Newsmaker

Q&A With Robert Runcie
Syncing Second City Schools

In his role as chief information officer (CIO) of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Robert Runcie finds ways to use technology to improve the business of education. Twenty years in the private sector taught him how to redesign business processes, build communication strategies, and deploy information technology. Now he is bringing that experience to what he refers to as “the greatest industry in the world.”

Scholastic Administr@tor spoke with Runcie about two of his large-scale initiatives: to restructure the way data are stored and analyzed throughout the district and to provide computer services support to local schools. Runcie also shares his views on the significance of No Child Left Behind and the importance of leadership on an individual school level.

CPS is embarking on a massive two-year project called IMPACT [Instructional Management Program and Academic Communication Tool]. What different components are involved?
There are three components to it. We have a student information piece, an IEP [Individual Education Plan] piece for our 58,000 special needs students, and an instructional management piece, which we’ll be piloting in a number of schools this spring.

We’re integrating all of them through something called SIF, Schools Interoperability Framework, which is a set of independent, vendor-neutral rules and definitions to enable software programs from different companies to share student information and eliminate redundant data entry. We have also created an operational data store (ODS) that looks similar to a data warehouse, but is an application that integrates data from these three systems and pulls them into a data repository. The ODS facilitates interfaces with 40 other systems including transportation, food services, and Medicaid recovery.

Is there a model for you to follow for this project?
There’s nothing like it in the world that we know of—we’re pioneers in this regard. When we finish, we’ll be the first to deploy a centralized district-wide student information system on this scale.

It’s a tall order to find an application that’s scalable and that provides all the functionality needed for a large urban district because of the immaturity of the products in the marketplace. You effectively have to rebuild any commercial off-the-shelf software package because of the enhancements needed to meet necessary functional and performance requirements.

What is your rollout schedule?
The launch date is September 2006. We intend to start off with our elementary schools around January and February 2006. We have about 550 elementary schools. We’re going to try to do some pilots in the fall of this year. And in February 2006 we’ll start deployment to our 110 high schools.

A second major initiative is to provide computer services support to schools. How does that work?
Chicago has local school councils that serve as the governing bodies for the schools. Along with the legislation that allowed for local school-based governance came some money, discretionary dollars, which are distributed to the schools based on free-and-reduced meal counts. They use these funds to buy computers, computer services, technicians, textbooks, and even to hire additional staff. We are now working with the schools to help them better leverage their limited dollars through computer leasing.

The money doesn’t go to the IT department for procurement?
Our IT department doesn’t get a budget to purchase computers for schools like IT does in other districts. The local school receives discretionary funds and the leadership in that school decides how much computing they want. The schools then buy their computers and services and engage with vendors directly. Sometimes these vendors take advantage of the schools. For example, the vendors charge them for parts that are under warranty when they shouldn’t be charged. The list of problems goes on and on.

We won’t get the return from the investments we’re making if the computers at the end of the network don’t work well and users start having a bad experience. They’ll blame the applications when it’s the computers that aren’t being maintained properly. So we’re trying to fix this by introducing a world-class service model for computer support. We are also trying to promote equity across the system because there is so much variability in service and technology use from school to school.

What is this service model and how does it operate?
We launched a new business out of our office called TECH|XL. For $10 per machine per month, $120 a year, we will provide comprehensive service and support for the entire life cycle of that machine. We provide maintenance, service, support, parts, warranty, and disposal of that equipment for one fixed price. Schools don’t pay hourly rates or incur any additional costs. We are taking the schools out of the business of maintaining computers so that they have more time to focus on instructional strategies. The net is we are effectively running a business to provide better services to our customers.

How many schools are involved in TECH|XL so far?
In late February of 2005, we launched a campaign to inform our principals and/or their representatives across the district about TECH|XL. We have 630 schools, and about 260 schools signed up this first year. We got almost 40 percent. Some of the others are waiting to see how we perform. The rest didn’t have the funding to participate this year.

How do you get schools to participate in the program?
We put together a strong communication function that needs to be ongoing with the schools. We set up an enrollment team that walked the schools through the program components and benefits.

Did you have to extend the IT department significantly to create this business of leasing?
We put processes in place to enroll the schools. Now we’re putting the organizational structure in place to deliver the service to the schools. There are new service delivery staff, technicians, and a new service help desk. Business processes have to be built around it, from procurement to vendor management to how you handle all the tickets.

Asset management is critical. I engaged an outside vendor to help set up the program management office, which includes asset management, vendor management, and that whole infrastructure. We have a hardware vendor, through strategic sourcing, that provides the desktops and leasing portion. There’s another piece where students in 20 high schools—about five in each school—provide on-site support in the local schools as well.

Finally, we want to put together a governing body, which includes the customers—that is, the schools—where a number of them will serve on an advisory oversight committee for this program. This will give them transparency on what we’re doing, and we can get feedback from them on how to continue to improve our service levels.

Runcie speaks at a conference sponsored by SchoolNet in New York City in June 2005.

Is this new focus on big tech initiatives due to NCLB?
In terms of intent, I believe NCLB is like a mini Civil Rights bill for education. It’s saying, look, I don’t care what race or disposition this child is, he or she can’t be left behind. The main area in which the program falls short is inadequate funding. Also, some of the guidelines need to be revisited and redesigned based on experience with its implementation in districts. But it has also forced many districts to become more accountable to all the stakeholders. In order to provide information, they’ve had to upgrade their infrastructure and introduce new tools to support data-driven decisions. That has really escalated the advancement of technology in these districts.

How important is the role of a principal in a school’s success?
Overall, we’ve got a really good base of principals here. Our philosophy in this district, and one I strongly believe in, is that the biggest factor in a school’s success is principal leadership. If we can continue to get good principals and provide professional development and support services to them, we’re going to continue to have good schools and great results. Over the next three to four years, two thirds of our principals are retiring from the system. That is an extraordinary opportunity to ensure that we have a high quality candidate pool.

How has your background in the private sector influenced your role as CIO?
We need to move away from this culture where IT operates and views itself as purely a technology infrastructure maintenance and operations organization. We need to focus on delivering services to customers, which means we’ve got to restructure the IT organization around service delivery. This is a business and we have customers to serve. We are making ourselves accountable for results through surveys, metrics, and an internal balanced scorecard. Everything we do is focused on making the lives of our instructional leaders and their staff easier—giving them more time to focus on activities in the classroom.