Connected Intelligence Links Challenger School Data with Real-time Insights to Maximize Student, Teacher, and Organizational Success

Consolidating Data and Providing a Modernized Platform for Increasing Academic Function, Teacher Efficacy and Experimental Research Supporting the Evolving Needs of Students

Challenges 

• Lack of integrated data and insights from various sources 
• Difficult for non-technical staff to make sense of data 
• Existing data was viewed out of context, making it difficult to use to inform decision-making

Solution 

• PowerSchool Connected Intelligence K-12 
• PowerSchool Schoology Learning 
• PowerSchool Performance Matters

Results 

• Integrated data that’s useful for all staff to make decisions to impact student outcomes  
• Partnership with PowerSchool—an expert that understands its needs and is dedicated to improving education 
• Ability to customize and configure systems to meet schools’ specific needs 

Challenger School Foundation, a private school system with 10,000 preK-8 students, had been using homegrown data models built on outdated transactional database structures. They could see data but had little analytics or quantitative knowledge to help inform decisions to impact student outcomes.  

With over 1,200 employees in five states and 27 schools, Challenger School’s previous information systems were mostly homegrown transactional databases integrated through various flat file transfers. Databases contained data that was often inaccessible beyond its intended use. Data couldn’t be utilized to identify important information because of a lack of: 

• Stakeholder observability 
• Non-governance 
• Data quality audits 
• Data comprehension 
• Integrations with other data sources 
• Data analysis schemas  
• Data analysis tool integrations 
• Time-to-scale data products 
• Nimbleness of transactional schemas within and across internal/external systems

It was difficult for non-technical specialists to comprehend the data, while technical specialists lacked knowledge of the business context. Consequently, the data had little value for correlation, observation, or experimental design. 

To improve its ability to actually use data, Challenger School Foundation partnered with PowerSchool. The school system has implemented Connected Intelligence K-12 by PowerSchool to link data across their current and legacy student information system, assessment platform, LMS, finance system, curricula ,and human resource systems. This enables on-demand access for downstream integrations, ad hoc querying, research projects, statistical analysis, experimental research, AI/ML modeling, and operational and analytical reporting.

“From the ability to unify access to our data for research and ad hoc analysis to using predictive insights for preparing our students for the workforce, Connected Intelligence will revolutionize the way we use data for mission-critical initiatives to drive our students’ success,” says Hugh Gourgeon, CEO and President, Challenger School Foundation.

Connected Intelligence, the first fully managed data as a service (DaaS) platform for K-12, integrates data from various sources and provides objective and accurate insights into student and teacher performance. 

“PowerSchool’s Connected Intelligence will help improve school operations, empower teachers, and drive student growth by allowing us to understand trends, perform research using correlation and observation, and understand causation,” Gourgeon says. “Connected Intelligence can integrate data from standardized assessments, medical and psycho-assessments, and other third-party data sources to provide objective and accurate insights into student performance. This enables educators to make informed decisions about instructional strategies and resource allocation, resulting in improved student outcomes and personalized learning experiences.” 

Reasons Challenger Chose PowerSchool’s Connected Intelligence K-12 

As a 501-c3 foundation funded entirely by private donations from parents, Challenger School Foundation must be frugal in its expenses, unlike public schools with much larger budgets. 

“The goal was to find a product that’s both efficient and effective, and PowerSchool’s product supplemented by Connected Intelligence is the answer for the school,” says Gourgeon.

After conducting an exhaustive search for the optimal suite of products with experts from all over the world, Gourgeon and his team ultimately selected PowerSchool. In addition to PowerSchool’s commitment to improving education, Challenger School was impressed with PowerSchool’s willingness to allocate experts in each field, understand their clients’ business processes and reasons, configure and extend their systems to meet their needs, and work with clients to implement the systems they could at their own pace.

“PowerSchool listened attentively to the needs of their clients and designed a unified system that allows school districts to incorporate their data as it exists across their ecosystems and integrate the data within Connected Intelligence, enabling the detection of statistically significant signals and identification of where to allocate limited resources to optimize each school’s mission objectives,” says Gourgeon.

Improving Productivity 

Challenger School Foundation’s previous system was hindering productivity. The main issue was the use of homegrown models built on a legacy transactional database that contained mostly inaccessible data beyond its original intended use. 

