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Chicago WorkKeys Story...here's the scoop.

This is just a quick little post to tell the Chicago story.  Way back in the fall of 2003 Chicago Public Schools decided to evaluate instructional materials for the WorkKeys Employment System from ACT.  They decided that they wanted to deliver the instructional material via the Internet and on top of that, they wanted to host the instructional material on their own web servers.  Now, this is no small task and most folks don’t even have a clue what they are getting into.  Questions abound...or they should.  1.  Do I have the bandwidth to service 10, 20, 40 or more schools with 20, 30 or more students simultaneously accessing the curriculum.  2.  Is(are) my server(s) capable of handling the load?  3.  How does the application get to my server(s).  4. What about data entry?  5.  What about data importing?  6.  What about support?  7.  Can the publisher do this, do they have a record of success?  Chicago decided on a pilot program for 12 schools.  Six would use KeyTrain and six would use another product.  Programmers and support personnel would be given access to a CPS server for the install.  KeyTrain took just over a day for the install and data import.  The other took three and one half weeks and was still not totally successful.  Next step was a training/overview session for teachers involved from the 12 schools.  It was a good session for one half of the group and a disaster for the other half.  I leave it to you to figure out which.  By the end of the day, all the schools were clamoring for KeyTrain.  To wrap up this story, KeyTrain was awarded the contract for 40+ high schools.  It just goes to show you...cheaper is not necessarily better...you get what you pay for.