eScholar ABCs
What is eScholar?
What is a Data Warehouse?
What is the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™?
Does the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse replace a school district’s Student Information System?
If a school district changes from one management system to another, how will that affect the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse?
What initiatives and leadership activities has eScholar undertaken in K-12 educational data management?
FEATURES & BENEFITS
What are the features of the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse?
What are the benefits of the eScholar Compete Data Warehouse?
QUALITY & SERVICE
What sets eScholar apart?
How does eScholar provide the highest quality software and service?
IMPLEMENTATION & SUPPORT
What is eScholar’s philosophy regarding service and its ability to provide customer service and support?
How is eScholar implemented?
How is an account management team assigned to each client?
What are the hosting and packaging options for using eScholar?
What are the first steps in implementing an eScholar data warehousing solution?
eScholar LLC
How strong is eScholar as a company?
What is eScholar’s organizational makeup?
What is eScholar’s primary market?
How will eScholar maintain its position in the marketplace?
What is eScholar’s total number of clients for your data warehouse solution?
What is eScholar’s client retention rate?
What are eScholar’s future plans?
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| eScholar ABCs |
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| What is eScholar? |
| eScholar is the standard in data warehouse platforms for K-12 education, offering complete and powerful systems that enable educators to transform the way they use and understand data gathered in support of learning. eScholar’s primary products are the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ and the eScholar Uniq-ID™ student and staff identifier systems. eScholar also offers a reporting and analysis tool, eScholar VISTA Express™, and provides hosting services for a complete data warehouse solution. We provide comprehensive implementation and support for all our products. |
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What is a Data Warehouse?
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| A data warehouse is a relational database that holds copies of data originating from a variety of sources within a district. A data warehouse is used for data analysis and report generation. A K-12 data warehouse holds student information, grades, attendance, test scores, discipline information, and much more. This data usually comes from a number of different systems and must be “cleansed” and standardized before it can be used. |
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What is the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™?
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| eScholar is a complete, pre-built data warehouse system for K-12. The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ comes with all the components needed to get a powerful state- or district-level data warehouse up and running quickly, including data model, ETL (extract, transform and load) software, security structure, standard reports and more. |
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Does the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ replace a school district’s Student Information System?
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| The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ collects, cleanses and integrates data from a wide variety of sources including Student Information Systems. Districts can continue to use their operational systems of choice – even change and replace them as needed – while still maintaining a contiguous set of longitudinal data.
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If a school district changes from one management system to another, how will that affect the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™?
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| Districts can change operational systems more easily with eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ in place. Maintaining longitudinal data in their data warehouse minimizes the need for data migration to the new system. Using reporting from the standard eScholar data warehouse minimizes or eliminates the need for the typically huge effort of rebuilding required reports for a new operational system. |
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What initiatives and leadership activities has eScholar undertaken in K-12 educational data management?
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| eScholar has been involved in the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) since its inception in 1998. eScholar’s founder and CEO, Shawn Bay, sits on the SIF Board and acts as treasurer. Ron Streeter, eScholar’s VP of Education Services, leads the Data Warehousing Working Group, and the Vertical Reporting Taskforce that eases the transmission of data to State and Federal agencies. eScholar was one of the first SIF members to certify its SIF Agent and continues to play a leading role in the development and implementation of SIF. eScholar has also assisted in setting the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES and EDEN) standards for school data identification.
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| FEATURES & BENEFITS |
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What are the features of the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™?
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| The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ is a package with all the components and procedures necessary to get a district up and running quickly.
Optimized and Proven Data Model The eScholar data model is robust and proven. This data model captures all the data areas important to K-12 education and the relationships between them. This proven data model provides the foundation to ensure that queries and reports are accurate.
Standards Based, Open Systems Orientation
eScholar is based on an open system model, meaning that all components of eScholar are visible and accessible. This ensures longevity and flexibility. In addition, eScholar applies all available standards, including NCES and SIF. This means that a district using eScholar will be compatible with evolving state and national reporting requirements without having to change source systems.
Powerful Tools for Cleansing Data
District data usually contains inaccuracies, such as duplicate student ID numbers and missing gender indicators, which prohibit accurate reporting and analysis. eScholar includes powerful tools and processes for identifying numerous types of data errors. Some can be corrected by the system. Others are "kicked out" and sent to knowledgeable data managers for correction in the source system. Correcting these errors greatly increases the accuracy and relevance of reports.
Database-Level Security
Access to sensitive student data needs to be tightly controlled while giving appropriate access to a wide variety of users. eScholar applies security at the database level giving the district the strongest possible security while allowing flexibility of access.
