By LISA FLEISHER

Most educators spend less than an hour a year using the city's $80 million student-data system, which transformed access to basic student information, a new study from New York University found.

The Achievement Reporting and Innovation System is most useful early in the year as teachers check out incoming students' test scores and administrators create student schedules, said the study by NYU's Research Alliance for New York City Schools.

During the 2010-11 school year, 69% of teachers used ARIS, and usage among administrators was higher, according to the analysis of user data. More than a third of users spent an average of 44 minutes on the system. Light users averaged four minutes a year; heavy users averaged nearly five hours a year. Few educators take advantage of more complex tools, such as data analytics, the study said.

Chief Academic Officer Shael Polakow-Suransky said the department is happy with ARIS. "There's massive usage compared to any other system of its kind in the country," he said. Teachers in areas without state tests, such as gym and kindergarten, might find limited value in ARIS, while other teachers may not be comfortable with technology, he said.

ARIS launched in 2008 and replaced multiple electronic and paper systems that tracked records such as students' grades, attendance and state test scores.

Off the bat, ARIS was beset by delays. Some teachers found it too confusing to use and not worth the effort. From an instructional standpoint, teachers' biggest complaint was that ARIS didn't contain results such as quizzes.

"A critical goal for ARIS was to inform teachers' instructional practice," said James Kemple, executive director of the Research Alliance. "[Teachers] would say the information about last year's test scores is of moderate use," but real-time data is more useful.

To address that, the DOE now uses new systems that track areas such as reading progress, Mr. Polakow-Suransky said.

The Research Alliance, which is funded by the Gates and Ford foundations, describes itself as a nonpartisan group that studies "policies and practices that promote students' development and academic success." United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew and City schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott are on the alliance's board.

ARIS was developed by IBM IBM +0.58% and serviced by Wireless Generation, an educational data and content company bought in 2010 by News Corp NWSA -0.76%., which owns The Wall Street Journal. The city's contract with Wireless Generation lasts through 2013. Soon, the city will begin using a multi-state student data platform.

Mr. Polakow-Suransky said the $80 million over four years was a "tiny amount of money" in the scope of the DOE's $24 billion annual budget, and "an investment that was well worth it."

Write to Lisa Fleisher at lisa.fleisher@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared October 22, 2012, on page A25 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Report Tracks Student-Data System Usage.