Using Data and Technology to Support School Improvement

Using Data and Technology to Support School Improvement Dr. Larry Fruth II Executive Director

The Challenge…. .

“Ya Gotta Be There” What drives people to: want to be a part of 110, 000 fans at a televised college football game? want to sit in driving rain and wind to watch golfers pass you on one hole of a golf course? sit in scorching sun with 1 million others watching a religious service in a language you do not speak? think coming to school is a “ya gotta be there”? ………………. . Impossible?

The Drivers I …. . On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The Act outlined four basic education reform principles: stronger accountability for results, increased flexibility and local control, expanded options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work. Today the driver is accountability demanded by end users and consumers – not just reporting!

What is Data Driven Decision Making? To: Students “How am I doing? ” Educators “How are they doing? ” Administrators “How are we doing? ” State/Federal “Where are we? ” Policy Makers “What needs addressed? ” Parents “How is he/she doing? ” Stakeholders “What is the impact? ”

Expectations With Technology To: Students Increased Engagement Educators Increased Tools/Info Administrators Increased Accountability State/Federal Increased Capabilities Policy Makers Increased Efficiencies Parents Increased Information Stakeholders Increased Output

Challenge – Schools Traditional Setup Cafeteria SIS ? ? ? Network Accounts ? ? Library Transportation

Horizontal Questions K 12 Data Model Voice Telephony SIS Library HR / Finance Grade Book Food Service Instructional Services Data Warehousing Transportation Accountability, Reporting, Planning, etc…

The Drivers II…. . USED National Educational Technology Plan - Toward A New Golden Age In American Education Action Step 7 Integrated Data Systems: Integrated, interoperable data systems are the key to better allocation of resources, greater management efficiency, and online and technology-based assessments of student performance that empower educators to transform teaching and personalize instruction Recommendation: “Ensure interoperability. For example consider Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) Compliance Certification as a requirement in all RFPs and purchasing decisions”.

Why Standards? An Example Schools Interoperability Framework • Non-profit membership organization comprised of: – – – PK-12 Educational Technology Companies Regional Service Agencies Schools & Districts U. S. and State Departments of Education Other educational organizations • Jointly building the XML Specifications to enable K-12 software applications to share data quickly, dynamically and securely. • The SIF Implementation Specification is publicly available on the SIF website. • “Platform Independent / Vendor Neutral”

SIF Components Working Together – Zone Integration Server (ZIS) – SIF Agents Student Information Services Library Automation Network Account H. R. & Finance Food Services – Applications – SIF Data Objects Data Analysis & Reporting Grade Book Instructional Services

The Result New Student Registering for Enrollment into: *Student Information System *Directory Service Application *ID Card System *Library Automation System *Cafeteria Management System Typical School - 49 minute task - 10 times data entered SIF School - 4 minute task - 1 time data entry 45 minutes/student X 18, 000 students= 6 FTE’s! 1/10 th the Time – 1/10 th the Risk

SIF School Benefits Students & Parents IT Departments – Personalized Student Content – Reduced support costs – Improved timeliness of service – Reduced time needed to manage multiple data sources – Accurate School Data – Increased. Efficiency, Efficiency – Save money using existing Accuracy, systems Cost Savings and infrastructure Teachers – Real-time access to critical information – Better data analysis – Teachers time better spent Administrators – Increased Efficiency – Reduced redundancy and errors – Reduced compatibility issues

Vertical Interoperability State District

State Return on Investment Reallocation from State Reporting ü Eliminate 23 Aggregate Reports ü Reduce 8 hours per school per report ü Reduce hours per district per report = 70, 000 hours school staff time = 18, 000 hours district staff time = $1, 760, 000 est. state report savings

What is SIF’s current status? ü Over 250 members – new added from each type each week ü Specification utilized to serve over 3 million students, teachers and tech coordinators in 40 states ü Legislatively mandated in one state – 3 others on the way ü Demanded/suggested by USED, states and schools in dozens current or planned state RFP’s ü Currently 50 certified applications - 1. 5 testing new ü Expanding from student/administrative data into curriculum, content and other industry “verticals” ü 12 -18 month focus on “out of the box” interoperability and implementation support

Workshop Topics ü Organization of SIFA ü Implementation Success Stories – LEA & SEA ü Certification Overview and Importance ü Implementation Tools and Resources ü SIFA Future Directions ü Data Interoperability Discussion ü How to get involved and empowered!

Data – Just Part of the Picture! The Big Picture: Description Data Communication R e s e a r c h Data Utilization Data Interpretation Data Movement Infrastructure / Specifications How do we report info to stakeholders? How do we change policies, resource allocation and teaching/learning? What does the data mean? How do we send/get data? How is the data formatted? What is the needed data? Data Identification

Why?

For More Information SIF website www. sifinfo. org Laurie Collins Project Strategist lcollins@sifinfo. org Larry Fruth, Ph. D. Executive Director lfruth@sifinfo. org Mark Reichert Chief Technical Officer mreichert@sifinfo. org