What’s Next for the State Education Data Center’s Link With EDFacts
Ross Santy, U.S. Department of Education
Alex Jackl, Choice-Solutions, Inc.

Beginning in 2007, state education agencies have had the option of sharing their EdFacts submissions with the State Education Data Center (SEDC) to be made publicly available through that site. The Council of Chief State School Officers and U.S. Department of Education have been working on a seamless two-way data connection between EdFacts systems and the web servers of the SEDC. This session will focus on the next steps of that connection and how the SEDC is meeting the current needs of a number of research, policy and interest groups. The session will also cover the plans for improving the SEDC.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

What’s Next for the State Education Data Center’s Link with EDFacts (278 KB)

The focus of this interactive session will be on the data governance guidelines related to data confidentiality, data unification, ownership, stewardship, data quality, usage oversight, and the expanding horizons for the Arizona Education Data Warehouse (AEDW). Also, the foot-soldiers implementing these objectives, the data management team, will review data delivery systems, negotiating ad hoc data request requirements, the maturation of EdFacts file uploads, and vetting requesters and permission levels.

User Documentation 101: Demystifying Data Systems for the Not-So-Tech-Savvy
Sonya Edwards, California Department of Education

The big, wide world of data systems can be daunting for schools and districts that are tasked with gaining an understanding of "all things data." How should departments of education build user guides for schools and districts so that this information is not so daunting? This presentation will inform attendees about best practices that have worked for the California Department of Education, with respect to understanding the users' needs for essential information and being able to meet those needs without overwhelming the non-technical end user.

Download Presentations and Handouts:

CALPADS Documentation to be Maintained Beyond User Acceptance Testing (UAT) (20 KB)

Excerpt / Sample of Content from the CALPADS Data Guide (37 KB)

Table of Contents excerpted from the CALPADS Data Guide (19.7 KB)

User Documentation 101:De-mystifying Data Systems for the Not-So-Tech-Savvy (188 KB)

Better Data Faster: Annually Accrediting Oklahoma Schools
Patti High, Oklahoma State Department of Education
Dean Hupp, Hupp Information Technologies

The Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) has competely automated the gathering of multiple data collections into its annual accreditation process. Each school site is accredited annually and by joining multiple data collections OSDE was able to significantly improve the reliability and timeliness of its data.

Visualizing Student Performance
Daniel Domagala, Colorado Department of Education

Robust longitudinal data systems are capturing tremendous volumes of student, educator, school, district, state, and national-level education data. Now, the technical challenge is to provide these data in a format that invites understanding and analysis. How do we create data visualizations that engage our education community and invoke data-informed decisions? This interactive session will explore a few examples of "Visual Business Intelligence," including recent advancements to Colorado's SchoolView.org information portal.

Effective Data Use and Systems Through Collaboration
Patrick Perry, Chancellor's Office, California Community College System
Jeff Tanner and Richard Reeves, National Student Clearinghouse
Jay Pfeiffer, MPR Associates, Inc.

Challenging economic conditions continue to inhibit efforts to link and analyze education data in a way that will be meaningful for, and available to, educators at all levels. This session will explore how data usage, data systems, data quality, and standards can be achieved in an economical and effective manner through public/private collaboration. The presenters will describe best practices and techniques that have been used within the United States to date.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

Effective Data Use Through Collaboration (686 KB)

National Student Clearinghouse Data: Some Florida Reporting Examples (2.61 MB)

Dynamic Web Tools: The NAEP Questions Tool and State Snapshots
Richard Struense, National Center for Education Statistics
Julie McGuire and Phillip Leung, Educational Testing Service

This presentation will focus on the dynamic nature of two popular tools on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) website: the NAEP Questions Tool and the State Snapshot reports. A new version of the NAEP Questions Tool was recently released and incorporates many new features. The presenters will discuss both the front-end and back-end design of the tool and what they did to meet the needs of the user. The NAEP Snapshot Report is a dynamic tool that allows the user to customize content. It includes rich graphics and gives the user the ability to download customized content to Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.

Coming Late to the Game: Strategies for Catching Up With State Data Reporting
David Laird and Heejung Laird, South San Francisco Unified School District (California)

With the introduction of a mandatory state data collection system called CALPADS, many California districts are scrambling to meet their 2009-10 state reporting deadlines. Districts that opted in the past for the most minimal, voluntary reporting are challenged to get ready for CALPADS, with new data elements, new standards, and more frequent submissions. South San Francisco Unified School District is among the districts coming late to the game. To mitigate the challenge, the district is fostering a cultural shift about the importance of data management and data quality, and is implementing tools to make this new mindset actionable.

Real-Time Data Collection for LEA to SEA via SIF and Creating a Dynamic LDS
Barbara Roewe, Oklahoma State Department of Education
Aziz Elia, CPSI, Ltd.
Jim Campbell, SIF Association

Real-time schools interoperability framework (SIF)-based collections help get better data and reduce the reporting load for local education agencies (LEAs). Come learn how The Wave, Oklahoma State Department of Education's Student Information System, collects data via SIF as "All the Data — All the Time" for better reporting quality and usability. The Wave has implemented a dynamic longitudinal data system flexible enough to stand the test of time. The Wave is expandable for inter-agency collections, LEA collections, and intra-agency collections. Let us share our success with you in building a standardized, scalable, and secure system.