maximise value; and one-time data capture

• eBusiness transformation: Clear roles and responsibilities; explicit business processes; and providing ‘self-service’ operability (for schools, between schools and corporate).

The full OneSchool Story can be found here: http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/working-digitally/OneSchool.html

2 // OneSchool evaluation 2013

OneSchool evaluation 2013

The evaluation was undertaken to monitor implementation in schools, across regions and within corporate areas of DETE. The evaluation is intended to inform current operations of OneSchool and further deployment processes within the department.

OneSchool evaluation methods

The OneSchool evaluation has been internal and summative with a focus on functionality, current operation and suggested improvements for future uptake. Key elements in-scope of the evaluation have been learnings from the release rollouts, return on investment, user satisfaction with the application and current operations. Data collection was undertaken through a review of existing data, interviews with senior management across the department, a case study process (with state school visits undertaken) and an online survey to 200 state schools.

OneSchool evaluation 2013 // 3

Reporting Career Behaviour Finance Using dataRecord of contact

Curriculumplanning

Timetabling Academic reporting

Technology, information, eBusiness transformation

Core questions

Overarching evaluation question

To what extent is OneSchool as a whole being utilised according to the expectations and guiding principles, including efficient use of the full functionality of the application, realising the greatest impact for DETE, including within state schools?

How is OneSchool delivering DETE and state schools the required technology?

Finding 1

OneSchool has delivered the required functionality to meet current and

emerging business needs in state schools. The application has now

fully replaced the Student Information Management System (SiMS) (and

provides greater, more integrated functionality to schools, regions and

corporate, beyond than that offered previously by SiMS). Corporate

areas of the department and state schools continue to seek further

enhancements of OneSchool functionality. A challenge for the department

will be balancing the delivery of requested functionality within resourcing

constraints while realising even greater returns for the organisation.

Finding 2

OneSchool functionality is being utilised by all state schools. However,

available functionality is being taken-up to varying degrees, largely

driven by the leadership within individual schools. The level of reported

integration of business practices is based on school self-assessment.

Finding 3

OneSchool provides a web-based application that can be accessed

anywhere, any time (as long as there is access to the internet) and

once familiar with one module of the application, the common

user interface assists users to navigate and interact with other

modules reducing training and support requirements.

Finding 4

While OneSchool has a low impact on bandwidth load

within state schools, the evaluation found that schools

are looking to the department for continued assistance to

improve internet and network access and operation.

Finding 5

A hallmark of the successful delivery of this application for the

department has been the mixed-business model of collaborating internal

teaching and learning and technical staff, while engaging contracted

industry partners where required, to develop the staged release of the

differing modules of functionality, within A Queensland Government

Chief Information Office (QGCIO) endorsed architectural framework.

4 // OneSchool evaluation 2013

Evaluation recommendation

How far has OneSchool led to eBusiness transformation and automation of key school-based business processes?

To what extent has OneSchool delivered on the expectation to be an easily accessible, trusted information source, utilised to its full functionality across DETE, including in state schools?

Finding 6

Given the vast range of school types and administrative structures, and

the differing skill level and experience across the OneSchool modules,

schools have had a differing experience of communication, training

and understanding of requirements across module rollouts and the

full benefit of eBusiness transformation is yet to be fully realised.

Finding 7

Schools have been allowed to grow their expertise in OneSchool

operations, with the only functionality mandated being student

profiles and finance. Level of uptake and modules focussed on within

individual schools can be heavily based on the drive and focus of

the leadership team within individual schools. As a result eBusiness

transformation requires a further concentrated drive from the

department, through targeted communication, training and monitoring.

Finding 8

The functionality of the OneSchool application, understood and used

to the full extent can provide increased engagement of students and

parents, improving relationships within schools. Schools are leveraging

OneSchool information by extracting and analysing the data within their

school context, to engage staff, students, parents and relevant DETE

employees. However, the degree to which this occurs is dependent on the

individual school and the use of data captured in OneSchool, as students

and parents do not currently have ease of access to this information.

Finding 9

The data captured in OneSchool is trusted and a single point of

information. However, schools are retaining hardcopies of key

student and finance files, with further clarity and communication

needed to identify audit and reporting requirements, to ensure

departmental information assets are handled appropriately

and that business process requirements are met.

Finding 10

OneSchool goes beyond an IT agenda, and can drive DETE’s

individualised student teaching and learning agenda.

