Save the Date: March 16, 2011

The Southeast DSAC (District and School Assistance Center), the Cape Cod Collaborative, and MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) will be sponsoring a no-cost, one-day institute entitled, “Lassoing Local Data: Creating Systems that Support a Culture of Inquiry.” The Institute will be held on March 16, 2011 at Stonehill College in Easton and will be open to teams from school districts in the Southeast region.

Please see the attached flyer for additional details and watch for registration information in January 2011. Thank you, and Happy Holidays!

Start with a Cube View

There is a new folder in the Data Warehouse in Public Folders > ESE Cubes > Cube Views which contains a variety of views of the 2010 Cube that can serve as excellent starting points for additional inquiry. Not all users have learned to develop cube views (which is trickier than accessing the pre-defined reports) but interacting with these pre-made cube views is much simpler.

Current cube views include:

• MCAS CPI Trends by Grade Level
• MCAS Demographic Trends
• MCAS Performance by Grade Level
• MCAS Performance by Year
• MCAS School/District CPI vs State CPI by Grade
• MCAS Special Education Performance Gap Trends

Click the cube view that you'd like to investigate (for instance, MCAS Performance by Grade Level) and use the Dimension Line at the top of the screen to "filter" the data by choosing the desired district or school, subject area, subgroup, etc.)

To save the cube view you created, you can click the Save As icon in the lower right corner and save it to your My Folders area. (Don't worry, you won't overwrite the public cube views.)

To convert the cube view to PDF for printing, click the File button in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen (looks like a page) and choose Export PDF.

For more information on cubes, please see Chapter 3 of the EDW User's Guide.

Listing all reports on one screen in EDW

One point of confusion with EDW users stems from the fact that not all reports in a given folder (such as ESE MCAS Reports) appear on one screen. The default is to display only 15 at a time, which sometimes leaves folks wondering, "Where are the rest of the reports?"

I was glad to learn how to change this:

• From the upper right corner of the Welcome screen of the EDW, click My Area (person icon) and then choose My Preferences.
• Change the "Number of Entries in List View" to 50.
• Click OK.

An easy fix that will save you at least a little bit of frustration!

Data Update from the Curriculum Summit

This week, I had the opportunity to attend the state's Third Annual Summit on Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in Marlborough, so I thought I'd share what I heard and learned here on the blog.

Commissioner Mitchell Chester kicked off the Summit with an overview of successes and challenges in Massachusetts' public schools. He spoke with excitement about the opportunities that lie ahead for us in terms of funding (RTTT and other sources), next-generation assessments (the multi-state PARCC group), and new ways of looking at student performance (the growth model).

I attended a morning session focused on the Massachusetts System of Tiered Instruction - "a data driven prevention, early detection, and support system with the aim of providing high-quality core educational experiences for all students and targeted interventions to struggling students who experience learning and/or behavioral challenges." We heard from two school districts (Pittsfield and Winchendon) who have implemented this model for math and literacy, respectively. Even in these "best-practice" examples, the ongoing challenges related to data were evident - WHAT data to examine, HOW to utilize it (and by WHOM), and WHERE to keep it. But the more we can share and collaborate on these challenges, the closer we can come to addressing them.

Our lunch speaker was Julia Phelps, Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She spoke about the new Common Core State Standards and engaged the audience in thinking about the process for transitioning to these new standards over the next few years. In terms of changes to MCAS, her main points were that the spring 2011 MCAS will be based on the existing Frameworks, and the spring 2012 MCAS will be based primarily on the intersection between the existing Frameworks and the new Common Core. It is clear that MUCH more information will be coming out to support districts during this transition, so stay tuned.

The final session I attended was Creating Formative Assessments for Mathematics using Released MCAS Items which reminded us of the wealth of test questions available through ESE, and provided some ideas for using these as a "dipstick" for measuring student understanding.

Please note that the PowerPoint presentations and other materials from the Summit will be posted on the ESE's Summit Web page in the upcoming weeks.

District Folders: A Place to Share Report Views and Cube Views

Did you know that you can save both Report Views and Cube Views to the District Folders area of the Data Warehouse, so that they can be accessed by others in your district who have Data Warehouse access?

This is especially valuable when one person creates a cube view (like the strands-over-time example described previously) and wants to make it available to his/her colleagues. It's much simpler for those folks to USE the cube view rather than trying to re-create it themselves! It can also be used to easily share district- and school-level reports with colleagues (see note below about sharing student-level reports.**)

To save the output from a pre-defined report (a report view) in District Folders:

• Click Keep this Version and then Save as Report View
• From the screen that appears, click on Select another location...
• Navigate to Cognos > Public Folders > District Folders > [Your District Folder]
• Note: Reports can be saved in HTML, PDF, or Excel format, depending on how the report was produced.

To save the output from a cube (a cube view) in District Folders:

• Click the Save button (looks like a floppy disk, in the lower right corner of the cube screen)
• From the screen that appears, click on Select another location...
• Navigate to Cognos > Public Folders > District Folders > [Your District Folder]
• Note: A saved cube view can be easily modified to change things like grade level, year, subgroup, etc.

If you're running reports in the background (which you should be!), you can specify that these reports can be saved to District Folders using similar navigation. You can also create subfolders within District Folders (for different groups of reports.)

