supporting school districts in Southeastern Massachusetts
as they establish, grow, and maintain a culture of inquiry and data use
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Data Warehouse Workshops and Refresher Courses?
If there is a need for additional Data Warehouse workshops or refresher courses in other parts of the region, I'll be happy to offer them as needed. Please contact me (laura.tilton@dsacma.org) with your DW training needs and I'll keep you informed about upcoming regional training opportunities.
Monday, May 23, 2011
New Class Size Data Reports on Profiles
From the Profiles main page, click on the “Quick Statewide Reports” dropdown menu on the right to choose between two different class size reports. Both reports allow the user to filter between the district and school levels, sort columns (by clicking headers), look at all subjects combined, or choose one specific subject. Each of the reports contain data for the state at the bottom of the page and all of the data can be downloaded into an Excel or PDF file for further investigation.
From an individual school or district profile, click the "Students" tab to see the data for the individual school or district.
As previously posted, the SCS data has also been used to generate a new set of reports available in the Data Warehouse.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Release Schedule for 2011 Preliminary MCAS Results
Here's a summary of the schedule:
June 15 - ELA Composition images available at the MCAS Service Center Web site
June 16 - MCAS-Alt Portfolio feedback forms available in DropBox
June 17 - Preliminary roster reports posted in DropBox
June 20 - Preliminary school/district reports posted in DropBox
June 24 - Selected reports available in Education Data Warehouse
August TBD - Full preliminary results available
In addition, there will be two MCAS reporting teleconferences on June 16 at 2:30 pm and June 17 at 10:00 am (register via www.mcasservicecenter.com).
The folks at ESE are putting into place several strategies to minimize traffic jams with the EDW for this June release, including links to pre-run versions of popular reports. Stay tuned for more details.
Please visit the Commissioner's memo for the details of the MCAS release schedule as well as the MEPA results schedule.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
New SCS Analytical Reports Available in EDW
One of the goals of the SCS (also called SIMS Expansion) project is to provide a series of new analytical reports that examine factors such as class size, teacher and student characteristics, courses of study and other factors on student performance as measured by marks, completion rates and MCAS scores. (This process along with a report preview was presented at the Southeast Data Institute and the presentation and related materials are available online.)
Five of these analytical reports are now available in the EDW in Public Folders > ESE SCS Analytical Reports:
- Classes Taught by Highly Qualified Teachers;
- Teacher Retention by School Poverty Level;
- Class Size by Course Level and by School Poverty Level;
- Course Completions and Passing Rates; and
- Student Marks Distribution by Class Size
Please note that these reports include the certified data for your own district plus statewide data from the 378 districts that certified their collections on time. The EDW team requests that users review the SCS Report Release Notes in that same folder, and understand that these reports may be modified as the data are reviewed.
Good News and Bad News
The good news: This downtime will be used for maintenance, configuration and testing as part of the process for improving system performance. The system should be back on line by 7:30 pm Thursday evening.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Data Institute Presentations Available Online
- Using Data and New Tools for Decision-Making and Continuous Improvement (Bob Bickerton)
- School Interoperability Framework (SIF) Project Update (Valentin Torres and Teri DeFilippo)
- Collecting and Reporting Student Course Schedules (SCS) (Maryann Donie,
Rob Curtin, Craig Finley) - includes a preview of classroom-level reports!
Special thanks to the presenters for their willingness to share their knowledge in this format so that this important and timely information can be shared beyond those that were able to attend the March 16 event.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Data Warehouse Downtime 5/12/11
The Education Data Warehouse will be offline this Thursday (5/12/11) starting at noon as it undergoes some improvements designed to optimize system performance. The system should be back on line by 7 pm on Thursday.
The EDW team has asked that users delete any unused reports or report views (especially those that are over a year old - they are likely outdated!) These files are kept in your "My Folders" or "District Folders" area. The EDW team would be very appreciative if you are able to assist them by deleting any old files prior to Thursday. The less they have to move on Thursday the better the system will run for the 2011 MCAS releases. Thank you!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Southeast Data Network Meeting 5/4
This meeting will serve to continue the important conversations started at the March 16 Southeast Data Institute (for both those that attended and those that did not) by:
- Following up on the “data visions” that teams developed during the institute. What are next steps and needs?
- Prioritizing data-related topics for further discussion, resource sharing, and professional development
- Establishing a meeting schedule and guidance for future networking meetings
Formal registration for this meeting has closed, although we certainly welcome all interested folks to attend. Please email me laura.tilton@dsacma.org if you plan to attend and have not yet registered.