The Statewide Information System (SIS) is a web-based system developed by the Arkansas Department of Education’s Office of Information Technology to enable school districts to submit and certify data to the State. The system is used by school districts that use eSchoolPlus and eFinancePlus software. The system has the capability to pull data from eSchoolPlus and eFinancePlus on a nightly as well as on-demand basis as required by school districts. The SIS Cycle Submission process was developed to replace an existing system through which districts reviewed summarized financial and student information before submitting and certifying the data to the State.

The objectives of SIS are to:

1. Ensure that every school district has access to comparable administrative computing systems and services with which to meet all local and state requirements.
2. Promote increased compatibility of the administrative records and data maintained by each district office and school site.
3. Reduce the paperwork and reporting burden of school sites and district offices.
4. Increase the accuracy and timeliness of data submitted by school districts to the ADE for state and federal reporting, program analysis, and evaluation.

The result is the availability at the state level of a comprehensive and integrated database of information about students, programs, district personnel, and finances to be utilized for planning and policy-making.

SIS Implementation Requirements for Districts and Education Service Cooperatives

Every school district must have implemented an automated district information system meeting the following requirements:

1. The district information system must contain a centralized system of records and data for all schools, programs, staff, finances and facilities.
2. For local record keeping, the district information system must provide the business functions of accounts payable, general ledger, purchasing, inventory, fixed assets, personnel, and payroll. Student functions must include daily and class attendance, course scheduling, report cards and permanent records, special education, health, discipline, as well as other demographic and program information defined as necessary by the ADE.
3. The district information system must comply with all data definitions and procedures specified by the ADE for financial accounting, personnel records, and student records. This shall include implementation of Handbook IIR2 standards for financial accounting, state student numbering procedures, common course number and title conventions, automated attendance record keeping procedures, permanent record content, and requirements for calculation of high school grade point averages.

SIS Requirements for the Arkansas Department of Education

The ADE will make available to every district all required data elements, records, and procedures for local record keeping and state reporting in a document called the SIS Handbook.

This SIS Handbook will be updated once annually to reflect all changes in requirements resulting from state or federal laws and regulations. The ADE shall make every effort to distribute the annual update as far in advance of each new fiscal year as possible. The online version is available at ADEData.Arkansas.Gov/SIS. Click on the SIS Handbooks menu icon. The SIS Handbook is scheduled for release March 1st of every year.

If changes to the SIS Handbook become necessary after its initial release and printing, updates will be made in an addendum online located on the ADE Data Center website. There will be no corrections to the hard copy issue and the printed books will not be revised.

The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) has developed a state reporting process design that will allow Arkansas school districts to report their data electronically over the statewide network to the ADE.

ADE approves the database structure. Data is collected as it directly relates to one of the records outlined. When the data to be collected is not available in either eFinancePLUS or eSchoolPLUS, the LEA Profiles system is provided by the programming staff to collect required data (i.e. bus and facility data). The data submissions will be transmitted in accordance with the reporting cycles outlined in the Data Submission Cycles chart (page 3-5). All unit records are cyclic and must be submitted in their entirety by their due date(s). There will be a calculated elements database created from the unit records submitted by each district. The programs that create these data elements will be used for all calculations at the ADE, ensuring that all formulas and/or logic that derive items such as Average Daily Attendance (ADA) are the same for all parties.

ADE provides procedural instructions, release notes and documentation for each cycle. This information is published far enough in advance of each cycle to give the user time to meet the cycle submission due date. It can be accessed by going on the Internet to the ADE Data Center web site at ADEData.Arkansas.Gov. Click on the SIS Icon, then select “the Statewide Information System.” Only district personnel selected to perform state reporting coordinator duties will execute record submissions by utilizing the Statewide Information System on their network-connected workstation. All reports produced for a cycle should be reviewed by appropriate district, school, food service, and counselor personnel for accuracy prior to submission to the ADE. Once the data submission is complete, each district is required by the ADE to sign and return the “Certification of Data Accuracy” form (one for each cycle) to the ADE. This form is part of the release notes provided by ADE for each cycle.