**Please be aware that reports or cube views placed in District Folders can be viewed by any of your district's Data Warehouse users (but not users from other districts). Caution should be taken if student-level reports are placed in District Folders, as not all of your district's users may have the legal authority to access this data. There are ways to set various levels of security on subfolders within District Folders although this is beyond the scope of today's post.

2010 Analysis Cube Now Available!

The Data Warehouse now has an updated "cube" containing 2010 data. "Yippee! An early Christmas gift!" I can hear some of you say, while others are scratching their heads, "What's a cube?"

"Cubes" in the Education Data Warehouse (also known as Cognos PowerPlay) are predefined data tables that make on-the-fly data manipulation possible. The cube's crosstab display (a data table) allows for dragging and dropping of various data elements in order to create new tabular displays of data. These tables can then be displayed in chart form, or exported to Excel for further analysis.

Chapter 3 in the EDW User's Guide gives more information about use of the cubes, for those who are new to its use. The ESE also provides materials for a half-day course on the cubes, which can be found linked to the EDW Welcome screen under "Training Materials." [I do offer regional cube workshops from time to time, so please contact me if you're looking for training.]

If you've played around with the cubes before, but need a bit of a refresher, I've created a "how-to" sheet which illustrates the use of the cube to explore trends in performance by standard and strand over time. There is no pre-defined report in the Education Data Warehouse that provides this information, but it can be pulled from the cube using these instructions. Your feedback on this document is welcome!

Finally, I would love to know how schools and districts are using the cube. Please contact me and let me know your cube uses...I will share what I find out in a future blog post. Also, the ESE folks will be producing and sharing a set of cube views in the EDW which can serve as starting points for for targeted inquiries. Stay tuned!

What Reports Do You Need?

The Data Specialists group will be meeting next month to discuss common needs for the development of new reports for the Data Warehouse. So now is your chance...what kinds of reports does the DW not currently provide that you would find useful? Please share your ideas so that I can bring them to the discussion.

On a similar note, if you have ideas for tools/reports that could be developed using Excel for data analysis and visualization, please share those too! You may recall the performance distribution comparison tool I posted last month ... one assistant principal's inquiry became a tool that everyone can use!

So, are there ways you'd like to visualize or analyze your data that aren't easy to do right now? Please email me (laura.tilton@dsacma.org) with any suggestions, requests, or ideas.

...and Happy Thanksgiving!

Early Warning Indicator Index (EWII) - New Resources Available

The folks at the ESE have developed the Early Warning Indicator Index to provide "early warning" data to assist local staff in identifying and supporting students in grade 9 who may be at risk of not graduating on time from high school. This data has been piloted over the last few years, but this is the first year it is being provided to all school districts statewide.

Early Warning Indicator Index (EWII) assigns students who were enrolled in eighth grade at the end of the 2009-2010 school year one of five risk levels (Very High Risk, High Risk, Borderline, At Risk, or Low Risk) based on their grade 8 MCAS results, grade 8 attendance rate, age as of September 1, 2010, and number of in- and out-of-school suspensions in the 2009-2010 school year. The EWII can be used by the district as a starting point for identifying and supporting students who may be at risk of not graduating on time from high school.

A variety of resources related to the EWII were placed in the district Accountability 2010 Drop Box in the security portal within the past week, including:

• A guidance/FAQ document with additional details about the EWII
• Detailed rosters for these students (most of whom are likely to be 9th graders in 2010-2011) in Microsoft Excel format
• An additional Excel document containing both a calculator for determining risk levels for students who are not listed on the roster, as well as summary risk level data by district, region, and accountability and assistance level.

Please note that only district personnel with the "Accountability - District" security role (assigned by the district Directory Administrator) may access these data.

A Resource Summary and Shout-Out to SSESPA

I wanted to post a special "thank you" to the South Shore Elementary School Principals Association for inviting me to speak at their meeting last Friday. I am glad you've found your way to the SouthEast Educational Data (SEED) blog and hope you'll find the information here helpful.

Here is a brief summary of the resources I mentioned at the SSESPA meeting - some data related, and some general - which I hope will be useful for all SEED blog visitors.

Data Warehouse Resources (some very practical blog postings)

• Running Reports in the Background
• Creating Customized Student Roster Reports
• Engaging Staff in MCAS Data Exploration Activity
• Data Warehouse Report Summary Document (updated 10/20/2010)

The Growth Model - a new way to look at student performance

School and District Profiles - access lots of school/district data without logging in to the DW!

District Analysis and Reporting Tool (DART) - allows comparison with "like" schools and districts using a variety of indicators

Toolkits and Resources on the ESE/DSAC Web page

• Conditions for School Effectiveness Self-Assessment
• Professional Learning Communities Guidance
• District Data Team Toolkit
• Learning Walk-Through Implementation Guide
• Common Planning Time Self-Assessment Toolkit

If you're new to the blog, please check out the right hand side of the main SEED blog page for Email subscription options as well as access to previous posts through the Archives or Labels links.

Data Warehouse Status Updates

As many of you know, the Data Warehouse is experiencing technical difficulties and has been "up" and "down" over the last week or so. I realized that it may not make sense to post DW status updates here on the blog, since the status may be outdated by the time you receive the notification.

The ESE folks have modified the security portal login page to include a time-stamped DW status update without requiring login, so please check there for the latest news.

Data Warehouse is back online!