Focus on K-12
eScholar was founded by data warehouse experts and is focused solely on K-12 education. Our knowledge and understanding of K-12 data is unsurpassed. This provides deep resources for both gaining access to a district’s treasure of data and for understanding what the data shows. |
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| What are the benefits of the eScholar Compete Data Warehouse™?
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| With eScholar, a state or district has a central repository of accurate, standardized data. This central repository brings numerous benefits to a district, including:
Data Accessible to the People Who Can Use It
By making a comprehensive, detailed set of data available in a standard form, districts can provide these valuable data to all of the stakeholders that can help improve each child’s education. This standard platform of data can support access and analysis by teachers, administrators, researchers and more.
Easy Access to Individual Data Areas
The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ brings data from a number of sources together in one location. This makes access to these individual data "domains" easier and much more controllable than trying to grant users access to all the originating sources.
Ability to Analyze Data Across Different "Domains"
The process of loading the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ includes standardizing the data and making the data comparable. This means the user can look at data from different sources simultaneously, even though, for example, male is represented as "M" in one source and "Male" in another source. Another example would be the ability to examine a student’s standardized test results, by name, over three years, compared to his/her ethnic group even though data from the test scoring service only includes student ID number and test grade. This type of analysis is generally not available using current, disparate school systems.
Faster and Easier Report Development and Distribution
The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ brings all the important district data together in a standardized format. This means that reports can be developed and produced by authorized users anywhere in the district, rather than by just a small number of centrally located developers. In addition, specific authorized users will be able to perform "ad hoc" queries. These queries pose questions to the data warehouse that might provide insight into student and school performance not otherwise being captured in any current report or analysis. Districts are under great pressure to measure performance and to show accountability. This can only be done by careful analysis of the vast amount of data captured in every district. |
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| QUALITY & SERVICE |
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| What sets eScholar apart?
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| eScholar is the market leader in data warehousing for K-12 education, serving over 3,400 school districts across the country. eScholar Uniq-ID™ for Students is the market-leading student identification system, serving 2,600 districts in nine state-wide implementations. In addition, this system is being used by the US Department of Education's Migrant Student Information Exchange Program. eScholar products are implemented state-wide in New York, Georgia, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Wyoming, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. eScholar’s Founder and CEO, Shawn Bay, is generally considered one of the pioneers of data warehousing and has fully devoted his skills to data warehousing in K-12 education since 1997.
The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ supports the broadest range of data – over 2,500 data elements across 37 domains. This capability allows districts to fully customize a solution to their own unique data requirements. The solution is a complete standards-based system that supports all major database platforms including Oracle, Microsoft SQL, and IBM DB2. In addition, the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse is supported by the largest number of third-party application vendors. eScholar has also been a driving force behind data standards such as NCES and SIF.
We and the eScholar community know we are doing something very important and we constantly focus on doing it even better.
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| How does eScholar provide the highest quality software and service? |
| The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ comes with all the components needed to get a powerful state- or district-level data warehouse up and running quickly, including eScholar Reporting Metadata™, eScholar eTL™ Data Transformation and Loading (extract, transform and load) software, security structure, eScholar Integration Templates™, standard reports, and more. The eScholar data model is robust and proven, and captures all the data areas important to K-12 education and the relationships between them.
eScholar was founded by data warehouse experts and is focused solely on K-12 education. Our knowledge and understanding of K-12 is unsurpassed. This provides deep resources for both gaining access to a district’s treasure of data and for understanding what the data indicate.
With eScholar, states and school districts have access to a vibrant user community where states and districts across the country share best practices and learn from each other’s experience in data-driven decision-making. As part of the eScholar community, each state or district has the opportunity to attend two annual eScholar Conferences. The Fall User Conference provides a forum for districts to share how they have used the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse, and a Spring Technical Conference provides updates on new features, future releases, additional technical information and training sessions.
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| IMPLEMENTATION & SUPPORT |
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| What is eScholar’s philosophy regarding service and its ability to provide customer service and support? |
| eScholar provides complete and comprehensive support for all its products on an ongoing basis as well as value added tips, techniques, software upgrades and other online resources for our clients. Our support staff develops strong personal relationships with our clients and we are available by phone or email for any assistance and ongoing support that a district may need. eScholar clients and partners provide additional resources in support of the broad eScholar community. |
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| How is eScholar implemented? |
The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse is implemented in phases. Phase I is the most critical and generally consists of three to four data domains. This initial phase can be implemented quickly and brings immediate value to a district. Additional data domains can be added any time, in any order. |
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| How is an account management team assigned to each client? |
eScholar’s Customer Implementations & Services team works with each client to define the initial scope of the project and develop and implement a project plan to meet the district’s goals. As the project moves to the implementation phase, the eScholar technical team works with district data administrators to create and manage data extracts and transformations as well as to execute data load processes. Once the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ solution is put into production, an account manager is assigned to the district to assist with any additional training, support, or reporting needs that may arise. Ongoing account management is included as part of eScholar’s comprehensive support and maintenance program. |
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| What are the hosting and packaging options for using eScholar? |
eScholar can be site-hosted or hosted by eScholar or a third party hosting service. Site hosting is when the district houses the data warehouse at the district and takes responsibility for all ongoing data management. When eScholar provides the hosting, the district does not have to purchase any separate hardware or software, nor does it need to provide data warehouse staff. The district sends data to eScholar on a regular basis, accesses reports and conducts analysis via the Internet.
