Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Experts: Here’s how to turn data into achievement

During AASA’s National Conference on Education, superintendents look for guidance on overcoming fears of school data use

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“We need to change the conversation from data as a hammer to data as a flashlight,” Guidera said.

School systems are collecting a “tremendous amount” of data about their students, said Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), but how can they use this information to improve instruction?

That was the focus of a thought-provoking session at AASA’s National Conference on Education in Nashville Feb. 13. During the session, panelists agreed that the answer to this question relies on changing the entire culture around school data use.

“Data has gotten a bad rap in schools,” acknowledged Aimee Guidera, executive director of the Data Quality Campaign, a national nonprofit advocacy group that works to improve student achievement through effective data use.…Read More

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Clever gets $10 million from sequoia to provide a standardized API for school data

Clever launched about a year and a half ago to provide a standardized API for K-12 schools that allows them to unlock and share data with outside developers, TechCrunch reports. It’s managed to get 10,000 schools signed up to use its tools since then. Now, according to our sources, the company has raised $10 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital. The funding comes as Clever is finding ways to make schools more connected and accessible for developers. Most schools today use a variety of legacy Student Information Systems (SIS) as a way to store student data. But many of those systems tend to be outdated or custom-built, meaning that the information held within — which includes class lists, attendance, and grades — can’t be shared or accessed by outside developers…

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Major ed data report reveals states’ improvements

Data For Action 2013 shows how states are beginning to make more data-informed actions

data-campaignStates have made immense progress in collecting student data, communicating the importance of using such data, and in emphasizing the need to keep student information safe and secure, according to the ninth annual Data for Action (DFA) report from the Data Quality Campaign (DQC).

This year’s report “highlights, yet again, the incredible leadership that states are demonstrating… [states are] really making progress on using data for continuous improvement,” said Aimee Guidera, DQC founder and executive director.

The biggest change evident in this year’s report is states’ focus on getting appropriate access of the correct data to the right people, at the right time, with the end goal of improving student achievement, Guidera said.…Read More

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Tips on preparing school data for the unexpected

Data backup is a crucial step in IT preparedness.

While student safety remains schools’ top priority during threats of natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes, school administrators and IT leaders must also ensure that they take measures to protect valuable student and school data.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast, knocking out power and, along with it, school districts’ access to technology and data centers. Devastating tornadoes, including the 2013 tornado in Moore, Okla., and the 2011 tornado in Joplin, Mo., rocked school communities.

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) launched its IT Crisis Preparedness Leadership initiative in 2008 after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and other catastrophic events. The initiative gives school administrators and technology leaders free resources to help school systems plan for and respond to the next crisis, focusing on the role of technology leaders, identifying best practices, and devising strategies for shutdown and startup processes.…Read More

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Nine templates to help educators leverage school data

Educators need a practical system that organizes school data in a way that is easily understood.

Educators and administrators are collecting an enormous amount of data about the progress of their students and schools. Now that this information has been collected, how can it be used to improve education?

What administrators and teachers need is a practical system that organizes school and student data in a way that is easily understood and readily available during the school day, according to a collaboration by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and Gartner Inc.

School districts are looking to purchase student information systems and learning management systems to help them with this task.…Read More

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More training is key to better school data use

“It’s time to focus on the people side of the data equation,” the Data Quality Campaign says.

Schools and districts have come a long way in gathering and analyzing data to help boost student achievement, but according to a new report from the Data Quality Campaign (DQC), what school data initiatives are still missing is the human element.

The DQC’s eighth annual state analysis, Data for Action 2012, found that although states are making progress in supporting “effective data use” and  have enacted data-based policy changes, they have “not yet focused on helping people—especially parents, teachers, and students—effectively use data.” The organization issued the findings of its analysis in a report titled “Focus on People to Change Data Culture.”

“States should be commended for their hard work building robust data systems,” said Aimee Rogstad Guidera, executive director of the DQC. “But it’s time to focus on the people side of the data equation—how this benefits teachers and students. State policy makers must actively support a culture in which all education stakeholders are actually using and learning from this crucial information to improve student achievement.”…Read More

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Commentary: Data undermining

Districts need more guidance on using school and student data.
Districts need more guidance on using school and student data.

School data systems are getting more sophisticated–but are their users?

It’s a fair question to ask, in light of a recent Education Department (ED) report suggesting that school leaders are making progress in using data to improve student achievement–but they’re still looking for examples of how best to do this.

Using data to improve instruction is a key focal point of the Obama administration’s school-reform efforts. And the tools that educators have at their disposal are getting better: A perusal of exhibitors at this year’s Florida Education Technology Conference, for example, revealed at least two companies now offering systems that can give teachers the full history of their students’ test scores. That means teachers can begin a new school year knowing their students’ strengths and weaknesses immediately, without wasting valuable class time early in the year.…Read More

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