***UPDATE 11/8/2010***The ESE folks have modified the security portal login page to include a time-stamped DW status update without requiring login, so please check there for the latest news.

As many of you may have noticed, the Data Warehouse was down for a few days this week. It's now back up, and the following information appears on the Welcome page in the Data Warehouse:

The EDW is back online and all content has been restored. Thank you for your patience during this unscheduled outage.

A small percentage of users may be missing content in their My Folders. However, be assured that we have all content in a backup folder and it will be restored to your My Folders upon request. Please contact us at datawarehouse@doe.mass.edu if your content is missing from My Folders.

My understanding is that users whose accounts were created within the past year are most likely to encounter this issue, which is easily remedied with an email to the Data Warehouse team at the address above.

Data News from MassCUE

I attended one day of the fabulous MassCUE conference at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday 10/28, and wanted to share some of the things I learned. I will come back and post links to the session resources here once they are up on the MassCUE Web site.

I attended a session entitled, "Formative Assessment using Google Apps," presented by the Harwich Public Schools. They have used Google Forms to easily create online quizzes to check student understanding...with instant results tallied to a Google spreadsheet! I have used Google Forms for surveys and the like (similar to Zoomerang and Survey Monkey, but free and unlimited, with data automatically collected in a back end spreadsheet) but it was interesting to see it used to check student understanding and used immediately to inform instruction.

Jeff Comenitz from the ESE's Data Warehouse team had a plethora of information about the DART tool, the growth model, the SIF project, and the new Student Course Schedule (SCS) data collection. (Of course, if you're a follower of this blog, none of these topics are new to you!) He shared some sample teacher-level Data Warehouse reports which are being developed for next fall, once the teacher and student data are connected in the Data Warehouse.

Associate Commissioner Bob Bickerton spoke on "Using Data and New Tools for Decision Making and Continuous Improvement." He highlighted not only the various data collection initiatives (SIMS, EPIMS, SCS, SIF) but also plans for the RTTT-funded "teaching and learning system." He acknowledged the performance challenges that the Data Warehouse is currently encountering, and described how the SLDS grant funds are being used in part to re-architect the Data Warehouse to improve performance and support wider use of the tool.

I spoke with many of the student information system vendors as well as some vendors offering data management tools. I would like to better understand the capabilities of the various systems to handle local data, so that I can help districts in our region understand what options are available to them based on the tools that they may already have in place.

We did get to hear from Jonathan Kraft at lunchtime, however, rain prevented the Patriots from taking the practice field so, sadly, I don't have any Tom Brady sightings to report.

More Growth Resources from the State

As you may know, there is now a new Data Warehouse course which focuses on the Growth Model (DW203 - Using MCAS Student Growth Percentiles). As with the other DW courses, all the materials can be downloaded from the "Training Materials" link on the Welcome page of the Data Warehouse.

As part of the development of this course, there are several brand-new video tutorials which help stakeholders understand and interpret some of the new growth reports. These videos may be useful for you to use with stakeholders (administrators, teachers, school committees, parents, etc.) as you share information about the state's new growth model.

These tutorials are different from the "growth model basics" and "parent report" video tutorials that I have posted about previously; both the new and older video tutorials can be downloaded from the main Growth Model page on the ESE Web site. Scroll to the bottom of the Growth page for both the Flash videos and static Word documents containing the information for the following:

• Introduction to Student Growth Percentiles
  
• Using MCAS Growth Reports: Scatter Plots
  
• Using MCAS Growth Reports: Stacked Bar Charts
  

As a side note, I will be teaching the DW203 half-day course through the Bi-County Collaborative at Norton Middle School on Friday, October 29 from 9-12. Spots are still available (no cost); please contact Joni Larsen at jlarsen@bicounty.org.

Performance Distribution Comparison Graphs Update

Several days ago I posted an entry containing a link to an Excel file which allowed for the creation of performance distribution comparison graphs (school/district/state) using the data in the Profiles area. I have updated that Excel file based on feedback (a special thank you to Tom Lamey, data specialist in the Central region!) and the link is now updated here.

Creating Customized Student Roster Reports

I hear it all the time: "But in TestWiz, we used to be able to run reports by classroom!" While it's true that the data warehouse doesn't technically have this feature at this time, you can certainly produce reports for any list of students (including a classroom roster) with a few extra steps.

The 600-level (student) reports in the Data Warehouse include a feature which allows the user to customize the report for a specific roster of students. This roster can be created in several ways: by choosing students from a list, by using a series of prompts to identify the students, and in some cases, by incorporating a list of SASIDs.

Some 600-level reports will produce one page (or more) per student, which can make for a very lengthy report. Reports that include the word “Roster” in the title (for example, R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster) will produce a compact format report which will include all selected students on a single page (or several pages, depending on the length of the list.)

Attached is a document which explains how to customize these student reports in a variety of ways. It is much more manageable (and secure!) to look at a student report that only contains the desired students...rather than going through, say, an entire grade-level list with a highlighter (trust me, I've been there.)

Performance Distribution Comparison Graphs

I heard from an assistant principal in the region who was looking for visual graphs which compared the performance distributions for a school, the district, and the state. While this info is available in the R-403 School Performance Distribution report, it only provides a graphic visualization for the school-specific data.

