NCES STATS-DC 2014 Data Conference - Concurrent Session XI Presentations

NCES STATS-DC 2014 Data Conference

Informed Decision-Making, Powered by Data

Concurrent Session XI Presentations

Friday, August 1, 2014
10:15 am – 11:15 am

XI–A: Lessons Learned From One of the Largest PK–12 Unique Identifier System Implementations

Sharon Gaston and Mark Gentzel, Texas Education Agency
Juan Guerrero, eScholar LLC

One of the cornerstones of the Texas Student Data System is the implementation of eScholar Uniq- ID, which provides a unique identifier for all staff and students in the state. During this session, representatives from the Texas Education Agency and eScholar will discuss the benefits, transition process, and the lessons learned from implementation, training, and deployment of a statewide identifier system for more than 14 million active/historical records of students and staff members.

XI–B: The Uses of School Health Data in DC

Ifedolapo Bamikole, UDistrict of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education

Innovative health policy and programs such as the Healthy Schools Act are part of aggressive public health actions that DC’s leadership has taken in schools to address health issues. This has resulted in DC leading the nation in free school breakfast and being well on its way to better health and academic outcomes for DC students. With multiple implementation efforts, progress monitoring provides a unique data challenge in assessing outcomes alongside test scores, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, School Health Profiles, and health-related information in the statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS). We plan to share how we utilize these multiple sources of data in evaluation.

XI–C: My School Data—Making a Difference Through Data in Washington Schools

Carrie Retzer and Ken Mock, Washington School Information Processing Cooperative (WSIPC)

Washington School Information Processing Cooperative represents 295 districts in Washington State. To assist our districts with their data needs, we’ve developed a product called “My School Data,” powered by our longitudinal data warehouse. This data warehouse allows My School Data to show the history of students, regardless of which district in our state they have attended. In this session we will show how different “views” of data, including an Early Warning System for districts, schools, teachers, and students, can provide answers to educators’ questions. By knowing more about students, we can better target programs and interventions to help students be more successful.

XI–D: Research Engine—Florida’s External Research Request Application

Andre Smith, Florida Department of Education

Florida’s Department of Education (FLDOE) is known as a national leader for its education data system. The system contains comprehensive data, spanning from prekindergarten to postsecondary education and workforce experiences. Built in 2003, the State Longitudinal Education Data System (SLDS) allows business and public users to request data dating from the early 1990s. These data are used in the development of comprehensive reports, analysis, and research pertaining to students within the Florida education system for the length of his or her learning career and beyond. This session will provide an overview of the FLDOE new user-friendly, web-based research engine. Using the research engine, researchers are now able to systematically navigate through the data request process, monitor their status, and request anonymous student-level data from the department.

XI–E: Who Moved My EDEN Queries: How to Make the Change From Manual Processes

Joseph Cowan, Pennsylvania Department of Education
John Pagnotta, eScholar LLC

During the past three-plus years, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has teamed with eScholar to use the data collected in the Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS), PDE’s statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) data warehouse, to simplify and automate EDEN/EDFacts reporting. This session will cover the technologies used and the processes enacted to make this project successful.

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Who Moved My EDEN Queries: How to Make the Change From Manual Processes

(3.49 MB)

XI–F: Using Longitudinal Data to Guide Successful Student Transitions to Postsecondary Education

David Reeg, Minnesota Department of Education

As postsecondary education becomes increasingly important for the success of today’s students, longitudinal data linking K–12 and postsecondary education is essential for K–12 educational practices. Minnesota’s Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) provides easy access to school-specific information about student choices and success in transitions from K–12 to higher education. It provides critical evidence for evaluating the effectiveness of programs and designing targeted improvement strategies, particularly related to career and college readiness. We will demonstrate SLEDS and show you how to build the reports schools and policymakers want. View the power of this analytic tool to strengthen decisionmaking.

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Using Longitudinal Data to Guide Successful Student Transitions to Postsecondary Education

(107 KB)

XI–G: Ensuring Data Quality for Value-Added Measures

Mary Wolfson, Pittsburgh Public Schools (Pennsylvania)
Brian Gill and Matthew Johnson, Mathematica Policy Research

Since 2010, Pittsburgh Public Schools has worked collaboratively with Mathematica Policy Research to implement high-quality, value-added measures (VAMs) for teachers, teams, and schools. Although there is extensive research on the statistical characteristics of VAMs, districts and states have far less guidance about how to ensure the integrity of the underlying data— which is essential for the validity of the VAMs and their credibility in the eyes of educators. This session will describe the data assurance process implemented in Pittsburgh, including establishing accurate teacher-student data linkages, providing an opportunity for appeals, and implementing revisions based on validated appeals.

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Ensuring Data Quality for Value-Added Measures

(944 KB)

XI–H: New Mexico’s “Enchanting” Evolution in Longitudinal Data Collection (CANCELLED)

Kathryn Cleary, New Mexico Public Education Department
Figen Bilir, eScholar LLC

In partnership, the New Mexico Public Education Agency (NMPED) and eScholar have worked on several statewide data initiatives, including implementing a district-facing data warehouse, establishing unique identifiers for students, and applying data-quality solutions. NMPED will discuss the progress it has made with its statewide data collections using a commercial, off-the-shelf, and standards-aligned solution; enabling data collection from such diverse domains such as student, staff, and transportation; and the agency’s evolution of data reporting. Participants will learn how NMPED was able to achieve these accomplishments without support from any Race to the Top (RTTT) or statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) grants.

XI–I: Can Strategic Analytics Improve High School Graduation Rates in DC Schools?

Celine Fejeran and Jeffrey Noel, District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Steve Cartwright, Tembo, Inc.

This session will explore the results from an unprecedented, year-long partnership among Washington, DC, education agencies, across traditional and charter schools, to study the high school outcomes of more than 10,000 public school students and create an enduring set of citywide strategies to increase secondary graduation rates. Discussants will share the project’s analytic roadmap, review the most compelling findings from their research, and discuss how the data are being used by school and district leaders to support students with varying levels of need through the completion of high school. Key analyses include a predictive, early warning model of high school completion; individual measures of schools’ “graduation value-added”; and a latent class cluster analysis of high school students’ disengagement patterns.

XI–J: Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity: Addressing Success Gaps in Our Schools

Tom Munk, Westat

This session introduces a research-based guidance document and self-assessment rubric designed by the Office of Special Education Program’s (OSEP) Disproportionality Priority Team to help districts and schools identify the root causes of “success gaps” (in, for example, test scores, suspension or graduation rates, or course credits) for some groups of students, thereby helping schools to improve and equalize results for all students. These tools will be particularly helpful to districts and schools that have been selected for attention by states because of identified success gaps.