OneSchool evaluation 2013 // 5

The evaluation has provided recommendations to guide further utilisation of OneSchool, including further articulation of data access and use, benchmarking of best practices to guide future uptake, business process focussed training, re-engaging the leadership network through-out DETE and further tailoring communication to departmental position or business process. These recommendations are currently being considered by the DETE OneSchool Application Board.

Key OneSchool evaluation stats

Case study

Eight state schools in the Metropolitan region in Brisbane opened their doors to allow the evaluation team to observe OneSchool in operation and speak directly to principals, administration staff and teachers about their experiences using the application.

The following are a few observations from the visits:

• OneSchool provides the opportunity to work smart, effectively and efficiently

• Data is being integrated to provide the whole student profile and to engage with parents

• Schools feel confidence in the data and like the secure nature of the application

• Schools are using the functionality specific to their type of school

• There were differing experiences with training, with schools using in-service and trial and error to maintain momentum in up-take

• Schools liked the consistent nature of the application

• Schools liked being able to utilise OneSchool as it suited their school, waiting now for further direction from the department.

Survey

Two hundred state schools were invited to participate in the online survey, with 150 (75%) schools participating, with responses received from approximately 400 principals, school administration staff and teachers. Participants were given a number of opinion statements to assign agreement or disagreement to.

Some key responses from the survey are:

93% of respondents responsible for school finance agreed with the opinion statement ‘Our school now only uses the OneSchool (finance module) for school finance.’

91% agreed the data in OneSchool is a trusted information source

90% of respondents agreed ‘OneSchool has been fully integrated into our school operations’ and to ‘I use OneSchool every day

85% agreed ‘I find the different modules of OneSchool consistent in look and feel’

84% agreed ‘Student reports are no longer manual with them all now processed through OneSchool’

82% agreed ‘OneSchool has opened-up new ways of doing key aspects of my job’

81% agreed ‘All our staff use OneSchool for most of our key business processes’

80% agreed ‘I can access OneSchool, anywhere, any time’

79% agreed ‘Having this functionality (finance) in OneSchool allows me to have greater budget visibility’

78% agreed ‘OneSchool has enabled greater information sharing between our staff’

65% agreed ‘Our school was fully aware of how to implement changes to business processes when OneSchool was made available’

57% agreed that ‘if OneSchool was unavailable in my school tomorrow this would have a direct negative impact on the provision of teaching and learning to our students’

50% agree/disagree ‘there has been a reduction in paper use in my school since OneSchool was implemented’.

6 // OneSchool evaluation 2013

OneSchool is not an IT agenda,

it is a learning agenda

What does OneSchool provide the department?

OneSchool now provides all state schools with:

• a single student record for every state school student that will follow them to any state school: capturing student details, record of contact, career aspirations, academic reports, behaviour management, extra-curricular activities, absences;

• a central repository for curriculum, assessment and reporting: capturing class unit plans, curriculum assessments, diagnostic and standardised assessments, class markbooks, individual student plans, reports and referrals, education and career planning, enterprise access to a shared student record;

• a sophisticated timetabling generator, driven through a complex algorithm: the timetable has application for special, primary, secondary and P-12 colleges, online student subject selections, a supervision module (which manages staff absences), playground duty module, teacher aide module, whole-of-school and corporate reporting;

• a central school management system, available 24 hours, seven days per week: capturing student enrolment, attendance, accounts payable, accounts receivable, assets, facilities, procurement, budgeting, corporate card use, BPay for parents; and

• a solution that allows for greater integration with other departmental systems: across the Grants and Allowances Payment System (GAPS), payroll system, banking (statements and corporate card) and identity management.

OneSchool evaluation 2013 // 7

LicenceThis OneSchool evaluation is licensed by the State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and Employment) under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 3.0 Australia licence.

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The State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and Employment) OneSchool evaluation 2013.

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© State of Queensland (Department of Education, Training and Employment) 2013

The information is correct as at April 2013 and is provided as an information source only. The State of Queensland makes no statements, representations or warranties about the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any information contained in this document. The inclusion of any links is for information only and is not intended to suggest any endorsement or affiliation. The State of Queensland disclaims all responsibility and any liability (including, without limitation, liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages and costs you might incur as a result of the information being inaccurate or incomplete in any way, and for any reason.