Concurrent Session IX Presentations

Thursday, February 14, 2013
1:45 - 2:45

IX-A Data Analysis Technical Assistance Community of Practice (DATA-COM)

Dorothyjean Cratty, National Center for Education Statistics
Jared Knowles, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

This will be an open session for the broad data analysis community of practice supporting the exchange of information and resources for state and district education agencies and their partners. The focus of this exchange will be on statistical methods for analyzing administrative data. This is not a policy or information technology discussion session, but an "in-the-weeds" methodological knowledge utilization session. Some of the areas of interest to the core Data Analysis Technical Assistance (DATA) User Group of state and local education agency analysts are growth models, teacher effects, early warning indicators, student population projections, synthetic datasets, GIS data, data visualizations, and powerful descriptive analysis.

---

IX-B Cross-Border Collaboration—Idaho and Virginia Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) Programs

Matthew Bryant and Bethann Canada, Virginia Department of Education
Andy Mehl, Idaho State Board of Education
Jeff Sellers,
SLDS State Support Team

The Idaho and Virginia Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) programs have embarked on an innovative path to formally cooperate and share technology in building their respective systems. Virginia is readying to launch the Virginia Longitudinal Data System, and Idaho is in the preliminary stages of SLDS design. The two states are undertaking a formal cooperative agreement to share technology and resources. This panel will discuss the plans and also the involvement of the State Support Team.

---

IX-C Engaging Internal Stakeholders/Program Offices as Clients of a Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS)

Robin Taylor, SLDS State Support Team
Jay Pennington, Iowa Department of Education
Sue Mohr, Montana Office of Public Instruction
Cathy Rinehart, Kansas State Department of Education

An important but often overlooked group of statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) stakeholders are those within the state education agency (SEA), program offices, SEA leadership, and other internal staff. Panelists at this session will provide an overview of how they successfully engaged SEA internal stakeholders and what they learned from doing so. Panelists will also provide some strategies and tips for stakeholder participation.

Download PowerPoint Presentation:

Engaging Internal Stakeholders/Program Offices as Clients of a Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) (763 KB)

---

IX-D Maximizing Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)—The Kansas Story

Andrea Hall and Kathy Gosa, Kansas State Department of Education

Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) has created a means by which Kansas can more efficiently collaborate and communicate with other organizations, program areas, researchers, data analysts, and other education stakeholders. Having a central location to align, map, and compare its data elements to national standards and other states provides Kansas with more information to use in discussions with program areas and other organizations when defining and validating our own data definitions. This centralizing effort has also given Kansas the means to implement and maintain its metadata, which, when accompanied by the availability of the common education data standards, helps it meet its objective of easing the burden on Kansas schools by minimizing the collection of redundant data. During this session, the presenters will discuss the benefits that Kansas sees through data alignment and use of CEDS Align and Connect tools. The presenters will describe Kansas’ process of identifying and defining data elements; aligning and mapping them within CEDS; and making them useful by researchers, organizations, and other states. Finally, the presenters will discuss how this entire process will enhance and make more meaningful the information it is reporting back to its districts, schools, and other stakeholders.

Download PowerPoint Presentation:

Maximizing Common Education Data Standards (CEDS)—The Kansas Story (209 KB)

---

IX-E National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Observable Data From Computer-Based Assessments

Bobbi Woods, National Center for Education Statistics
Gregory Anderson, Fulcrum IT Services LLC

What did the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) learn from capturing student observable data during 2011 and 2012 in writing and during 2011 in math computer-based assessments? In this presentation, NAEP will share insights gleaned from an analysis of observable data—how fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders interacted with the NAEP computer-based assessment system. For example, what is the total number of times a student uses a particular system feature and when is the action performed? Recording these actions provides for a greater breadth of data, the potential for additional post-assessment analysis, and critical input for future system enhancements. The presentation will also show how and when students used key test customization and accommodation features.

Download PowerPoint Presentation:

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Observable Data From Computer-Based Assessments (374 KB)

---

IX-F MyDataButton

Michael Sessa, Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC)
Jeffrey Alderson, ConnectEDU, Inc.
Shawn Bay, eScholar LLC

The White House and the U.S. Department of Education have teamed up to ensure the availability of student data for students themselves through an initiative called MyDataButton. Representatives from Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) have been participating in this initiative and at this session will provide an overview of the initiative, what systems are involved, and how others can get involved.

---

IX-G Including Course Records in Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS): Benefits, Challenges, and Progress Made

Janis Brown, National Center for Education Statistics
Jennifer Laird, MPR Associates, Inc.

Student transcripts and course records are universal sources of data across schools and districts. An increasing number of states are incorporating these data into their longitudinal data systems. This session describes the benefits and challenges of doing so. Results from a recent survey of state representatives about the status of centralized course record databases in their state will be presented. The respondents were asked about the types of course record data elements included in these databases, their use of common course coding systems, and planned future developments for those databases.

---

IX-H Starting From "Scratch" With a District Data System

Larry Fruth, SIF Association
James Yap, Byram Hills Central School District (New York)

This interactive session will provide attendees with information on how to leverage lessons learned in data management when moving from a highly developed interoperable data enterprise to a nonlinked system in a new district and back up the other side. Information includes a customer needs analysis, systems integration and usage of open standards, and automatic ETL usage, including usage of the Common Education Standards work.

---

IX-I How Good is Good Enough? Matching Records Across State Agencies

Shara Bunis, Pennsylvania Department of Education
Barbara Clements, ESP Solutions Group

Merging data from different agencies presents a number of policy, technical, and security/privacy issues that need to be addressed. Solving the technical issues may actually be much easier than solving the data matching and data governance issues. This session will explore the key drivers affecting identity matching and the issues and possible solutions for data management and data governance.

---

IX-J Using a Social Network and an Online Knowledge Base to Increase Collaboration and Communication Across Schools/Districts

Irene Koffink and Michael Schwartz, New Hampshire Department of Education

For the past four years, every school in New Hampshire has had access to a statewide data system enabling schools to leverage data to inform instruction. Educators across the state use data to personalize education, identify curricula changes, target groups of students, assist with special education plans, and guide education in many other ways. After providing training and assistance to schools in a myriad of ways, New Hampshire has now built a social network that combines an online, targeted knowledge base with a virtual network. This network offers online tools, blogging, and collaboration between schools and with content experts. Come learn more about this online social network that New Hampshire has built with 2Revolutions and EduPlanet. Hear about the lessons learned, initial successes, and ongoing plans.

Download PowerPoint Presentation:

Using a Social Network and an Online Knowledge Base to Increase Collaboration and Communication Across Schools/Districts (1.81 MB)

Top