Maestro SIS Case Study: Implementing a Modern SIS for a Global K-12 School

Topics: Global K-12 Online School, International Student Information Management, Canvas LMS Integration, SIS Implementation Partnership, Family & Partner Portal Access

Written by: Maestro SIS and Mizzou Academy, with contributions from Angie Hammons, Director, Curriculum Development & IT

Executive Summary

Mizzou Academy is the University of Missouri's fully accredited K-12 laboratory school, providing innovative online and blended learning opportunities to students around the world. With more than 200 courses, approximately 6,000 students annually, and learners in more than 60 countries, Mizzou Academy needed a Student Information System (SIS) capable of supporting the complexity of a global, year-round school.

As Mizzou Academy evaluated a new SIS, the goal was about more than replacing technology. The school needed a modern, flexible system that could improve access to information, strengthen reporting and data management, integrate effectively with other critical systems, and provide a better experience for students, families, partners, and staff.

Just as importantly, Mizzou Academy wanted a vendor that would listen, respond, and grow alongside the school.

Through implementation, Mizzou Academy has improved data management, financial processes, enrollment visibility, international student support, and access to information for students, families, and partner schools, all while creating a stronger foundation for future growth.

"Maestro SIS provided both the technology and partnership Mizzou Academy was seeking."

— Mizzou Academy

About Mizzou Academy

History and Accreditation

With University lab school programming dating back to 1913, Mizzou Academy has a long commitment to iteration, innovation, and continuous improvement. In 2024, the school celebrated 25 years of being accredited by Cognia and was named the values-driven school for that academic year. Mizzou Academy was brought into the College of Education and Human Development in 2011, and its lead instructors hold faculty positions in Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum (LTC).

Programming

Mizzou Academy's courses and programs are developed in-house by teams at the University of Missouri, in alignment with state and national standards. With over 200 courses across elementary, middle, and high school, the school cultivates online and blended learning environments serving over 6,000 students annually from 60+ countries and all U.S. states and territories.

• At the elementary level, Mizzou Academy provides inquiry-based foundational instruction in language arts, mathematics, and science.
• At the middle school level, students can choose from two programs: an integrated project-based program or a core self-paced program.
• At the high school level, Mizzou Academy offers self-paced and co-teach courses, as well as advanced placement, world languages, and other electives, along with a MizzouDirect program that offers a streamlined matriculation pathway for international students into undergraduate programs.

Impact

Thousands of students have graduated with a University of Missouri High School Diploma and gone on to career fields and universities around the world. In recent years, Mizzou Academy has focused on addressing access gaps locally and internationally and on expanding program options to K-8.

Mizzou Academy's mission is to support students as learners and leaders in classrooms and local communities, guided by the values of Belonging, Innovation, Partnership, and Access, a commitment that extends to the approximately 6,000 students it serves annually from more than 60 countries and across the United States.

Why Mizzou Academy Needed a New SIS

Operating a global online school creates unusual requirements for a student information system. Mizzou Academy's students live around the world, enroll on different schedules, and participate in several different types of programs. The school also works directly with partner schools and organizations that need access to information about their students.

The previous SIS was becoming increasingly difficult to use for this work. Mizzou Academy needed better reporting and data management, a modern interface that could be customized for different staff roles, and stronger integrations with Canvas and other systems.

The school also wanted to improve what students, families, and partner schools could see. Parents and guardians needed an easier way to find information about their students, and partner coordinators and counselors needed better access to enrollment and progress information.

Serving students internationally added another layer of complexity. Something as basic as an address field can become a barrier when a system assumes every student has a U.S. state and numeric ZIP code, so Mizzou Academy needed an SIS that could accommodate the students it actually serves.

There were also financial and security requirements that had to be met, and based on previous experience, Mizzou Academy wanted a vendor that would communicate and work with the school when problems arose.

Why Mizzou Academy Chose Maestro

When Mizzou Academy evaluated SIS options, Maestro met several key requirements.

The ability to customize grids and views was important because staff members use the SIS in very different ways; someone working with enrollment does not necessarily need to see information the same way as someone working in academics, finance, or student services.

