{"id":2360,"date":"2017-04-05T08:56:31","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T15:56:31","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-10-16T02:21:46","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T02:21:46","slug":"tucson-unified-school-district-revitalized-struggling-school-system-digital-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newed.any0.dpdns.org\/en-us\/industry\/microsoft-in-business\/customer-experience\/2017\/04\/05\/tucson-unified-school-district-revitalized-struggling-school-system-digital-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"How Tucson Unified Schools revitalized a struggling district"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\nFocus on: Preparing Leaders, Empowering Educators<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As Tucson Unified School District\u2019s Chief Technology Officer, Scott Morrison wanted to make sure that \u201call kids got the good stuff.\u201d For Morrison, that meant equitability and access to top-tier technology. This would help students not only be more engaged in the learning experience, but ultimately help them build a better life.<\/p>\n

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But there was work to be done. TUSD was plagued with a crumbling infrastructure that included outdated technology, inefficient core applications, and a lack of tools to facilitate collaboration across the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were always being told, or being challenged, that we needed to do more with less,\u201d Morrison says. \u201cYou really have to work smarter and not harder.\u201d Drawing on his background in IT in the private sector, Morrison believed that the district could be more productive with less convoluted processes.<\/p>\n

In order to drive sustainable organizational change, Morrison decided to implement a host of solutions that would allow him to maximize resources, slash spending in half, and steer the district in a new technological direction.<\/p>\n

This is a real story of digital transformation.From struggling to streamlined<\/strong><\/span>Tucson Unified School District serves 46,000 students and has a rich 150-year history of educating Tucson students and developing world recognition for its programs in fine arts, STEM & STEAM, AP, ALE, and Dual Language bilingual immersion programs. TUSD is also proud of its award winning blue ribbon schools, nationally recognized magnet programs, and high school ranked as one of the 10 best in the nation. In recent years, the ethnic demographic has shifted from being majority White-Anglo to being majority Hispanic. Additionally, around 75 percent of students meet free and reduced lunch eligibility, a reflection of the district\u2019s socioeconomics.<\/p>\n

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Morrison wanted to create an equal education opportunity for students, construct a stable infrastructure that could support their services, and empower continued growth for the TUSD community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe district was stalled for about 15 years with no new technology investments and upgrades or processes that were actually working,\u201d says Morrison. \u201cAll of these pieces of the enterprise were just bogged down with labor-intensive, paper-driven processes that just didn\u2019t make sense.”<\/p>\n

TUSD first had to streamline their infrastructure and processes. First was the upgrade of the Enterprise Resource Planning and Student Information System.\u00a0 These systems are at the heart of TUSD and now reside on state-of-art hardware utilizing Microsoft\u2019s latest server and database infrastructure. These major upgrades allow TUSD to move forward with new enhancements to their daily routines, including hiring processes, payroll, budget controls, procurement processing, assets management, governance, state and federal reporting, and time and attendance clocking systems.<\/p>\n

The district also moved away from on-premises servers and toward a more cloud-based model. Enterprise Mobility Suite through the Azure platform allows TUSD to leverage technology with virtual services, and in return, the TUSD is helping provide financial sustainability and stay lean without increasing staff. The efficiency of Azure, Morrison explained, has made big data a reality and paved the way for applications such as Ed-Fi, which provides teachers and administration visibility into student progress from a multitude data points to provide personal learning strategies thus ensuring all students are learning and prepared for the journey after high school.Educators empowering educators<\/strong><\/span>Because new, affordable tools and platforms led to optimized operations, Morrison was able to focus on revitalizing the classroom. The saved money meant opportunities to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve now taken those dollars and moved them into other avenues we would never even be able to think about,\u201d says Morrison. The CTO sees \u201cBring your own Device\u201d (BYOD) initiatives as a viable solution to better serve students and teachers in the classroom economically. \u201cBecause of the advances in Windows 10 and the recent advancements in more affordable products for the education sector, we\u2019ve been able to keep budget neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n

With emerging BYOD opportunities, money went back to the classroom.\u00a0 The district was able to consolidate its technology footprint, which then allowed them to reinvest in areas they needed to grow with new technologies and better security applications.<\/p>\n

To control the budget and continue doing more with less, rather than hiring new people, Morrison implemented a teacher-to-teacher and staff-to-staff training methodology for new adoptions such as Microsoft Office 365, Intune, and EMS.<\/p>\n

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This approach not only cut down on budget, it also built community by creating an environment where teachers were encouraged to learn and grow. The district\u2019s professional development was being molded by faculty and staff, for faculty and staff. TUSD found themselves not only in a technological change, but in a cultural one as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re firing up a creative side of teachers,\u201d explains Morrison. \u201cWe\u2019re providing teachers ability and functionality through this organic approach.\u201d This teacher-to-teacher approach supported Morrison\u2019s theory of \u201cdoing more with less,\u201d allowing the district to put faith in their employees and save on budget.Preparing the leaders of tomorrow<\/strong><\/span>While faculty and staff were more supported in providing the optimal learning experience, it was the students who benefited most from the cultural and digital transformation of the school district.<\/p>\n

For instance, one director who was an elementary principal was pleasantly surprised how an application such as OneNote could be used to reach students challenged with dyslexia. She grew emotional realizing that several students with the disability had achieved noticeably high improvements and were more comfortable learning through the devices.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou just don\u2019t understand how many students\u2019 lives we are going to be able to change through this technology,\u201d Morrison recalls the director saying. Being able to configure devices and applications for these students added to the personal nature of the district\u2019s transformation.<\/p>\n

Morrison found that new technology and initiatives, such as BYOD, led to a more engaged, responsible classroom. The BYOD program allowed students and teachers to take ownership of their technology, which in turn, made them more passionate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are preparing students for the use of technologies which are used by leading technology companies and the majority of enterprise companies throughout the world,\u201d explains Morrison.<\/p>\n

While new technology helps faculty and staff manage the classroom, the impact it has on students is even more monumental. One of the main goals of TUSD was to ensure equitability and access to top-tier technology for students, especially. Delivering these technology solutions brings the district one step closer to ensuring readiness for young future leaders.The Tucson turnaround<\/strong><\/span>Tucson Unified School District needed to find balance, to restructure and refine their district in order to support and empower their community. New adoptions such as Office 365, Windows 10, OneNote and more allowed them to do so.<\/p>\n

In Morrison\u2019s words, \u201cTechnology is here to serve the customer. In this case, they are our staff, our teachers, our students, our principals\u2014they are our clients.\u201d For other districts looking to benefit from a similar adoption, Morrison emphasizes one thing above all else: listening. \u201cI\u2019m a big believer in getting down into a project and understanding it,\u201d he says. In order to turn around a struggling district, leaders must understand what their customers need, manage expectations, and work to build trust.<\/p>\n

Microsoft is proud to partner with Scott Morrison and the Tucson Unified School District as they continue to empower faculty and staff in preparing the innovators of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

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