The School
The Lycée Français de Chicago (LFC) is a vibrant international school that serves 775 students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The institution provides a multicultural and multilingual environment, welcoming students from diverse backgrounds and nurturing global citizenship. Its French–English bilingual immersion program extends from pre-K through middle school, offering a truly bicultural education that combines the best of both academic traditions.
At the high school level, students prepare for both the French Baccalaureate and U.S. university systems, gaining access to top universities across continents. This dual approach reflects the school’s mission to provide an education without borders, rooted in academic excellence, cultural openness, and lifelong curiosity.
About the Interviewee
With over 25 years of experience in PK–12 education, Irina has dedicated her career to improving the use of technology in teaching, learning, and operational efficiency. Beginning as a technology teacher for grades 1 through 8, she developed a passion for empowering educators and students with digital tools that enhance both creativity and structure in the classroom.
Today, Irina oversees infrastructure, data systems, and instructional technology at LFC. Their holistic approach ensures that tools like Eduka integrate seamlessly into the daily rhythm of the school. Holding a degree in Technology in Education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, she brings both academic expertise and a practitioner’s perspective to the digital transformation of international schools.
The Challenges
As a fast-growing bilingual institution, the Lycée Français de Chicago faced a complex data management challenge: ensuring that every student, parent, and staff record aligned across systems and over time. The main difficulty was maintaining one reliable, unified source of truth that could follow individuals throughout their entire journey — from applicant to alumnus — while capturing their evolving roles within the community.
The school’s academic platform stored only yearly information, while financial databases contained no pedagogical context, leading to duplication and fragmentation. This made it difficult to get a complete view of each family, especially when members held multiple roles (such as parent, staff, or alumni).
Moreover, families increasingly sought ease of use. Parents did not want to manage multiple logins or learn yet another system. The LFC team therefore needed a secure, intuitive platform with single sign-on (SSO), ensuring smooth access for all users while safeguarding sensitive data.
The Solution
Eduka offered a comprehensive and interconnected ecosystem that responded precisely to these challenges. By combining the Admissions, Student & Parent Management, and Alumni modules, LFC gained a complete, long-term view of each family’s record within a single environment. The system automatically generates a unique family number, linking all related individuals and creating a clear digital family tree. The family page provides instant visibility into each member’s role, enrollment history, and administrative interactions.
The Workflow Management module has also become a key component in streamlining parent communications. Families use it to update records, submit forms, sign waivers, and access important documents or update family data, all through an online workflow. The seamless Pronote single sign-on integration further enhances accessibility, allowing parents to move between platforms effortlessly.
For administrators, Eduka’s flexibility and configurability make it easy to tailor data fields and workflows without technical intervention. The result is a platform that serves as both an operational backbone and a communication bridge between the school and its families.
The Results
Since adopting Eduka in 2017, the Lycée Français de Chicago has achieved a centralized, secure, and transparent information system. Staff now spend less time reconciling data and more time focusing on pedagogy and community engagement.
The Eduka platform ensures continuity of information from year to year, giving leadership a complete overview of the school’s evolution. Parents appreciate the clarity and ease of use, accessing all key data from a single interface. For LFC, Eduka has become an essential part of its digital identity, combining reliability, simplicity, and scalability to support future growth.
Partnering for Success
Beyond technology, what truly stands out for LFC is Eduka’s partnership approach.
“Eduka’s support team has always been a partner for us. Yannick conceptualized our use of Eduka and trained our team. The Support team is responsive and always open to using the platform to serve diverse requests. For example, they created a link to our payment system that has performed seamlessly for years.”
The collaboration has fostered trust and innovation, with continuous support ensuring that the system evolves alongside the school’s needs. Eduka’s ability to adapt and co-create solutions has made it a trusted long-term partner rather than just a software vendor.
