National Forum on Education Statistics - Forum Annual Report 2006-07

Forum Annual Report 2006-07

National Cooperative Education Statistics System
National Forum on Education Statistics

Summary
2006-07

Officers

Chairperson: Derrick Lindsay, Mississippi Department of Education
Vice-Chair: Susan VanGorden, Lakota Local School District, Ohio
Past Chair: Bill Smith, Sioux Falls School District, South Dakota

Standing Committees

National Education Statistics Agenda Committee (NESAC)
Chair: Sonya Edwards, California Department of Education
Vice-Chair: Linda Rocks, Bossier Parish Schools (LA)
Policies, Programs and Implementation (PPI)
Chair: Robert Beecham, Nebraska Department of Education
Vice-Chair: Levette Williams, Georgia Department of Education
Technology (TECH)
Chair: Jeff Stowe, Arizona Department of Education
Vice-Chair: Kathy Gosa, Kansas State Department of Education

Completed Task Forces & Publications

Forum Curriculum for Improving Education Data: A Resource for Local Education Agencies
Purpose: This curriculum supports efforts to improve the quality of education data by serving as training materials for K-12 school and district staff. It provides lesson plans, instructional handouts, and related resources, and presents concepts necessary to help schools develop a culture for improving data quality.

Roy Herrold (co-chair), Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (PA)
Lee Tack (co-chair), Iowa Department of Education
Bruce Dacey, Delaware Department of Education
Ronald Danforth, New York State Education Department
Mary Gervase, Blaine County School District (ID)
Kenneth Gu, Rhode Island Department of Education
Kathleen Hummel, Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (PA)
John Kennedy, Maine Department of Education
John Metcalfe, Fremont County School District # 1 (WY)
Judy Newman, Sumter County School District Two (SC)
Ross Santy, US Department of Education
Susan VanGorden, Lakota Local School District (OH)
LeVette Williams, Georgia Department of Education
Consultant: Michael Derman and Kathleen Hummel, Central Susquehanna
Intermediate Unit, PA
Project Officer: Ghedam Bairu, National Center for Education Statistics

Forum Guide to Core Finance Data Elements
Purpose: This publication provides current and consistent terms and definitions for maintaining, collecting, reporting, and exchanging comparable information related to education finance. It is designed to accompany Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems: 2003 Edition by identifying common reporting requirements and defining frequently used indicators and calculations that use data elements from accounting and other data systems.

Linda Champion (chair), Florida Department of Education
James (Chris) Christman, Pittsburg State University, Kansas
Matthew Cohen, Ohio Department of Education
Garnet Lavan Dukes, Florida Department of Education
Dori Nielson, Education Consultant, Missoula, Montana
Catherine Sielke, University of Georgia
Consultant: Steven D. Honegger, American Institutes for Research
Project Officer: Frank Johnson, National Center for Education Statistics

Forum Guide to Decision Support Systems: A Resource for Educators
Purpose: The document was developed to remedy the lack of reliable, objective information available to the education community about decision support systems. It will help readers better understand what decision support systems are, how they are configured, how they operate, and how they might be implemented in an education institution.

Tom Ogle (co-chair), Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Raymond Yeagley (co-chair), Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA)
Bertha Doar, Rockwood School District (MO)
Bethann Canada, Virginia Department of Education
Patricia Eiland, Alabama State Department of Education
Lee Rabbitt, Bristol Warren Regional School District (RI)
Tom Purwin, Jersey City Public Schools (NJ)
Project Officer: Ghedam Bairu, National Center for Education Statistics

2006-07 Task Forces/Working Groups

Metadata Task Force
Purpose: To develop a document with best practice concepts, definitions, implementation strategies, and templates/tools for an audience of data, technology, and program staff in state and local education agencies. It is hoped that this resource will improve this audience’s awareness and understanding of metadata and, subsequently, the quality of the data in the systems they maintain.

Tom Ogle (chair), Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Kathy Gosa, Kansas State Department of Education
Sonya Edwards, California Department of Education
Rebecca Kaye, U.S. Department of Education
Tom Saka, Hawaii Department of Education
Steve Smith, Waterville Public Schools (ME)
Mike Strozeski, Richardson Independent SD (TX)
Tim Webb, Tennessee Department of Education
Consultant: Tom Szuba, Quality Information Partners
Project Officer: Ghedam Bairu, National Center for Education Statistics

PK-12 Data Model Task Force
Purpose: To develop a conceptual and a logical education data model that will focus upon teaching, learning, and the business of schools districts. The model will take into account data elements, categories of data elements, the education process, and definitions and semantics, as well as relationships among data elements.

E. Glenn McClain (co-chair), Platte Valley School District, Weld Re-7 (CO)
Jeff Stowe (co-chair), Arizona Department of Education
Bethann Canada, Virginia Department of Education
Bertha Doar, Rockwood School District (MO)
Sonya Edwards, California Department of Education
Katherine Long, Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
David Weinberger, Yonkers Public Schools (NY)
Raymond Yeagley, Northwest Evaluation Association
Consultant: Vicente Paredes, Schools Interoperability Framework Association
Project Officer: Kashka Kubzdela, National Center for Education Statistics

Race/Ethnicity Working Group
Purpose: To develop a tool to help state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) implement pending changes to the way they will be expected to maintain, collect, and report data on race and ethnicity.