Reporting was another priority. The SIS is a foundational data source for Mizzou Academy, so the school needed to be able to get information out of the system and organize it in ways useful to its teams.

Integration with Canvas was critical, since Canvas is where students and teachers spend much of their time, and Mizzou Academy also needed flexibility to integrate Maestro with other university and financial systems.

Tiger Portal gave the school an opportunity to improve access for students, families, teachers, counselors, and partner coordinators, who can now access information and monitor student progress in one location, a visibility that is especially important for families and partners.

Implementation

Moving to Maestro gave Mizzou Academy a chance to look at more than the data that needed to migrate. It made the team think carefully about how that data should be organized and how processes should work going forward.

Mizzou Academy had a dedicated project manager who met with the team regularly throughout implementation. That consistent contact helped the school work through decisions as they came up instead of waiting until the end of the project to discover that something did not work as expected.

In some cases, Mizzou Academy changed processes rather than simply rebuilding what it had done in the previous SIS, one of the unexpected benefits of implementation. The process pushed the team to ask why something was being done a particular way and whether there was a better approach.

What Has Improved

Data and Reporting

Staff have more flexibility in how they view and organize information. Different teams can customize views around the work they do, and Maestro gives Mizzou Academy more options for organizing data into reports. The school is still developing its reporting strategy, an area where it expects to continue expanding its use of Maestro.

Access for Families and Partners

Tiger Portal has made information more accessible to students, families, teachers, and partner coordinators. This has been particularly helpful for families: parents and guardians have better visibility into their students' information and progress, and partner coordinators and school counselors can more easily track enrollments for the students they support.

International Students

With students in more than 60 countries, Mizzou Academy cannot assume that addresses and other student information will follow U.S. formats. Maestro gives the school more flexibility in how international address information is entered, so international students are not prevented from completing an application because their state, province, postal code, or other information does not match a U.S. format.

Financial Processes

Maestro has also improved how Mizzou Academy manages financial information. The system uses standard debit and credit accounting practices and maintains records of transactions such as refunds, transfers, and voided invoices. The school can carry forward legacy balances while keeping them clearly identified, and payment plans and custom payment types have reduced some of the manual processes previously used.

Canvas Integration

Because Canvas is central to Mizzou Academy's online courses, the connection between Maestro and Canvas is important to daily operations. During implementation, the team worked with Maestro to refine how courses and sections map between the two systems, and continues to work on the integration as needs change and as both systems evolve.

The Value of the Partnership

From the beginning of implementation, Mizzou Academy has had a dedicated project manager who meets regularly with the team. Having a consistent point of contact throughout implementation helped Mizzou Academy work systematically through decisions, anticipate challenges, and ensure that questions were addressed along the way.

That same level of engagement continues during major upgrades and other key transition periods. A dedicated project manager meets regularly with the Mizzou Academy team to help the school understand upcoming changes, prepare for their impact, and work through questions or challenges, making upgrades feel like a collaborative process rather than simply a technology change.

For everyday questions, Maestro's ticketing system has been responsive. Mizzou Academy has also submitted requests for changes or additional functionality, and the BocaVox team has been willing to listen to those requests and talk through possible solutions.

That support has been especially noticeable when a problem involves more than one system. Mizzou Academy has experienced outages involving its LMS vendor that affected the integration with Maestro, and in those situations, the Maestro team joined the troubleshooting effort and worked with the other vendor to identify the problem and restore service.

For Mizzou Academy, that willingness to work across systems is important. Students and staff do not experience an "SIS problem" or an "LMS problem" — they experience a service that is either working or not working, and the school needs technology partners who are willing to help solve the problem.

Looking Ahead

Mizzou Academy's work with Maestro continues. Reporting is one of the next areas of focus as the school looks for better ways to use SIS data to understand enrollment, student support, and school operations.

Mizzou Academy also plans to continue improving its integrations, including exploring API options that can connect Maestro more effectively with other University of Missouri systems.

"Mizzou Academy has changed significantly throughout its history, and that is expected to continue. As its programs, partnerships, and student population change, the school needs an SIS, and a vendor relationship, that can change with it."

— Angie Hammons, Director, Curriculum Development & IT, Mizzou Academy