| From Vision to Action: How School Districts Use Data To Improve Performance. (PDF) |  |
| \With the passage of "No Child Left Behind" in 2001, schools are expected to provide a standards-based curriculum for students to attain math and reading proficiency and demonstrate progress each year. "NCLB" requires more frequent student testing with publicly reported results in an effort to close the achievement gap and to inform parents, teachers, administrators of student progress. Meeting these ambitious accountability goals requires transparency in the workings of the organization and the cooperation of everyone involved in the education of each student. These mandates have accelerated change already underway in the nation's schools and in the teaching profession. Leading school districts have developed advanced technological systems and professional expertise for analyzing data to deliver timely information for the improvement of operations and instruction. They have embarked upon a process of using data in decision making at all levels of the organization, borrowing management models from business and from each other. Published in 2003, "Vision to Know and Do: The Power of Data as a Tool in Educational Decision Making" defined a vision for continuous improvement, identified leadership districts creating a climate for change, and reviewed the implementation of systems and processes to enable data-driven decision making (DDDM). "From Vision to Action: How School Districts Use Data to Improve Performance" moves beyond the vision and visits districts that are acting on their data, testing the process, and seeing improvement in student learning. "From Vision to Action: How School Districts Use Data to Improve Performance" is written for school district leaders and K-12 educators who are seeking ways to implement a data-driven decision making process. To understand how pioneer school districts have met the technological and human challenges of DDDM, "From Vision to Action" focuses on three areas of development and action: (1) leading in a learning organization; (2) moving from data collection to analysis to action; and (3) sustaining data-driven decision making. |  |
| Forum Guide To Decision Support Systems (PDF) | |
| This document was developed by educators for educators to remedy the lack of reliable, objective information available to the education community about decision support systems. | |
| Study: Schools Head Toward Enterprise Data Management | |
| An article about a study released by a consulting firm showing that school districts are starting to take an enterprise-based approach to data management. | |
| Data Tools For School Improvement (PDF) | |
| A diagnostic testing process that automatically records what each student already knows or needs to master to meet all district and state learning standards by the end of the year would not only suggest lessons to assist the students with their learning needs as a whole, but it would also indicate which students need additional, individualized support. These strategies will help schools select an appropriate and effective data system. | |
| Review Of Progress Monitoring Tools | |
| The tools chart below reflects the results of four annual reviews that the Center's Technical Review Committee (TRC) have completed. A star in the "Area" column indicates new information from the 2007 review. | |
| Finding Your Way In A Data-Driven World | |
| Schools now have the tools to analyze data in a more structured, timely, and organized fashion. | |
| Why Interoperability | |
| SIF interoperability for different applications | |
| The 10 Essential Elements In Detail For 2007-08 | |
| The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) and the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA), with support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, conducted a survey about state data systems to determine the number of states that have built the infrastructure to tap into the power of longitudinal data. Similar surveys were conducted in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. | |
| Forum Curriculum For Improving Education Data (PDF) | |
| This publication is a curriculum designed to support the training by qualified instructors of K-12 school and district staff about the issues pertaining to the production of high-quality education data. It builds on the "Forum Guide to Building a Culture of Data Quality: A School & District Resource," published by the National Center for Education Statistics in November 2004 (ED483079). It provides lesson plans, instructional handouts, and resource materials. | |
| Making Connections In Math: Part 2 | |
| Jason Kamras was the 2005 National Teacher of the Year. Mr. Kamras' goal is to raise awareness about the achievement gaps that result from inequalities. He shares his ideas regarding policy changes, teacher preparation, classroom management, and the benefits of uniforms. He also discusses his goals for the future and shares his advicoe for new teachers. | |
| Does Your District Need A Technology Audit? | |
| An article advocating for technology audits as an important tool in technology evaluation and planning. | |
| The Plugged-in School: Districts Harness Technology To Attract And Retain New Teachers | |
| While schools districts may be slow to jump on board, universities, regional education service agencies, and non-profit organizations are harnessing some of the new technologies as a way to both appeal to incoming teachers and to support them during their challenging first years in the profession. | |
| Assessment Tools | |
| This website provides links to numerous assessment and technology articles, tools, and materials. | |
| ISTE Educational Technology Standards And Performance Indicators For All Teachers | |
| Building on the NETS for Students, the ISTE NETS for Teachers (NETS S), which focus on preservice teacher education, define the fundamental concepts, knowledge, skills, and attitudes for applying technology in educational settings. All candidates seeking certification or endorsements in teacher preparation should meet these educational technology standards. | |