The data is easily accessible through the Profiles area, but not in a visually pleasing way. So I created an Excel tool that anyone can use to produce these graphs quickly by just copying and pasting your school's data from the Profiles area. You can then print the resulting graphs or paste them into PowerPoint.

Just click this link (updated 10/20/10) to save the Excel file to your desktop, and then follow the instructions provided on the "Data Source" tab. If you have ideas for other Excel display tools like this, I'll take requests! Please let me know if you find this tool useful. (laura.tilton@dsacma.org)

October Workshop Spots Available

The following workshops are being offered at no cost through the Cape Cod Collaborative (taught by Laura Tilton, Data Specialist, Southeast DSAC). Spots are still available for all three workshops, which will be held at Bourne High School. You may register online; for questions please contact Sheila Murray at s.murray.ccc@comcast.net.

Thursday, October 14, 8:30-2:30, Data Warehouse Basics and More
This workshop will combine the essential elements of the DW101 and DW201 courses from the ESE, including the cycle of inquiry and use of the pre-defined reports. The new Student Growth Model and related reports will also be explored. While sample data will be used for the introductory activities, participants will have the opportunity to begin to investigate data for their own schools/districts.

Thursday, October 21, 8:30-11:30, Using Student Growth Percentiles (DW203)
This NEW course for district/school leaders and teachers will present an overview of the Growth Model and focus on the use of MCAS growth data and reports. In the course, participants will learn about growth data, identify district and school uses for growth data, and apply the inquiry process through hands-on activities using MCAS growth reports. Requirement: DW101, Introduction to the Data Warehouse. (Note: October 14 participants will have already had much of this material.)

Thursday, October 21, 12:00-3:00, Multi-Dimensional Analysis (DW202)
Participants will learn how to access and use the Cognos® PowerPlay tool to engage in multidimensional analysis through cubes, pre-defined data tables that make on-the-fly data manipulation possible. Participants in this workshop will use training accounts containing sample data but will be provided an opportunity to work with their own district's data as well. Requirement: DW101, Introduction to the Data Warehouse

A PLATE-ful of Literacy Information!

I wanted to take an opportunity to share information about a new blog that has been started by my colleague, Mary Ellen Caesar, Literacy Specialist for the Southeast region. She recently posted about the scoring of open response questions (something I am often asked about but defer to her expertise) and includes information about an instructional routine that supports proficient response to text.

You can find her blog here: http://literacyplate.blogspot.com/ (PLATE: Practical Literacy Aids for Today's Educators...yes, we are the queens of acronyms). I hope you'll check it out and share with your colleagues ... Mary Ellen has lots of valuable information to share around literacy!

And even more updates...

Yes, it's a busy time of year on the data front! A few more updates are available related to data collection, data resources, and data communication:

• The 2010-2011 Data Collection Schedule has been posted for SIMS, EPIMS, and the new SCS (Student Course Schedule) data collection. I hope to see some of our region's district data managers at the Data Collection Information Session this Friday morning in Duxbury.
  
• The Department has launched a new Parent/Guardian MCAS Information Page.
  
• The DART (District Analysis and Review) Tool has been updated to include 2010 data, and a variety of improvements have been made based on user feedback.

Engaging Staff in MCAS Data Exploration

I recently worked with data team members at the Duval Elementary School in Whitman, who were looking for an activity to get staff engaged in exploring the 2010 MCAS data. Team members had all been to meetings where either (a) an administrator gives a big long data presentation or (b) each teacher is given a large packet of data without a whole lot of guidance on how to use it. This team wanted something different, and so we came up with an activity which engages staff in asking questions about data in a manageable way. (The activity has its beginnings in an activity that is part of the Data Warehouse 101 curriculum.)

The activity starts with teams of teachers exploring the R-406 report (School Standards Summary Report) for a particular test. They are asked to answer the question, "Now that you've seen this report, what else do you want to know?" and given time to generate clarifying questions which direct further inquiry.

I'm including the activity materials which contain more details and information.

• Facilitator Notes


• Guiding Worksheet


• Team Recorder Sheet

This is a somewhat open-ended activity, but can be modified to suit your group's needs. Please do send along your feedback and don't hesitate to contact me if you need additional information.

Data Warehouse Update Release Notes

There is a new set of Data Warehouse release notes available from the Data Warehouse Welcome page to accompany the recent 2010 data release. Rather than repeat all the information here, I'll just list the topics covered in the notes and those who are interested can log in to the Data Warehouse and read more.

• SGPs Added to Student Reports
• Test Items Not Yet Available in HTML
• Changes to Reflect New Curriculum Frameworks Terminology
• Standard Numbers Added to Item Analysis Reports
• Alignment of HS Science Standards Data
• G-302 Reports Run Faster
• R-616 Now Shows Students' Incorrect Answers

School and District Profiles Updated with 2010 MCAS and AYP Data

The School and District Profiles area of the ESE Web site has now been updated with 2010 MCAS and AYP Data. We expect the Data Warehouse reports to be updated with 2010 data later this week. However, keep in mind that much of the data contained in the School and District level reports in the Data Warehouse can be explored through the Profiles area - no login required!

For example, the information from the R-401 School Item Analysis report can also be found in the Profiles area. Here's how to get to it:

• From Profiles, choose 'Organization Type > Public School' and then the desired city or town and click 'Search.'


• Click on the name of the desired school from the list on the bottom of the page that appears.


• Click the 'Assessment' tab.