Bethann Canada (chair), Virginia Department of Education
Helene Bettencourt, Massachusetts Department of Education
Lavan Dukes, Florida Department of Education
Carol Jones, Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information
Carmen Jordan, Arkansas Department of Education
Blair Loudat, North Clackamas Schools (OR)
Eric McCormick, Alaska Dept. of Education & Early Development
John Metcalfe, Fremont County School District #1 (WY)
David Patton, Omaha Public Schools (NE)
Madalyn Quinlan, Montana Office of Public Instruction
Thomas Stella, Everett Public Schools (MA)
Consultant: Oona Cheung, Quality Information Partners
Project Officer: Lee Hoffman, National Center for Education Statistics

Truancy Working Group
Purpose: To review definitions of “truant” used throughout the nation and, subsequently, to determine whether there is any consensus for the establishment of a common definition that might be used nationally. After two formal meetings, in October and February, the group determined that defining this concept cannot be accomplished in a uniform way on a national level at this time. In July 2007, the working group will discuss whether to develop a comprehensive list of attendance codes and policies that would serve as a reference to local and state education agencies.

Nancy Blair Loudat (co-chair), North Clackamas Schools (OR)
William Smith (co-chair), Sioux Falls School District (SD)
Janet Emerick, Lake Central School Corporation (IN)
M. Francie Gilmore-Dunn, Mississippi Department of Education
Patricia High, Oklahoma State Department of Education
Brad James, Vermont Department of Education
Alvin Larson, Meriden Board of Education (CT)
Kristina Martin, Macomb Intermediate School District (MI)
Janice Petro, Colorado Department of Education
Linda Rocks, Bossier Parish Schools (LA)
Consultant: Irene Hantman, Westat
Project Officer: Ghedam Bairu, National Center for Education Statistics

Special Task Order Awards 2006

The purpose of the Fiscal Year 2007 NCES State Cooperative System Task Order Awards is to improve federal-state cooperation in data collection, processing, and analysis by: (1) developing and implementing student identification systems in support of statewide information systems; (2) improving a State's ability to track and verify dropouts and transfers; (3) improving data quality assurance procedures at the State or local level; and (4) coordinating technical assistance or training for local education agencies in order to facilitate the adoption of state data collection and reporting systems.

Three states received FY 2007 awards:

Indiana Department of Education
Data Dictionary Development
This task order will create a data dictionary that will contain (but may not be limited to) the following information: precise definitions of data elements; usernames, roles, and privileges; schema objects; integrity constraints; stored procedures and triggers; general database structure; and space allocations. The Indiana Department of Education believes that this data dictionary will advance data quality assurance procedures at the State level and improve federal-state cooperation in data collection, processing, analysis, and reporting.

Kansas Department of Education
Improving the Quality of Data Submitted by Kansas LEAs
This task order from the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) is for the design and implementation of a Data Quality Certification (DQC) Program that will provide data quality professional development for local education agency staff throughout Kansas. More specifically, it will target those staff responsible for submitting data to the Kansas Individual Data on Students (KIDS) system to ensure that student level data are accurate and that school staff understand the meaning and importance of these data. In addition to professional development, the program will include outcome measurement and certification.

Vermont Department of Education
A Proposal to Enhance a Public Reporting Portal, School Performance Dashboards, and Data Quality Tests using Vermont’s Shared State and District Education Data Warehouse
This task order is a business analysis and development project intended to advance Vermont’s efforts to become a data-driven organization, improve data quality, and facilitate federal reporting. The project will create a set of role-related performance indicators (a user dashboard) for use by public school administrators and Vermont Department of Education (VDE) staff who provide technical support or grant funds to schools. The user dashboard will support the state’s Education Data Warehouse (EDW) and is expected to create a data environment that will allow school districts and VDE staff to make data-driven educational decisions. Specifically, the project is expected to allow VDE to: (1) target grant distribution to schools based on performance; (2) target school services appropriate to the needs of a school; and (3) allow school administrators to effectively monitor and adjust educational or school environment programs.

Web Activities

http://nces.ed.gov/forum
The website of the National Forum on Education Statistics underwent a major renovation to improve site navigation, presentation, and content, and to reflect significant changes to NCES standards for website presentation and programming.

http://nces.ed.gov/forum/fed_register.asp
This page presents guidance about using the Federal Register, the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations. It also highlights recent notices posted to the Federal Register that may be of particular interest to Forum members.

http://nces.ed.gov/forum/outreach.asp
This page simplifies efforts to share information about the Forum by enabling members to download and customize presentations and handouts. The site includes a Forum Publications Overview PPT that describes the Forum and its resources, a Forum Publication Summary Sheet that is a one page handout summarizing recent Forum publications, and Individual Publication Summaries with an abstract and URL for all Forum publications.

Other Activities

Forum Voting Tool
This new online tool will streamline Forum member voting on issues such as publication approvals and the adoption of new policies and procedures. This username- and password-driven instrument will produce fast and reliable vote tallies and will automatically generate reports on those results.

Member Handbook (356 KB)
This resource for Forum members describes the Forum’s purpose, organization, membership, member responsibilities, and resources.