eScholar NOW™ is a subset of the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ combined with eScholar VISTA Reporting™ that focuses on student information and assessments. This is provided as a monthly service solution and is hosted by eScholar. eScholar NOW gives a district the opportunity to begin implementing a data warehouse and obtaining valuable information and analysis without the upfront costs of a full implementation. eScholar NOW is fully upgradeable to a full eScholar installation. |
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| What are the first steps in implementing an eScholar data warehousing solution? |
| The first step is to schedule a web based demonstration and explanation of eScholar. Also available is the eScholar Readiness Workshop™. This one-day seminar, held at the district, is designed to introduce essential district staff to the concept and value of data warehousing. The workshop helps a district determine their readiness and outline the value gained from eScholar. Call (914) 989-2900 or email info@escholar.com for more information. |
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| eScholar LLC |
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| How strong is eScholar as a company? |
| eScholar LLC has been in business since 1997 and has been profitable since 2000. eScholar was started as a product of Vision Associates Holdings Inc. Our business model and broad customer acceptance reward us with recurring revenue for keeping our clients satisfied. We believe these factors, in combination with the personal dedication we feel for our mission, will allow eScholar to continue to be the leader in data warehousing in the K-12 education market for years to come. |
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| What is eScholar’s organizational makeup? |
| eScholar LLC is approximately 50 professionals strong. eScholar has invested very heavily in many aspects of our business, with our team of professionals being first and foremost. Over the years we have been able to attract and retain the leading experts in data warehousing and data analysis for K-12. Our team’s mission is to continue to focus on our core data warehousing product to keep up with the ever increasing need for valid data that can be used to help children achieve a better education. We devote 48% of our team to account management, implementation and support. Another 38% of the team focuses on product development and research. Administration, sales and marketing comprise 14%. |
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| What is eScholar’s primary market? |
| eScholar’s only focus is K-12 education. eScholar provides the standard in data warehouse platforms for K-12 education. We have been focused on cleaning and integrating data to drive educational decisions since 1997. Over that time, the eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ has become the data warehousing platform upon which districts and third-party vendors have built thousands of analytical applications and reports. The emergence of eScholar as the only broadly implemented standard has also supported the development of a vibrant user community that shares both experiences and applications. This combination of a proven product, broad adoption and support makes eScholar the most flexible and customizable solution possible for data driven decision-making in K-12 education. |
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| How will eScholar maintain its position in the marketplace? |
| eScholar maintains a client base of thousands of school districts and is the market leader for data warehousing in K-12 education with approximately 90% market share in its two product categories. With our focus, depth of experience and track record in K-12 education, eScholar is in a position to maintain its position in the marketplace in the foreseeable future. |
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| What is eScholar’s total number of clients for your data warehouse solution? |
| eScholar products are in use by over 3,400 school districts across the country. The eScholar Complete Data Warehouse™ is currently licensed to over 2,100 school districts, many of which are administered through state agencies and service providers. In addition, eScholar Uniq-ID™ for Students , the system for locating, de-duplicating and assigning identifiers to students, is being utilized by 2,500 school districts. |
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| What is eScholar’s client retention rate? |
| eScholar’s client retention rate continues to be more than 99.9%. Clients appreciate eScholar’s quality, dedication, and responsiveness, as well as its annual conferences. It is through this type of client interaction that we further refine and develop our initiatives for the future. We know that our clients find value in being part of a thriving community of clients that focus on a common standard for their data warehouse platforms.
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| What are eScholar’s future plans? |
There are many districts that do not yet have a data warehouse. We continue to learn about new requirements that a K-12 data warehouse should address. We believe K-12 data warehousing will keep us busy and challenged for the foreseeable future.
eScholar enhances and improves all aspects of the eScholar product line on an ongoing basis through continuous research and development. Our main focus is to provide ever-increasing product functionality to our clients, permitting them to take advantage of the constant evolution in enabling technology. eScholar’s future plans and initiatives focus on the continued expansion of data domains and continued enhancement of:
- Data cleansing and data integration
- Support for reporting and analytical capabilities
- Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) support
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