| ProfilerPRO | |
| ProfilerPRO allows for the evaluation of knowledge, attitude, and skill based on simple surveys implemented via the World Wide Web. Group members share knowledge and promote collaboration based on responses to skills-based survey items. ProfilerPRO can strengthen a school's, district's, or other educational group's ability to share expertise and grow as an organization. | |
| Technology Professional Development: Successful Strategies For Teacher Change (PDF) | |
| This article discusses how to facilitate and provide effective professional development around the use of technology. It identifies different stages of technology use that teachers may be in, and then links the stages with the appropriate professional development that will give the best result. The article also discusses strategies that work, indicators of success, and it provides some links to useful PD resources. | |
| Tapping Into The Power Of Longitudinal Data (PDF) | |
| Presentation that addresses the need for longitudinal data in schools and what principals should do about it. | |
| You Are Not Alone (PDF) | |
| With data an increasingly integral part of K-12 instruction and operations, a school district's technology infrastructure has become mission critical. Easy access to quality data gives teachers tools to monitor and shape student progress, helps administrators identify what's working and where more resources are needed, and allows the district to comply with NCLB requirements to report disaggregated student achievement and show yearly progress. | |
| How To Deal With Unstructured Data | |
| Organizations often have an abundance of unstructured data. In this article, an expert on data warehousing provides a solution to this problem. | |
| School Interoperability Framework Association | |
| The goal of SIFA is to make it possible for school administrators, teachers and other school personnel to have access to the most current and accurate data available. | |
| The Right Data To The Right People At The Right Time (PDF) | |
| Presentation discusses the lack of Standardization in educational data systems and its effect on education. | |
| No More Flying Blind (PDF) | |
| Although schools often appear to lack navigational instruments to guide them in promoting 21st century learning, the typical educational enterprise has access to large quantities of data on which to base decisions. | |
| Benefits Of And Lessons Learned From Linking Teacher And Student Data | |
| Increasingly, federal and state leaders are using longitudinal data systems for both policymaking and school improvement. In response, states are investing more resources in the systems' design, development and use. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has championed the development of state data systems based on 10 essential elements. | |
| Data Quality Campaign | |
| A national effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the collection of data and improve data systems. | |
| The Data Primer: Using Data For Instructional Decision Making | |
| The Data Primer is an instructional website designed to help educators become more comfortable with thinking about and using data for the purposes of instructional decision making. | |
| Continuous Improvement: It Takes More Than Test Scores (PDF) | |
| Article about the analysis of state assessment results and improving the process | |
| Data Use Drives School And District Improvement (PDF) | |
| This brief highlights how to coordinate different types of data to improve performance; how teachers, schools, districts, and states use data | |
| Data-Driven Decision Making: Vision To Know And Do (PDF) | |
| As part of CoSN's Essential Leadership Skills Series, this 2-page resource encourages small district technology leaders to ensure that data is used effectively to inform instruction, which includes providing professional development to teachers to maximize effective data use. This resource highlights two examples of small districts that have been successful with data-driven decision making. | |
| Data Systems: They're Not Just About Students Anymore | |
| A growing body of research highlights the classroom teacher as one of the most important predictors of student success. While research and policy conversations increasingly focus on the vital relationship between teacher and student, most of our current data systems are unable to inform these discussions. Only 18 states report the ability to connect their teacher data with student data in any grade, and even fewer actually use the resulting information to inform policy and practice. | |
| Improve Student Performance | |
| EDFacts is a U. S. Department of Education initiative to put performance data at the center of policy, management and budget decisions for all K-12 educational programs. | |
| State Strategies And Practices For Educational Technology: Volume I--Examining The Enhancing Education Through Technology Program (PDF) | |
| This volume describes state-level educational technology policies, focusing on the implementation of state-level Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) programs in the first years of operation. The report draws on survey data from both state educational technology directors and district-based educational technology coordinators that were collected by the National Educational Technology Trends Study (NETTS). | |
| SETDA's National Trends Report 2007 | |
| The No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology (NCLB II D) program requires that states and schools focus their uses of technology on closing the achievement gap. While currently most states are implementing Round 5 (FY06) of the funding cycle, this report provides insights into the program implementation for Round 4 (FY05) and documents trend data across Rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4. | |
| Mapping Educational Progress 2008 | |