• Click 'Item by Item Results' in the left hand column and then choose the desired grade/subject combination.

The previously published Data Warehouse Report Summary contains additional information which correlates data from Profiles with various Data Warehouse reports. Since no login is required for Profiles, links can be easily shared with staff who may not have Data Warehouse access. No report running required!

Data-Related Updates from ESE

MCAS Release Schedule Update:
The MCAS and AYP Data Review and Release schedule has recently changed, with public release of data (in the School and District Profiles area on the ESE Web site) scheduled for next Tuesday, September 14. Updated reports in the Data Warehouse are scheduled to be available on September 16. The statewide MCAS summary report (overview) for 2010 is now available online.

New Growth Model Tutorial:
As you know, this year's MCAS parent reports will now include growth and performance information for students, schools, and districts. Since the growth model is a new concept, the state has provided a tutorial specifically geared towards parents. Additional resources to help learn more about the growth model are available on the Growth page on the ESE Web site.

Education Data Warehouse Alert

The following message was posted in the security portal for Data Warehouse users, but I thought I'd share it here for those that had not logged in for a few days. More details on this topic were also included in the August 31 "On the Desktop" memo from Commissioner Chester.

Certain reports in the Education Data Warehouse (EDW) are running very slowly during periods of high use. We apologize for this inconvenience. Additional options for getting the reports you need as well as a brief explanation follow.

Additional options to obtain reports:

Drop Box Central: Currently includes preliminary rosters and reports. Will add detailed corrected students rosters with MCAS results (including Student Growth Percentiles) in PDF, DAT and EXCEL formats on September 9th.

Profiles: Will be updated on September 9th to include most aggregate reports that would otherwise be available in the EDW.

Brief Explanation:
While we remain excited about the capabilities of the EDW we purchased, it is clear that some components were not adequately designed for a statewide implementation; e.g., when several users simultaneously request the more complicated reports, the system slows down and becomes unresponsive. ESE submitted a Longitudinal Data Systems grant to the U.S. Department of Education last November in order to re-engineer these aspects of the EDW—preferably before the start of the 2010/2011 school year. The “good news” is that we won a grant in the amount of $13M with the major portion of these funds targeted to just this purpose. Unfortunately, the funding was not made available to ESE until late last week (8/26). Improvements to the EDW will be made in stages, with some available in weeks and others over the coming months.

If you need to run a custom query in the EDW during peak school hours we recommend running using the scheduling tool to run the reports during off-peak hours.

Laura's Note: Please follow this link for a recent related blog post entitled "Save Time! Running Reports in the Background".

Sharing Information about the Growth Model

Massachusetts has developed a statistically valid method of measuring growth in student, group, school, and district performance over time. The growth model complements the MCAS year-by-year test scores, since it reports change over time rather than grade-level performance results in any one year.

Many folks have asked what resources are available in order to help educate staff, parents, and others on this new way of reporting on student achievement. The folks at ESE have provided a letter to educators from the Commissioner which provides additional details about the growth model. A similar letter for parents will be included in the student MCAS reports this fall.

There is an entire page on the ESE Web site devoted to the Growth Model, including a variety of documents and videos. Additional resources from the ESE will be posted on the Growth page as they are made available.

Save Time! Running Reports in the Background

Many of you have been looking at 2010 preliminary ELA reports in the data warehouse since earlier this summer, and may also have accessed the preliminary roster reports for all subjects from your Security Portal drop boxes.

The Data Warehouse welcome screen informs us that the reports for Math and Science are available as of today. But you're not the only one who's excited and ready to jump in and run reports! Obviously this is a very busy time for Data Warehouse use across the state. Even though upgrades have been made to the Data Warehouse servers over the last year, you may still encounter delays in performance while waiting for reports to run.

The solution? Learn to run reports "in the background" (also sometimes called "batch mode.") In this way, you set your reports up to run, but don't have to watch the hourglass spin on your screen while they do so. Reports are delivered to your My Folders or District Folders area in the desired format (PDF, Excel, or HTML.) This simple instruction sheet (Running Data Warehouse Reports in the Background) will walk you through the process.

R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster: A Universally Useful Report

I'm often asked, "What reports do you think are most useful?" Of course, the answer depends on the question you are trying to answer with data!

However, one report that is extremely useful and efficient is the R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster report. This report provides a roster of students with information about performance level, scaled score, and the student's individual test item performance (including strand and question type) for a particular test. For 2010, this report also includes the SGP (student growth percentile) for each student.

Hyperlinks within the report allow you to click through to the test item iself as well as additional student detail. If you save the report as PDF, those links will remain in place (although a person would need to have data warehouse access to click through to the student detail reports.)

Note that while other 600-level (student) reports often result in a single page (or more) per student, this report is unique in that it provides efficient access to student data in a roster format.

Also note that even though the data warehouse doesn't provide reports at the classroom level, the roster of students for R-616 can be customized to reflect a single classroom of students. Simply use your mouse to select the students you'd like to include in the report (you'll see this in the second step of running the report) to customize the report for a classroom, intervention group, or other subgroup.

Student Claiming: A Good Idea

I've posted on this topic previously, but wanted to remind folks about student claiming again, as the start of the school year approaches.

By default, the Education Data Warehouse allows schools and districts to access MCAS records for tests they administered only. The student claiming process enables schools and districts to access to ALL historical MCAS data for their enrolled students, regardless of where the test was taken.

