Concurrent Session X Presentations


Friday, July 10, 2015
9:00 am – 10:00 am


X–A: Latest Findings From The Condition of Education and Other National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Annual Reports

Joel McFarland, Grace Kena, and Lauren Musu-Gillette, National Center for Education Statistics

    This session will highlight important findings from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES’) annual reports, including The Condition of Education, The Digest of Education Statistics, Indicators of School Crime and Safety, and Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates. These publications summarize trends and outcomes in education using the latest data available from NCES sample surveys, administrative datasets, and other sources. We’ll also show how you can stay up to date on new data releases and reports through NCES outreach on Twitter and the newly launched NCES blog.

    Complexity: Entry Level

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

X–B: Guiding School Funding Policy by Monitoring Education Cost Pressures

Michael O’Donnell and Jed Cicarelli, Wyoming Department of Education
Richard Seder, RTI International

    The adequacy of the state of Wyoming’s school finance system was found to be unconstitutional by the Wyoming Supreme Court in 2008. Consultants worked with the legislature to identify meaningful indicators and necessary data to help the Wyoming Legislature monitor the cost pressures of the Wyoming Funding Model and its components. The monitoring process is designed to utilize readily available data from the state’s longitudinal data system connected to other state, regional, and national sources (e.g., labor market data) as part of a set of relatively simple, understandable metrics of cost pressures. This monitoring process has been in place since 2012. This session will describe Wyoming’s current monitoring processes and how they have secured the constitutionality of the state’s school finance system.

    Complexity: Entry Level

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

X–C: Examining the Reliability and Validity of Educator-Designed Assessments Used to Measure Student Growth

Shanna Ricketts, Delaware Department of Education
Pete Goldschmidt, National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, Inc.

    Delaware educators have designed 200-plus assessments that teachers in traditionally nontested subjects may select to use as part of their student growth component. This session will present findings regarding the reliability and validity of these assessments, as well as their use as a student growth measure in Delaware’s teacher evaluation system. Statistical modelling methods that provide growth information on these assessments will also be presented.

    Complexity: Intermediate Level

X–D: Collaborating Via Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) Communities of Practice

Kate Akers, Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics
Eric Punswick, Olathe Public Schools (KS)
Zenaida Natividad, Guam Department of Education
Kathy Gosa and Corey Chatis, Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) State Support Team

    Last year, the State Support Team (SST) launched online Communities of Practice (CoP) for key statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) topics—vision/purpose, stakeholder engagement, data governance, system design, data use, and sustainability. In this session, SST will share how the CoPs have been used during the past year and the features that are available to support collaboration and information sharing across states and sectors. Participants will have the opportunity to contribute their ideas for future enhancements. SST will also unveil the new online training modules targeted to stakeholder engagement, data governance, and more!

    Complexity: Entry Level

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

X–E: Harnessing Student Creativity and Talent to Increase Data Use

Bethann Canada, Virginia Department of Education
Brooke Bell, Center for Innovative Technology

    The Virginia Department of Education and Center for Innovative Technology created the Apps4VA program to engage the public in developing innovative ways to interpret and use data. Apps4VA’s university and high school programs harness the creativity and talent of students who are using Virginia’s Longitudinal Data System (VLDS) as the foundation for semester projects. Working with agency and industry mentors, students create apps that address today’s most pressing educational and societal challenges. Apps4VA raises the visibility of VLDS, enhances its public utility, and encourages valuable partnerships among industry, K–12, and higher education. A panel of students and staff will share experiences and demonstrate apps.

    Complexity: Intermediate Level

X–F: Does Your Data System Answer Your Critical Questions?

Brendan Ibe, Georgia Department of Public Health
Abby Winer and Grace Kelley, DaSy Center at SRI International

    What are the long-term outcomes of children who participate in early childhood programs and services, such as early intervention and early childhood special education? Panelists will discuss the critical questions a high-quality data system must be able to answer and the important questions it should be able to answer through integration into an Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) or a statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) in order to improve outcomes for children and youth in the state, including those with disabilities. State presenters will share examples of how they were able to analyze data to answer their critical questions.

    Complexity: Entry Level

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

X–G: Public Reporting in Action: Making Education Data Accessible and Useful for All

Benjamin Robinson, District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Chris Given, Collaborative Communications Group

    Now in its second year, the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s (OSSE’s) LearnDC School Profiles website is demonstrating a new way of thinking about public reporting. One of the top three parent-ranked school report cards in the nation (according to an Education Commission of the States [ECS] study), LearnDC demonstrates how, by using modern tools and user-centric design techniques, a state education agency (SEA) can make its data accessible and useful for audiences that need and can make use of it. Topics to be discussed include conducting effective user research, designing in collaboration with stakeholders, finding and adapting technology to meet users’ needs, and understanding what makes an effective presentation of data.

    Complexity: Intermediate Level

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

X–H: Two States Working Collaboratively to Develop Data-Based Individual Learning Plans

Brenda Dorrell and Pat Bush, Delaware Department of Education
Cyndy Currier, New Hampshire Department of Education

    During this session, participants will learn of the collaborative process between Delaware and New Hampshire to build an Individual Learning Plan module inside of PerformancePLUS to view and analyze assessment data while developing customized student learning plans. From this data, important instructional inferences can be discussed, with plans developed and monitored at the classroom level. Teachers have access to filterable, longitudinal data to make well-informed, effective decisions. Response to intervention can be tracked and reported; as well, students’ Individual Learning Plans can be created and shared.

    Complexity: Intermediate Level

Download Handout:

X–I: The Instructional Improvement Cycle Toolkit: Supporting Teacher Data Use and Reflection

Marianne Reale and Trudy Cherasaro, Regional Educational Laboratory Central
Jill Johnson, Region 6 Education Service Center (TX)
Beth Ericson, York Public Schools (NE)

    York Public Schools’ (YPS’) teachers participate in an action research process, which involves gathering and using data to reflect on instruction. Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central supported YPS by developing a toolkit that provides teachers with three tools (a planning guide, a preprogrammed Excel spreadsheet to compare the performance of students who receive a strategy with that of students who do not, and a reflection guide) that allow teachers to test a new instructional strategy using a scientific approach. REL Central and YPS staff will share these tools and discuss how they are being implemented in YPS.

    Complexity: Entry Level

Download Zipped PowerPoint Presentation:

X–J: The Race to Capture Experiential Learning and Competency-Based Education (CBE).

Michael Sessa, P20W Education Standards Council (PESC)
Patrick Elliott and Joellen Shendy, University of Maryland University College
Jeffrey Alderson, Eduventures

    The interest in and expansion of Experiential Learning and Competency-Based Education (CBE) are on the rise. Many innovative ideas and best practices are emerging throughout the United States and the world, while a number of organizations—such as the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL), the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), the Lumina Foundation, and Federal Student Aid (FSA)—are encouraging experimentation and new ideas to capture this “learning” that happens outside of the traditional classroom. While the education community advances the acceptance of CBE, we have learned from the past how to leverage technology and standards to develop the best, value-added “student-centric” processes so that CBE is clearly understood and accepted throughout all sectors of education and across other communities, like Workforce, Labor, Human Resources, and Health Care. P20W Education Standards Council’s (PESC’s) mission, which looks to foster transparent, collaborative development, is tracking these emerging best practices and innovative ideas, cataloging and storing these efforts for the public, serving as a clearinghouse for information and networking, and collaborating development with all leaders and community stakeholders. This session will present several community experts and provide a complete update on where the education community stands on capturing experiential learning to broaden student achievement worldwide.

    Complexity: Entry Level

Top