| Six years after No Child Left Behind's passage, we have collected more data than ever before about the academic performance of our students and schools. See data on how we're doing as a nation -- student achievement in reading and math, high school graduation rates, schools making adequate yearly progress, highly qualified teachers, parents taking advantage of tutoring and choice options, state participation in flexibility options, and more. | |
| High Performance Wireless | |
| The HPWREN team's first wireless link in conjunction with the Native American rural education community involved the Pala Native American Indian reservation, which is home to more than 600 tribal members - including more than 150 children who attend elementary school on the reservation. | |
| Public-Private Education Facilities And Infrastructure | |
| Grants responsible public entities the authority to create public-private partnerships for the development of a range of projects. | |
| Schools Could Be The First In U.S. To Use WiMax | |
| The Federal Communications Commission has set a 2008 deadline for schools to either use or auction their portions of the spectrum. Some plan to use it for WiMax. | |
| K-12 Interoperability, Open Standards And Best Practices (PDF) | |
| In this article we take a look at standards movements and trends aimed at facilitating integration between the many data-intensive applications schools rely on today. | |
| Keeping Pace With K-12 Online Learning (PDF) | |
| This report explores policies and practices governing online education with a particular focus on policies aiming to provide students with high-quality online learning experiences. The report looks specifically at two areas: state-level policies governing online education, and statewide online programs (i.e., programs created by legislation or by a state-level agency, and/or funded or administered by a state department of education or another state-level agency to provide online learning opportunities across the state). Online learning has developed explosively over the past five years. As of July 2005, 21 states have statewide online learning programs, and cyberschools and/or district-level online programs operate in almost every state. Both statewide programs and cyberschools report rapid growth, with registrations and enrollments typically experiencing double-digit percentage annual increases. Despite the explosive growth, relatively little is known about the programs that conduct online learning. What percentage of students passes the courses they take? What is the quality of their learning experience? How much does it cost to provide online courses, and what are the best methods for paying that cost? Questions like these raise complex issues of policy, practice, and philosophy. While online-learning practitioners have been grappling with such issues for years, state policymakers have moved much more slowly; and the concern raised four years ago by the National Association of State Boards of Education--that online learning developments would outpace the capacity of policymakers to shape these developments in constructive ways--has turned into an increasingly accurate prediction. | |
| Mobile Computing | |
| Collection of articles on the effects of mobile computing | |
| Open Technologies In K-12 Schools (PDF) | |
| What do Grant High School in Australia, the New York Public Library, Amazon.com, and the Nokia 770 Internet tablet have in common? They all rely on open technologies to deliver high quality products and services to their customers. It's time for U.S. education technology leaders to investigate the opportunities and challenges offered by entering into the worldwide use of open technologies. | |
| Strong Medicine: Scientifically Based Research And School Practice (PDF) | |
| In passing No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the legislation that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Congress has instructed that funding decisions and practice should adhere to scientifically based research (SBR). | |
| Taking Wireless To The Max | |
| Interview with James Davis, who is building one of the nation's first WiMax networks in a Milwaukee Public School | |
| Making The Grade: Accountability And Assessment Under No Child Left Behind (PDF) | |
| The shift to evidence-based education set in motion by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation raises the stakes for education technology leaders. Accountability has been redefined, with schools being required to answer on the basis of results rather than inputs, outcome rather than process. Students in all subgroups -- including those who are economically disadvantaged, speak only limited English, or have disabilities -- must show evidence of progress in reading/language arts and mathematics, as well as other measures such as graduation rates. | |
| Information Technology's Impact On School–Parents And Parents–Student Interrelations: A Case Study | |
| This paper explores the impact of a school management information system on the interrelations between parents and school and parents and their student children in terms of the children's learning, behavior and attendance (LBA), during one academic year, in a vocational high school, located in a mainstream socio-economic neighborhood. Parents' LBA interrelations with the principal, homeroom teachers, grade level coordinators, and the school as an institution as well as with their children changed noticeably. The involvement of parents in general, but of parents with children having LBA problems in particular, in school LBA issues became more intensive, more frequent and more focused. The paper's results add the information technology dimension to parents involvement in school research, a dimension neglected so far. Implications for the principal's work are discussed. | |
| Crisis Preparedness: Leadership For IT Disaster Recovery (PDF) | |
| This two-page document outlines tips for small district technology leaders to create a disaster recovery plan. It includes topics such as Protecting Your Data, Determining Critical Services and Operations, and Plan for Ongoing Communication. | |