This means that Data Warehouse users will be able to view historical data for students who are new to the district OR new to a school. For instance, a middle school principal would (by default) only be able to view test data for students who took the MCAS at the middle school. After the student claiming process has been completed, he or she would be able to access the 5th grade data for students entering from the elementary school as well as data for students who have come in from other districts.

Generally, the student claiming process is handled by the person in your district who manages the SIMS data (who is likely very busy at the start of the school year!) Additional information on the student claiming process can be found at the end of Chapter 3: Basic Access of the EDW User Guide.

Spots available in Data Warehouse Refresher course 8/26 at READS Collaborative

Thursday, August 26
Data Warehouse Refresher
READS Collaborative (8:30-11:30), Middleborough
Registration Contact: Mary Keeler @ READS Collaborative, mkeeler@readscollab.org

This session is intended for staff who have had previous Data Warehouse training (or have explored it independently) but need additional support in the use of this tool. The workshop will provide a structured environment in which to explore data using the pre-defined reports in the Data Warehouse, including the new Growth Model reports. Participants will access their own district or school’s data, get time-saving tips, and will have an opportunity to run and save reports for use in planning for the 2010-2011 school year.

2010 MCAS and AYP Data Review/Release Schedule

A detailed review/release schedule of 2010 MCAS and AYP data is now available from the ESE. For additional information, please see the recent press release from Commissioner Chester.

...OK, so what is SIF? Should my district look into the SIF grant opportunity?

What is SIF? Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) is a "data exchange standard for ensuring that school software applications - such as library, cafeteria, transportation and student information management programs - share data and work together seamlessly and effectively." (Thanks to Karen Carpenter at DESE for this simple definition and the information that follows!)

Why should MA schools be excited about SIF? SIF will transform the process of collecting data from the current collections driven process to a seamless automated process. This new process will provide the ESE and districts with consistent, timely, valuable and accessible data in the Education Data Warehouse.

What is the SIF grant opportunity? Fund Code 120, the Streamlining District Data Systems grant (Round 2), is being offered in order to encourage a wide variety of districts to pilot the implementation of SIF solutions. You do NOT need to have participated in Round 1 to apply for Round 2.

The grant application deadline is August 12, 2010. There will be an online technical assistance workshop THIS WEDNESDAY, July 21, at 2:00 pm. For more information or to answer any questions please contact Karen Carpenter, LEA SIF Project Manager, at 781-338-6847 or by email at kcarpenter@doe.mass.edu.

What's the SIMS Expansion All About?

Approximately 75 districts statewide participated during the 2009-2010 school year in the "Expanded SIMS" data collection pilot program. Starting this fall (2010), all districts will be required to collect additional data in a similar manner. But what data is being collected and how will this information be used?

The "Expanded SIMS" title is a bit of a misnomer, since the actual 52 SIMS fields that are currently collected three times per year (October, March, and June) have really not changed.

What is new, however, is the frequency of EPIMS data collection (now three times per year, like SIMS) as well as the new Student Course Schedule (SCS) data collection (also collected three times per year).

The SCS contains 13 new data elements connecting teachers, students, and courses K-12. Many Student Information System vendors have been working to implement processes to facilitate this data collection process, although it will be a significant project for district data managers (especially the first time!). The good news is that SCS information will allow for MCAS reports for 2011-2012 to include course- and teacher-specific reports which are currently not available.

For additional information, please visit the SIMS Expansion page on the ESE Web site. Additional information is being communicated this summer to districts by the Data Collection folks from the ESE.

Summer Data Warehouse Workshops and Refresher Courses

The following Data Warehouse courses are being offered (at no or nominal cost) in the Southeast region over the summer, and seats are limited. All workshops will be taught by Laura Tilton, Southeast DSAC Data Specialist. Participants must have been granted access to the Data Warehouse via the DESE security portal prior to arrival at these workshops.

Tuesday, July 13
Data Warehouse Refresher
Duxbury High School (8:30-11:30 with optional afternoon support)
Registration Contact: Laura Tilton, laura.tilton@dsacma.org
This session is intended for staff who have had previous Data Warehouse training (or have explored it independently) but need additional support in the use of this tool. The workshop will provide a structured environment in which to explore data using the pre-defined reports in the Data Warehouse, including the new Growth Model reports. Participants will access their own district or school’s data, and will have time to run and save reports for use in planning for the 2010-2011 school year.

Wednesday, August 11
Data Warehouse Basics and More (8:00 am - 1:00 pm with snack break)
sponsored by the Bi-County Collaborative (Franklin, MA) location TBA
Registration Contact: Joni Larsen @ Bi-County Collaborative, jlarsen@bicounty.org
This workshop will combine the essential elements of the DW101 and DW201 courses from the ESE, including the cycle of inquiry and use of the pre-defined reports. The new Student Growth Model reports will also be explored. While sample data will be used for the introductory activities, participants will have the opportunity to begin to investigate data for their own schools/districts.

