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!