Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Student

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Student Data * * And Weren’t Afraid to Ask Peter Marle

Overview • General Information about who to contact or how to view data • How we gather data • How we display data, including for what purposes 2

General Information • If you would like specific student data (reports, statistics, etc. ) • Please contact APS Communication Department (comm@aurorak 12. org) • Comm. Dept. ensures that your request goes through the proper channels • Alternatively, CDE has data tools that let you view state/district/school data for a variety of topics (covered later in presentation) • If you are a researcher (College Student, Research Organization, APS staff with specific, relevant data request) • Please go to our Data and Research Requests page • Page contains information regarding the application process and special considerations • Includes application deadlines (reviewed 4 times throughout the school year) • From this page, you can complete our Online Data & Research Request Form 3

Where Does Data Come From? • Our department (Accountability and Research) compiles student data from a variety of sources • Infinite Campus (IC) is the main source of student data from within the schools (e. g. , attendance, behavior, demographics, student schedules, etc. ) • Naviance is the main source for data related to students’ postsecondary goals (e. g. , digital badges, FAFSA applications, scholarships, etc. ) • Assessment Data are supplied from their respective vendors (e. g. , CDE supplies CMAS scores, WIDA provides ACCESS scores, College Board supplies PSAT/SAT scores, etc. ) • College matriculation and dropout statistics are provided by National Student Clearinghouse and CDHE • Google Sheets and Forms provide some additional data points that are specific to programs (e. g. , after school programs, mental health information, etc. ) 4

What do we do with the Data? • Our department then makes data available to various levels of APS staff (leadership, principals, teachers, specific groups) • Unique Identifiers (Student Numbers) are used as keys to be able to combine different data tables from the previously-listed sources • These are also used to keep each student’s data separate from every other students’ data • We use a program called Tableau to create interactive dashboards that are intended to answer specific questions • Example on next slide • Many dashboards are available to all staff: these provide high-level district and school information surrounding any of the types of data previously specified • Other dashboards contain more sensitive information that is not relevant for all staff: these are secured within Tableau to specific groups of staff • Any dashboard with student-level data is secured within Tableau to only show data that any staff member is allowed to see as part of their district security permissions (i. e. , row-level security): staff viewing these dashboards will only see student data that they should have access to (e. g. , principals can only see students within their school) 5

Example Dashboard • Our department then makes data available to various levels of APS staff (leadership, principals, teachers, specific groups) 6

What do we do with the Data (continued)? We currently have over 60 different Tableau dashboards, each containing about 4 different views available to APS staff Why? • Some dashboards are designed to provide actionable insight that relay specific information about students or schools that can help the viewer understand possible underlying issues that can be addressed • Other dashboards are designed to allow for a quick check on students to ensure they are receiving resources that they need (e. g. , the READ dashboard on the previous slide) • Ideally, all dashboards are designed to help specific staff do their jobs more efficiently and get to the real work more quickly • They can also be used as a starting point for additional questions 7

Why we Secure Student Data • There a lot of reasons regarding why we need to make sure student data is secure • The number one reason is because we don’t want student data misused • Students are considered a vulnerable population (in terms of research and data), and we need to make sure we are compliant with FERPA (and HIPAA, if related to health information) laws • However, we like to be as transparent as possible with our district’s and our schools’ scores and general student information • The second slide provided you with a few outlets to be able to access data that we house • CDE also publishes interactive Tableau dashboards that are de-identified and available to anyone on the internet • School. View provides district/school performance, assessment, enrollment, attendance, and behavior data • • It also provides some staff, financial, course, and health & wellness information Specific School and District data can be found on CDE’s School and District Data page • Colorado Education Statistics provides additional information (in reports and interactive dashboards) • Data for district/school staff statistics, enrollment, graduation & dropout, attendance, suspension/expulsion, and student mobility 8

Questions? 9