PowerSchool SIS: Empowering Torrance Unified School District for the Future

Here Are the Steps This California District Took to Choose a Modern Student Information System 

Education is constantly changing. Educators and administrators regularly face changing district and student needs, along with new trends, technology tools, teaching models, and methodologies. 

Within this evolving world of education, one thing that’s certain is the need to have modern systems in place to prepare your school district for the future. By implementing future-ready edtech systems—with the ability to adapt to changes—you remain agile and adjust to meet student needs.

How Do You Know When It’s Time to Switch Student Information Systems? 

A lack of adaptability was one of the key signs to switch its SIS for California’s Torrance Unified School District. Their current SIS couldn’t keep up with their future needs. The aging system struggled to adapt to the constant changes in California state reporting requirements, as an example. It’s typical for state departments of education to adjust what information the district had to submit for state funding, and Torrance administrators didn’t have confidence that their existing system would keep up with changes.  

The district needed a new SIS that was intuitive, secure, and gave them flexibility to customize pages, fields, and processes. 

How Do You Choose a New SIS Partner?

The district created an RFP to compare multiple SIS vendors. The top needs were customizability and the ability to keep up with constant CALPADS state reporting requirements.

Five SIS vendors responded, and the district looked at each of the products feature-by-feature to compare. While most vendors offered the same basic functionality, what was important to Torrance USD was someone who could be a true partner—from product functionality and innovations to vision and support—helping fill that role of taking them into the future.

“When looking for solutions from a vendor or company to partner with, the relationship part is so key,” says Gil Mara, Torrance USD’s Chief Educational Technology and Information Services Officer. “The longevity of the SIS and company and support that’s available is critical. An SIS is a mission-critical system. It’s really important that both the district and vendor understand that, and that you’re all on the same page and that you value the same thing when it comes to educating students.” 

What Led to Choosing PowerSchool SIS

Based on its criteria of needing an SIS that was customizable, could support CALPADS reporting, and become a long-term partner, Torrance Unified School District chose PowerSchool SIS, part of the Student Information Cloud. Founded in 1997, PowerSchool SIS is K-12’s first web-based system and the most widely used SIS in the U.S. 

Mara had used—and trusted—PowerSchool SIS in the past when his previous district had the system some 20 years before. “I knew it was powerful then, and it’s only gotten better. I knew it was a platform that would get us to where we wanted to go,” he says.

PowerSchool SIS is a fully customizable system that allows schools and districts to configure unique settings for things like attendance, school calendars, and gradebooks, as well as any page or form within the system. The system gives Torrance USD the flexibility to customize the following features and functions: 

• User interface, including the appearance, layout, and organization of screens, menus, and dashboards 
• Data fields and forms to capture critical information 
• Reports and dashboards to gain insights from student data  
• Grading scales and assessment criteria 
• Permissions and access control to improve data security and privacy

PowerSchool SIS also supports integrations with other edtech software and third-party applications, allowing Torrance USD to customize the SIS by integrating it with other systems. 

Final Results: How PowerSchool SIS is Meeting Torrance Needs 

Through diligent research and team collaboration, Torrance chose an edtech partner for its SIS that would lead to additional integrated products, a streamlined user experience, and shared data.

With PowerSchool SIS, Torrance USD gained the ability to customize the student information system, including creating a field for an entire page or program, for nearly any need. For example, the district’s language department needed to track specific data for its English Language (EL) program. Mara’s technology department met with the language department to determine needs, then designed an entire EL platform with their own pages, dropdowns, and fields that works specifically for their needs.  

The system helps Torrance Unified School District handle CALPADS changes with a dedicated compliance and reporting team, specifically working on California reporting requirements. PowerSchool SIS streamlines data collection and management, offers real-time data updates and reporting, and customization and compliance tools specifically designed for CALPADS reporting, including data validation checks, error identification, and automated notifications for missing or incomplete data.

By partnering with PowerSchool, Torrance USD can now customize its SIS to save time, improve data accuracy, and stay current with state reporting changes. And with an integrated suite of PowerSchool products, the district now enjoys streamlined processes, data-driven insights, and a bright future for their students.