“Connected Intelligence addresses these challenges by integrating data from multiple sources and providing objective and accurate insights into student and teacher performance. Educators can use this information to make informed decisions about instructional strategies and resource allocation within and across socio-economic groups, specialties, and diagnoses in a deidentified and anonymized manner,” says Gourgeon. 

Connected Intelligence has allowed Challenger School Foundation to consolidate its various data sources and reporting tools, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient process. Previously, they had separate reports in different systems, such as SQL Server Reporting Services, custom proprietary SIS, finance, and human resources. However, with the help of PowerSchool’s experts, these reports were recreated within the data warehouse schema of Connected Intelligence.

This integration allows end users to have a single source of truth for their information, drawing from all integrated systems without losing context or data relationships. By using secure connectivity, APIs, and cross-database tools, optimized for performance, the data is replicated, with updates available in near-real-time, and useable in Connected Intelligence, making it a powerful and unmatched tool in the industry.

“Overall, PowerSchool’s integration capabilities have greatly improved our data management and reporting processes. These powerful tools allow end users to work independently without relying on technical experts who do not understand the business processes,” says Gourgeon.

Additionally, Connected Intelligence’s analytics capabilities enable educators, administrators, and researchers to supplement their qualitative professional judgment with quantitative information. They can make data-driven decisions that support student success and improve overall educational outcomes.

“To boot, it’s now possible to create data products that were previously too difficult or impossible to provision with our legacy systems,” adds Gourgeon. “With these powerful data tools and insights, the new system can help to overcome the productivity inhibiting factors of the previous system. Connected Intelligence is ultimately flexible in its design, breadth of stakeholder use, implementation of research (in whatever form), and operational time to value.” 

Supporting Teachers and Students

Challenger School Foundation aims to teach students to overcome challenges and build self-worth by mastering new concepts and achieving success. To accomplish this, Challenger School needed a system that would allow them to keep pace with the top 25th percentile of students while also providing the necessary resources, objective calendars, formative and summative assessments, and the ability to implement prescriptive and ad hoc assessments based on the needs of all students.

Here’s how PowerSchool has helped support Challenger School Foundation teachers in achieving these goals: 

• PowerSchool’s PowerSchool Schoology Learning enables teachers to leverage the power of formative assessment and provides more review and repetitions for the students who need it, with clarity and precision. Teachers can integrate observable group and individual performance data to determine the right resources for their students at the right time, optimizing their time and hard work. 
• PowerSchool PowerSchool Performance Matters for standardized assessments enables teachers to measure and analyze student performance accurately and efficiently. The school uses this data to identify where students excel and need more support, allowing them to tailor teaching methods and resources.   
• Integrating all PowerSchool products, partners, and third-party tools through Connected Intelligence provides Challenger School with one streamlined system that allows them to incorporate data from various sources, providing objective and accurate insights into student and teacher performance.

Connected Intelligence can also help enhance teacher success and retention by identifying existing but previously unidentifiable patterns and their root causes, such as reasons for leaving the profession and student-teacher ratios.

“Overall, PowerSchool’s suite of tools and Connected Intelligence has helped us support our teachers and achieve our mission of helping our students overcome challenges and achieve success,” says Gourgeon.

PowerSchool Delivers “What No Other System Comes Close to Delivering”  

Challenger School Foundation has been impressed and encouraged by PowerSchool’s adaptability and commitment to the school’s overall success and vision.

“The team at Connected Intelligence, along with its leadership, is truly remarkable,” says Gourgeon. “I have yet to work with a group of professionals that has been as quick to comprehend our vision, frame the problems to be solved with clear and precise objectives, and then allocate resources to solving them.” 

Gourgeon says that PowerSchool has shown an unwavering commitment to the purpose of Connected Intelligence, which is not to simply act as a transactional database for running business processes that are difficult to manage in various models, but rather to serve as an outstanding data lake and warehouse tool for accurately perceiving reality within and across systems.

“Today, we have a system that exceeds our highest aspirations,” says Gourgeon, “and we are working collaboratively to transform this suite of products into one with all the foundations, expertise, and infrastructure necessary to revolutionize the effectiveness of education everywhere. There is not a more efficient and effective solution for educators. In short, we believe PowerSchool to be ‘future-proof’ for our needs,”

He adds, “PowerSchool delivers what no other system comes close to delivering.”