Moving Beyond Compliance: Four Ways States Can Support Districts and Local Data Use

Moving Beyond Compliance: Four Ways States Can Support Districts and

Local Data Use

2012 MIS Conference

Dan Domagala, Colorado Department of Education

Josh Klein, Oregon Department of Education

Jim Harrington, Hillsboro School District (OR)

Rebecca Shah, Data Quality Campaign

Key Objectives

» Understand the evolution of the state role from compliance-oriented to service-providing

» Understand current state efforts to build and use longitudinal data systems

» Learn why state and district collaboration is critical to improve the effective use of data

» Learn four guiding principles for states in this work

» Understand the complementary data capacity of states and districts

Evolution of the State Role

Past Future

States Have Made Unprecedented Progress Toward Building State Longitudinal Data Systems

2005 2011

No state had all 10 Essential Elements

36 states report that they have all 10 Essential Elements

States Have Not Taken Action to Support Data Use

2011

No state has taken all 10 State Actions

No One Entity Can Succeed Alone: Why State and District Data Collaboration is Critical

Past FutureMaximize data

investments and reduce costs and burden

Equalize and enhance district capacity

Meet the needs of allstakeholders

Ensure cross-district andcross-state comparability

Systems worked at cross-purposes

Unnecessary duplication of efforts is avoided

Data were not high quality, consistent or comparable

Data are provided within context of surrounding districts and schools

State system was designed to meet state needs and for compliance

State approaches work as customer service entity

Low-capacity districts struggled to collect/use data to inform decisions

Lessons learned can be leveraged and scaled across the state

Colorado State Leader

» Dan Domagala, Chief Information Officer, Colorado Department of Education

8Colorado Department of Education - www.Schoolview.org

9Colorado Department of Education – www.Schoolview.org (SAMPLE DATA)

10Colorado Department of Education – www.SchoolView.org (SAMPLE DATA)

11Colorado Department of Education – www.SchoolView.org (SAMPLE DATA)

By Working Together, We Get There Faster

Higher Capacity District

Lower Capacity District

StateImproved Student

Outcomes

When states and districts collaborate around data use, each single entity and the entire system can gain more powerful results- improving student achievement and system performance.

Four Guiding Principles for States to Support District Data Efforts to Improve Student Achievement

1 •Collaboratively identify district data capacity to inform state data efforts

2 •Transform data into actionable information and ensure district access

3 •Ensure data literacy among educators through pre-service and in-service policies and practices

4 •Maximize efficiency and minimize burden in data collection

Oregon Discussant

» Josh Klein, Chief Information Officer, Office of Assessment and Information Services, Oregon Department of Education

» Jim Harrington, Chief Technology Officer, Hillsboro School District (OR)

1 •Collaboratively identify district data capacity to inform state data efforts

» Proactively engage districts and other local entities to identify data capacity and inform the design of the state data system and related policies

» Develop and disseminate data tools and supports in ways that encourage active use

2 •Transform data into actionable information and ensure district access

» Build robust partnerships with external research and development organizations (universities, regional education laboratories and others) to develop research questions, conduct analysis and interpret findings from longitudinal data to inform data displays, reports and analytic tools

» Develop data portals that are engaging and enable users to access data based on role, and customize displays so the user is able to answer questions and address realworld problems

» Align efforts with developers that are creating data applications for local districts

Oregon Department of Education – www.EducationDataExplorer.com

3 •Ensure data literacy among educators through pre-service and in-service policies and practices

» Collect the data on students and teachers necessary to implement and evaluate state policies, and link these data according to identified promising practices, including developing robust “teacher of record” definitions

» Change certification and program approval policies to ensure that educators have proven competency in using data to inform instructional decisionmaking

» Share teacher performance data annually and automatically with teacher preparation programs to support their efforts to improve their programs

» Provide or support high-quality professional development to develop data literacy among educators on how to analyze, assimilate and apply data in their everyday work

4 •Maximize efficiency and minimize burden in data collection

» Ensure transparency and clearly communicate data element definitions and collection timelines, providing sufficient time for districts to make changes

» Integrate the underlying technology of state and district data and reporting systems so data can be more easily transferred electronically across each system

» Focus data collection on the information needed to answer critical policy questions developed through broad-based input in the state

DQC’s 2010 State Data Leader of the Year

Click here to view this video.

Serving districts by integrating state data into locally established role-based portals

Defining Clear and Complementary Roles

Examples of state data capacity

•Collecting data: Collect and store longitudinal data that follows students over time from early childhood through K12, postsecondary and workforce and across districts•Creating reports: Create longitudinal data reports/dashboards such as growth and early warning reports that take advantage of statewide comparisons and put local comparisons in context•Building educator capacity: Create statewide licensure, program approval and certification requirements to ensure new educators are proficient and competent users of data

Examples of district data capacity

•Collecting data: Collect and store student-level data (e.g., attendance, grades, formative and interim assessment data) not required at the state level•Creating reports: Create and disseminate reports/dashboards using district and state data that enable resources, programs and interventions to be used for strategic management of schools and classrooms•Building educator capacity: Require data literacy and capacity-building training from the teacher and principal certification programs

How Will We Know When We Are Successful?

When all education stakeholders demand and use quality data to make decisions

For More Information

The full publication, including an appendix with promising state practices from 17 states, is available at www.DataQualityCampaign.org/ComplianceToService.

To access the summary version, visit www.DataQualityCampaign.org/ComplianceToServiceSummary.

Questions and Answers

» Dan Domagala, Chief Information Officer, Colorado Department of Education

» Josh Klein, Chief Information Officer, Office of Assessment and Information Services, Oregon Department of Education

» Jim Harrington, Chief Technology Officer, Hillsboro School District (OR)

» Rebecca Shah, Senior Associate, State Policy Initiatives, Data Quality Campaign