As school districts continue to amass large amounts of data about students, teachers, and educational resources each year, using the data in ways that lead to effective decisions and inform stakeholders has become increasingly important.
Of course, there are technical aspects to protecting data, and as many schools have learned during the pandemic, district IT staff need to stay on top of evolving efforts to compromise systems. But that’s just one part of guarding student information. During a recent edWebinar, sponsored by ClassLink and co-hosted by CoSN and AASA, the presenters discussed the policies and practices that also keep data safe in a digital education environment.
Presented by Bruce Gearing, Ed.D., Superintendent, Leander Independent School District (TX); Dr. Allan Markley, Superintendent, Raytown Quality Schools (MO); and Linnette Attai, Project Director, CoSN Privacy Initiative, CoSN (Consortium for School Networking)
What’s the best way to know what’s going on in schools? The answer, of course, is to visit the school, talk to the staff and students, and observe the learning process. What’s the easier way? Looking at proficiency data. For better or worse, standardized test scores are simple for anyone to access, typically a link or two away on the web. But as Mitch Slater, Co-Founder and CEO of Levered Learning, pointed out in his edWebinar “A Little Data is a Dangerous Thing: What State Test Score Summaries Do and Don’t Say About Student Learning,” looking at data from one set of assessment scores without context is virtually meaningless. While educators should track performance data to help inform their overall view on a district, school, or class, they need to keep in mind basic data analysis principles to ensure that they aren’t getting a false image of their students’ achievement.
In this edWebinar, Mitch Slater discusses common pitfalls of data analysis and present best practices for looking at your school’s or district’s scores.
Vital datasets around curriculum, spending, and achievement are siloed among K-12 stakeholders. Surfacing and integrating that data allows educators to make better decisions for their students.