Joe Kitchens, Western Heights Public Schools, Oklahoma
Todd Hughes, Durant Public Schools, Oklahoma
Laurie Collins, Schools Interoperability Framework Association

The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) Association has commissioned an independent third party study of the impact of implementing SIF at the district level. Featured at this session were the results that show how SIF is informing and enhancing the teaching and learning process by providing teachers with data that allow them to more effectively differentiate instruction. The study also shows how SIF allows for more accurate data-driven decisionmaking through access to real-time data and can increase funding opportunities. We highlighted districts that, through implementing SIF, have been empowered with real-time and accurate data to improve timeliness of services for their stakeholders.

Download Zipped PDF Document:

The SIFA Cost Analysis and Benefits Study

(1.13 MB)

Lee Hoffman and Tai Phan, National Center for Education Statistics

In the late 1980s, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) began assigning 8-level "locale codes" to schools for statistical analysis and sampling purposes. After reviewing methods used by other agencies such as Agriculture and Public Health, NCES based these codes on a formula combining both metropolitan and rural/urban concepts. As more and more programs, both Federal and private, began to adopt these codes as a means of targeting resources, their accuracy has become increasingly important to schools and school districts. Census, under the guidance of the Executive Office of the President, has periodically modified the demographic concepts under which United States geography is categorized, with a major change taking effect after the 2000 Census. A 4-level "urban-centric" code with three subcategories at each level has recently been developed by Census. NCES plans to publish these codes in parallel with the old codes for 3 years before dropping the old codes. This session provided more information on that process and its implications.

Clare Banwart, Rebecca Fitch, and Mary Schifferli
U.S. Department of Education
Lavan Dukes, Florida Department of Education

The most recent Civil Rights Data Collection (E&SS 101 and 102 for 2004) was conducted during 2005 using the Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN) Survey Tool. This approach allows for a more streamlined collection, pre-population of the Civil Rights Data Collection with some district and school data from the EDEN repository, and broader analysis of the resulting data when they are linked to other EDEN elements. The presenters discussed strategies to reduce the burden and improve the timeliness and quality of the data collected in 2007. The presenters also discussed how the state of Florida provides civil rights collection data for all of its school districts and how that model might be implemented by other state agencies. Session attendees were invited to comment on these strategies and propose improvements in the civil rights data collection.

Representatives from the IES SLDS Grantee States

In 2005, IES awarded grant funds to 14 states to develop Student Longitudinal Data Systems. Representatives from these states discussed their efforts in implementing the grants and developing their data systems and responded to questions from participants.

Laura Nixon, U.S. Census Bureau

The Census Bureau will replace the decennial census long form with the American Community Survey (ACS), an effort designed to provide similar social and economic data each year instead of once every ten years. The ACS will provide summarized data for school districts, and the National Center for Education Statistics plans to produce additional ACS school district custom tabulations. These sources will provide a wealth of geographic and demographic data for school planners and administrators, and they offer great opportunity for educational spatial analysis. This presentation briefly discussed when ACS school district data will be available, what demographic characteristics will be provided, what will be included in the custom tabulations, and how these data will be useful for educational planning and decisionmaking.

Sonya Edwards, California Department of Education
Steven King, ESP Solutions Group

This session shared the strategies and steps that California took that resulted in California’s 2004–05 Education Data Exchange Network participation going from 12 percent to 37 percent over one month’s time.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

Accelerating Towards EDEN

(207 KB)

Daryl Landavazo, New Mexico Public Education Department
Alan Hartwig, Deloitte Consulting

The New Mexico Public Education Department is currently implementing the Student and Teacher Accountability and Reporting System (STARS). STARS will go into production during fall 2006. This presentation discussed the importance of doing a pilot during implementation to resolve data standards, business processes, defining reporting and analysis requirements, and the challenges and lessons learned during the pilot and how those lessons learned will impact the full statewide implementation.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

Student Teacher Accountability Reporting System

(3.12 MB)

Heather Peske (presenter) and Kati Haycock, The Education Trust

The Education Trust collaborated with stakeholders in Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin to examine the distribution of teacher quality. There were large differences between the qualifications of teachers in the highest-poverty and highest-minority schools and teachers serving in schools with few minority and low-income students. The session included findings from the data analysis and recommendations.

Amy Claire Thoreson and Amy Dellinger, University of New Orleans
Jonathan Williams, University of New Orleans Charter School

In New Orleans, life in general and public schooling in particular are demarcated by hurricane Katrina. While New Orleanians strive to "return to normal," educators view the devastation of the public schooling system, historically among the worst in the country, as an opportunity to rebuild and renew, a chance to provide high quality education to the city’s poorest, primarily minority, students. Among the challenges and opportunities we face are creating plans for systemic reform, developing evaluation methods to assess both school and student performance and progress, and methodically analyzing the streams of data generated by this enormous undertaking to monitor and adjust operations for this renewal.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentations:

Renewal & Revival: Public Schooling in Post-Katrina New Orleans - Amy Claire Thoreson	(120 KB)
Weathering the Storm: A Look at K-12 Education in Post Katrina New Orleans - Amy Dellinger	(578 KB)

Deborah Rudy and Maria Worthen, U.S. Department of Education
Barbara Williams, Westat

Data can be an important and powerful tool in the prevention of youth drug use, violence, and in-school behavioral incidents. The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools has spent the past year developing the Uniform Data Set (UDS) in a collaborative process that every state education agency (SEA) was given the opportunity to participate in. The primary purpose of the UDS is to standardize the data elements and definitions used by SEAs to comply with federal data collection requirements and to use in managing drug and violence prevention efforts. This session "unveiled" the UDS and informed participants of its use and applicability within the larger state data collection and use framework.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

The Office of Safe & Drug-Free Schools' Uniform Data Set

(278 KB)

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