Monday, August 16
Data Warehouse Refresher (see description above)
Bourne High School (8:30-11:30)
Registration Contact: Sheila Murray @ Cape Cod Collaborative, s.murray.ccc@comcast.net

Thursday, August 26
Data Warehouse Refresher (see description above)
READS Collaborative (8:30-11:30), Middleborough
Registration Contact: Mary Keeler @ READS Collaborative, mkeeler@readscollab.org

New Data Warehouse Report Summary

I wanted to share a document I put together (Data Warehouse Report Summary.pdf, 4 pages, updated 10/20/2010) which summarizes all the reports that are currently available in the Data Warehouse. It includes all the reports that are currently available, including the new growth model reports, and briefly describes the uses for each report.

It also indicates which pieces of information are also available in the Profiles area of the ESE Web site (so that you don't have to log into the Data Warehouse when it's not necessary.) Please note that the Profiles area will not be updated with 2010 data until this fall.

The ESE's Glossary of Predefined Reports (17 pages) is also a useful document, and contains much of the same information, including screen shots of each report. However, at this time, this document does not include information about the growth model reports and several other new reports (and it's quite lengthy).

In summary, there are a lot of different reports and it is easy to fall into the "analysis paralysis" trap. The goal is that these documents will help you structure your inquiry within the Data Warehouse, in order to save time and frustration. We expect some of the 2010 data reports to be available in the Data Warehouse as early as Thursday, June 24!

MCAS Reporting Information, Spring 2010

For those who were not able to participate in the MCAS Reporting teleconference yesterday, I thought I'd post the exciting highlights.

• Preliminary student results for ELA (including scaled scores and performance levels) as well as Math (multiple choice results only) are NOW available through DropBox Central in the Security Portal. Reports will begin to be available in the Data Warehouse on June 24, with ELA growth reports available on June 25.
• Preliminary math and STE data will be available in early August (DropBox), with Data Warehouse reports available starting August 13 (August 17 for growth data)
• Official MCAS results will be accessible via DropBox by districts on September 8, schools on September 9, with public release of data following shortly thereafter.
• The ELA long composition data and MEPA reports will continue to be posted at the MCAS Service Center for now.
• The folks at the ESE would like to know ASAP if you are missing any data, or if there are major issues with the data you have received. The electronic discrepancy reporting period (through www.mcasservicecenter.com) will be from August 6 through August 12.
• Please note that students may appear twice in your data file, if there are SASID issues, but these will be resolved over the summer and do not need to be reported at this time.
• This year, scaled scores will be reported for Grade 3 tests.
• This year, some students who took MCAS-Alt and scored at the "Progressing" level will receive 75 CPI points rather than 100, due to changes in federal guidelines.
• This year's parent reports will include information about student growth, which will likely highlight longitudinal (3 year) student data along with growth numbers for the student, the school, and the district (for both ELA and Math). More information/guidance will be distributed to districts prior to the release of the data in September.

Please remember that there is an embargo in place for the preliminary data. While it may be used for instructional planning, it may not be discussed with the public or press.

Spring 2010 MCAS Reporting Schedule

The Spring 2010 MCAS Reporting Schedule has been released (single-page printable copy here.) It outlines the what, when, and where (drop-box or Data Warehouse) the various pieces of MCAS data will be available for analysis and discrepancy reporting. If you have questions regarding the reporting and discrepancy reporting schedule, please plan to take part in the MCAS reporting teleconferences on June 14.

Student Claiming in the Data Warehouse

By default, the Education Data Warehouse allows schools and districts to access MCAS records for tests they administered only. The student claiming process enables schools and districts to access to ALL historical MCAS data for their enrolled students, regardless of where the test was taken.

The folks at DESE will be re-setting the student claiming fields on Friday, July 16, 2010. After you have rolled-over your student information system to 2011 (and after July 16th) districts may upload a new claiming file so that you can access the historic MCAS results for registered students that will be in your building for the start of the 2011 school year.

If you've haven't previously claimed students in the Data Warehouse, this summer (after July 16) would be a good time to do so!

Additional information on the student claiming process can be found at the end of Chapter 3: Basic Access of the EDW User Guide.

MCAS Reporting Teleconferences June 14

The ESE will be holding an MCAS reporting teleconference (45 minutes) on Monday, June 14, at either 10:00 am or 2:30 pm, to discuss the reporting of preliminary results from the spring 2010 MCAS tests.

More information, along with an initial MCAS release schedule for June, can be found in this ESE news item: http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=5537.

Registration for the conference calls can be done on the Measured Progress web site at www.measuredprogress.org.

The full schedule for reporting results from the spring 2010 MCAS tests will be announced in upcoming Commissioner's Updates, and I will post that information here as well.

DART Tool for Individual Schools now Available

A few weeks ago I shared information about the new DART Tool (District Analysis and Review Tool) that was developed by folks at the ESE.

A similar tool for individual schools has just been made available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/sda/dart/.
The Schools version of the DART Tool (I guess technically this would be the SART, but let's not add any new acronyms for now!) offers a snapshot of school performance, allowing users to easily track select data elements over time, and make comparisons to the state or to "comparable" schools statewide.

Data Warehouse "Refresher"?

I was thinking that some folks may be in need of a "refresher" on the Data Warehouse after the preliminary data is released in August. Please let me know if you or others in your district would be interested in taking part in a "refresher" workshop in August 2010. These would likely be half-day (morning or afternoon) sessions where folks could come and work in their own data warehouse accounts...there would be some instruction but also an opportunity for independent work time with support from me. If this is going to be a need, I'd like to try to be able to support it efficiently rather than juggling lots of "Help! How do I ..." calls and e-mails.

