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Concurrent Session I Presentations

Wednesday, February 13, 2013
10:15 - 11:15


I–A: The SEA-Supported, CEDS-Aligned, Blended, Personalized Learning, Big Data Future...and YOU

Lee Rabbitt, Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Bill Huennekens, Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Jim Goodell, Quality Information Partners

Are you ready for the shift to state-education-agency-supported data use by teachers, parents, and students for personalized learning? How about the shift from traditional models of instruction to blended and virtual? How about the shift from seat-time-based course scheduling to mastery learning? Are you ready for the shift to micro-standards and mining of big sets of micro-data? This session will help you develop a vision for your future role supporting "data for action" at the state or local level in this changing education landscape.

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The SEA-Supported, CEDS-Aligned, Blended, Personalized Learning, Big Data Future...and YOU Microsoft PPT File (3.43 MB)


I–B: Using a Research Center or Consortium to Meet State P–20W Research Needs

Dorothyjean Cratty, National Center for Education Statistics
Neal Gibson, Arkansas Research Center
Jim Schmidt, Washington Education Research and Data Center
Christina Tydeman, Hawaii State Department of Education
Heather Boughton, Ohio Department of Education
Erin Joyce, Battelle for Kids

This session will present four states' approaches to meeting the research demands of education practitioners, policymakers, and the public. P–20W agency partners in many states are working together through research centers or consortia to answer the most pressing questions with their state longitudinal data. The four state presentations from Arkansas, Hawaii, Ohio, and Washington will cover the development, function, and sustainability of their research centers. They will discuss how different stakeholders inform the research agenda and how the findings are disseminated. Presenters will also share some examples of the research conducted. The presentations will be followed by a discussion period.

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Using a Research Center or Consortium to Meet State P–20W Research Needs Microsoft PPT File (107 KB)


I–C: Secondary School Course Classification System: School Codes for the Exchange of Data (SCED)

Kathy Gosa, Kansas State Department of Education
Bruce Dacey, Delaware Department of Education
Rachel Kruse, Iowa Department of Education

The Secondary School Course Classification System: School Codes for the Exchange of Data (SCED) was published in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. It provides a taxonomy and course descriptions for secondary education intended to assist education agencies with maintaining longitudinal record systems. The National Forum on Education Statistics has convened a working group to review the SCED codes and release a revised version as an online resource. This session will provide information on proposed updates to the SCED course codes and plans for a new, best-practices document.


I–D: Leveraging Leading-Edge Technology in Modern Recruitments

Joshua Micheals and Johnny Arguelles, San Joaquin County Office of Education (California)

Most school districts treat their online recruitment efforts the same as they treat classified recruitment ads in newspapers. This session will describe how districts can update their online efforts by using modern database technology to collect, screen, and interpret results of online recruitments. Through the partnership of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association and the San Joaquin County Office of Education, the Education Job Opportunities Information Network (EDJOIN) has revolutionized the way school districts conduct the recruitment process. By connecting with existing state databases, allowing for custom data collection, and centralizing the process to make access simpler for applicants, districts have a wealth of data at the click of a button.


I–E: Data System Expansion: Moving Into Other Sectors

Missy Cochenour, AEM Corporation
Denise Mauzy, Opportunities in a Professional Education Network (OPEN) Initiative at the University of Missouri
Jennifer Lambert, University of Utah
Shara Bunis, Pennsylvania Department of Education
Domenico Parisi, National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center (nSPARC) at Mississippi State University

This session will discuss the strategies states can use to expand their data systems beyond K–12. A sector specialist will provide examples of challenges and solutions unique to each sector and also present strategies common across all sectors.

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Data System Expansion: Moving Into Other Sectors Microsoft PPT File (782 KB)


I–F: Instructional Improvement Systems

Corey Chatis, SLDS State Support Team
Dede Conner, Kentucky Department of Education
Suzan Kinaci, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Joyce Popp, Idaho State Department of Education
Marsha Ward, Ohio Department of Education

This panel will discuss how states have approached the scope and implementation of instructional improvement systems, including their relationship with state longitudinal data systems (SLDS) and strategies for supporting teacher data use. Massachusetts will discuss its initiatives with Race to the Top and the Edwin Teaching and Learning program. Kentucky will discuss incorporating the common core and the Assessment for Learning. Idaho will discuss standards and assessment, and the integration with SLDS.

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Instructional Improvement Systems Microsoft PPT File (3.17 MB)


I–G: Weight, Weight, Please Tell Me!

John Bell, The University of Alabama

Weights are essential to the correct analysis of almost every NCES data file. This session will explain a little of the "why" and a lot of the "how" with regard to the use of weights with publicly available education data. Particular attention will be paid to the National Household Education Survey (NHES), and examples will be presented using a variety of software, including both popular commercial software and freeware.

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Weight, Weight, Please Tell Me! MS Word (5.00 MB)


I–H: Shared Services: Convergence Becoming Reality

Larry Fruth and Vince Paredes, SIF Association
Alex Jackl, Choice Solutions, Inc.

The devil in implementing standards, like so many things, is in the detail. IMS Global Learning Consortium, Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF), Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC), and others are working together to create a set of service definitions, choreographies, and possibly even service academic performance indicators (APIs) themselves that can be shared across standards initiatives so that education stakeholders do not have to write an API or adapter per initiative! Join a panel of the people working on this to hear about the progress and how you can take advantage of what has been done.


I–I: Restructuring P–12 Data Systems: Tennessee's Vision for the Future

Richard Charlesworth, Tennessee Department of Education
Zeynep Young and Ed Comer, Double Line Partners

This session will address how the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) is undertaking a significant effort to host a new education data system in a secure cloud, offering to lower totalcost ownership and better achieve elasticity and scalability. In parallel, TDOE is standing up Ed-Fibased student dashboards to deliver timely, actionable data to educators.


I–J: Ensuring Data Quality, Timely Collections, and Effective Data Use From Your Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS): The NJ SMART User Support and Training Program

Bari Erlichson, New Jersey Department of Education
Jim McGlynn and Kathleen Cummins, PCG Education

The New Jersey Department of Education has created a statewide data culture where exceptionally high local education agency participation and data quality is the norm for their statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS), despite managing submissions from more than 675 districts and charter schools. Participants in this session will learn about the effective strategies being applied in New Jersey that foster the quality, capacity, and culture necessary to ensure reliable data; timely federal, state and local reporting; and the effective use of data from the NJ SMART SLDS.

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