Concurrent Session III Presentations


Wednesday, July 30, 2014
4:30 pm – 5:20 pm


III–B: Closing the Data Circle: A Multistate Effort to Create Core Competencies for Educator Data Use (Part 2)

Justin Katahira, University of Hawaii
Christina Tydeman, Hawaii State Department of Education
Marcus Bevier, South Dakota Department of Education
Corey Chatis, SLDS State Support Team

    For nine months, the 13-state Data Use Standards Workgroup has been addressing one question: What do educators need to know and be able to do to effectively use data in support of student learning and success? In this double session, we will describe how we identified the critical knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors that teachers and administrators need in order to use data well. We will share the complete draft product of the effort and host an interactive workshop in which you provide feedback on how the resource can be used and improved, and hear how your state can participate.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

III–C: Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) 3.0: Simple, Secure, Standard

Larry Fruth II, SIF Association
Bethann Canada, Virginia Department of Education
Peter Tamayo, Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Jennifer Schmidt, Tri-Rivers Educational Computer Association (TRECA) (Ohio)

    Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) usage is now being seen in the real world, and the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) 3.0 revolution not only encompasses all of the CEDS data points but also now allows for choice of infrastructures to be used with the most comprehensive data model spanning early childhood, K–12, higher education, and the workforce. This session will highlight the benefits for local and state education agencies in using community-built open standards to ensure secure data management as well as the SIF 3.0 move to simplicity for developers and end users.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

III–D: Sharing and Using Homeless Data and/or Health Data in a Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS)

Margaret Votta, Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Melissa Beard, Washington State Office of Financial Management
William Henderson, District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Laura Hansen, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (Tennessee)
Robin Taylor, SLDS State Support Team

    Student data isn’t just useful to local education agencies in meeting the needs of students. Youth-serving organizations in the community, as well as state agencies, can be empowered to help schools meet the instructional, social, and emotional needs of students. This session will highlight efforts underway in Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington, DC, to share and use homeless and health data in their SLDS systems. The session also includes the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools’ perspective on the challenges and promise of sharing data with community partners to meet student needs both in and outside of schools.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

III–E: Improving Instruction by Putting Data to Work: Using Metadata to Address Student Needs

Sarah McManus, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Suzan Kinaci, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Dave Gladney, Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Michael Jay, Educational Systemics, Inc.

    While we collect a great deal of data for the purpose of general reporting and analysis, the hope is that one day we’ll be able to use some of that data and more to support educators and learners in making informed decisions about instructional strategies. Metadata that describes learning attributes of instructional resources are a key foundational element in reaching this goal. Hear from states using the metadata specification produced by the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI) to build tools that help educators find and use targeted, instructionally relevant content addressing learners’ needs. Learn how you can integrate this work into your initiatives.

III–F: Legislation Language That Is Effective and Supportive of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS).

Steve Snow, North Dakota Department of Education
Neal Gibson, Arkansas Research Center
Bill Hurwitch, Maine Department of Education
Meredith Fergus, Minnesota Office of Higher Education
Jeff Sellers, SLDS State Support Team

    As concern continues to increase about data use and issues around confidentiality, many states are finding it challenging to move their statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) projects along and are lacking the needed support to ensure their success. This session will highlight legislation that has supported the SLDS development in states that are successfully securing the confidentiality of their data and how that legislation has addressed issues of confidentiality. Strategies for approaching the legislature and public will be discussed and processes for communicating what the state will and will not do with the data it collects.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

III–G: Why Taking State Collaboration to the Next Level Is Worth It

Mark Masterson, Arizona Department of Education
Robert Swiggum, Georgia Department of Education
Richard Charlesworth, Tennessee Department of Education
Joyce Popp, Idaho State Department of Education
Troy Wheeler, Ed-Fi Alliance

    Building the 21st century education data systems today’s students need for academic success has been a monumental task that has yielded different results from state to state. But should states try to go it alone? This moderated panel discussion will walk participants through the benefits of collaboration, using real-life examples to shed light on how these partnerships can work. Learn from these states’ successes and failures, as well as how, when, and why to engage external vendor partners. Most importantly, the panel will cover why collaboration matters, especially in this post-stimulus-funding era all states are facing.

III–H: Northeast Early Childhood Data Working Group: Vermont’s Use of Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) to Inform Policy

Kathleen Eaton Paterson, Building Bright Futures: Vermont’s Early Childhood State Advisory Council
Clare Irwin, Regional Educational Laboratory – Northeast and Islands
Dave Phillips, WestEd

    Since 2013, Vermont has been working closely with several other state early childhood stakeholders across the Northeast regarding best practices in the development of integrated early childhood and longitudinal data systems. This work, supported by the Regional Educational Laboratory – Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI), has included the use of both the Connect and Align tools provided by the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS). This presentation will focus on the work of the REL-NEI Data Working Group and, specifically, how Vermont is using these CEDS tools to move forward the development of its comprehensive, integrated early childhood and K–12 data systems.

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

III–I: Using Workforce Data: Linkages, Analysis, and Products

Wendy Kang, Virginia Community College System
Ruben Garcia, Texas Workforce Commission
Tim Norris, Washington State Office of Financial Management
Melissa Mack, Social Policy Research Associates

    In this session, members of several U.S. Department of Labor-funded Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) grantee teams will share practices for linking and analyzing workforce and education data, and the products they have developed to disseminate results.

III–J: Data Governance—Year 1 Implementation

Carla Howe, West Virginia Department of Education

    In this session, learn about the implementation of a data governance structure at the West Virginia Department of Education. Hear from the Data Governance Manager about her role, the process, and all that transpired during the first year of implementation.

Top