I'll look forward to hearing your feedback, either via e-mail (laura.tilton@dsacma.org) or through the online form. Thanks!

Summer Data Warehouse Workshops

I will be teaching introductory Data Warehouse workshops over the summer through both districts and collaboratives. These are not necessarily "open to the public" but there may be spots available. If you have a staff member or two who needs to attend this training, please let me know and I will do what I can to find a spot.

Data Warehouse Security Policy

Chapter 2 (Security and Training) of the Education Data Warehouse User's Guide states that "school districts shall adopt policies governing access and confidentiality of data maintained in the EDW." Many districts are looking for resources to help them abide by state and federal laws related to confidential student data, especially as more district personnel are given access to the Data Warehouse.

The state has a Statewide Educational Data Warehouse Project Policy Statement which is posted online at the ESE Web site (as well as from the Welcome Screen of the Data Warehouse itself.) This document summarizes the federal and state laws governing the access to data by Department and district personnel, as well as the general public.

In addition, some districts have created district-specific policy statements and/or agreements for staff members to sign to acknowledge their understanding of the regulations related to use of the Data Warehouse. Special thanks to the Middleborough Public Schools for agreeing to share two documents (which were developed in conjunction with Wareham and Plymouth).

- Middleborough Data Warehouse Policy Document
- Middleborough Data Warehouse Confidentiality Agreement

If your district has similar policy documents to share, please contact me (laura.tilton@dsacma.org) and I'll include them here.

Now Available: District Data Team Toolkit

It was great to see so many folks at last week's rollout of the District Data Team Toolkit, presented by Andrea Condit from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. I am excited to hear from you about how you envision this valuable set of tools and resources being used in your district.

Among other things, Andrea shared an article entitled "The New Stupid" from the "Data: Now What?" issue of Educational Leadership (December 2008), which you can access here. This article is definitely worth the read as it provides suggestions and precautions to consider when using data for planning and decision-making.

While the District Data Team Toolkit is not yet available online, Andrea did send along the materials via email to those who attended last week's session. I will post the link here when it is up on the DESE Web site. In the meantime, I am happy to forward the materials to you upon request for those who have not yet received them. (laura.tilton@dsacma.org)

District Analysis and Review Tool (DART)

Last week, a new state tool known as "DART" (District Analysis and Review Tool) was introduced to the folks who attended a regional rollout session that was held at READS Collaborative. For those of you who were not able to attend the hands-on session, I'm happy to report that the Excel-based DART tool is now available online for everyone to access on the DESE site at: http://www.doe.mass.edu/sda/dart/

The DART offers a snapshot of district performance, allowing users to easily track select data elements over time, and make comparisons to the state or to "comparable" districts. The data elements include a broad range of district and school interests including demographic, assessment, student support, educator, financial, and achievement gap data. The tool will be updated online as new information becomes available.

School and District Profiles: A Gold Mine of Data!

While the Data Warehouse is a great resource, there is quite a bit of district- and school-level data available through the School and District Profiles area of the DESE Web site. (http://profiles.doe.mass.edu) No login or report running required!

I found this out the hard way a few months ago - after spending hours creating item analysis reports in the Data Warehouse, only to find out that the same information was available in Profiles for anyone to access directly!

Here's how: Use the link above and navigate to your district or school using the pop-up menus. Click the "Assessment" tab, and you will see a list of the available data reports listed on the left.

The "Item by Item Results" pages are VERY similar to R-301 and R-401 (Item Analysis) reports in the Data Warehouse...with no report running required! The URLs for these pages can easily be pasted into an email for distribution to staff (unlike the Data Warehouse, since there is no teacher level access at this time.)

Lots of other general data available there as well!

District Data Team Toolkit Overview

There are still spots available at the District Data Team Toolkit Overview, being held at North River Collaborative in Rockland on Thursday, April 15 from 10:00-11:30. More information and registration is available here:

http://www.doe.mass.edu/conference/?ConferenceID=815

Creating Customized Student Subsets in the EDW

Many administrators are asking, "What's the best way for me to put together a classroom-level report, since the state's Education Data Warehouse doesn't include teacher data at this time?"

The new R-611 report in the Data Warehouse can be used to save a roster of students and run any of the other 600-level student reports now or at a later time.

• R-602 Student Item Analysis Graph
• R-606 Student Test Results with Standards
• R-610 Student Test Results
• R-613 Student MCAS History
• R-616 Test Item Analysis Roster

The group of students can be selected either through a series of filters (for example, Grade 3 LEP students) or by copying and pasting a list of SASIDs for the desired group (useful when filters aren't relevant, like a class list.)

While this is still a bit of a manual process, it is much easier than going through each type of student report and "checking off" the students you want to include.

I've put together a handout which will walk you through the 611 report, although it is relatively simple. Please let me know if you find this useful!

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to the SEED page (SouthEast Educational Data), a resource to support school districts in Southeastern Massachusetts as they establish, grow, and maintain a culture of inquiry and data use. (Get it? SEED? Grow? I figured we needed more acronyms.)

I will be posting a variety of resources on this blog, from Data Warehouse updates, regional meetings, state data initiatives, and other resources. I know how busy many of you are and hope that this resource will provide a central location for these types of resources in our state/region. If you have requests for information you would like to see here, please don't hesitate to contact me!

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