As you may know, the folks at ESE have been working on substantial improvements to both the front-end (user interface) and back-end (report processing speed) of the Education Data Warehouse. The new and old systems will run in parallel starting mid-August. For staff who need a refresher on the current system and/or would like to learn more about the new system, there will be several Data Warehouse Refresher workshops offered in August.
These no-cost workshops are 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 and reports. Information will be shared about summer 2011 improvements and changes to the Data Warehouse interface and functionality. 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 the planning for the 2011-2012 school year.
Monday, August 22 at Bourne High School, 8:30-11:30 am
REGISTER: http://cccollaborativeorg.dependable-hosting.com/professionaldevelopment/index.asp?CategoryID=26#94
Monday, August 22 at Bourne High School, 12:00-2:45 pm
REGISTER: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhaWVhhRUxYVTFvT1M3U2hERWt5Vnc6MA
Tuesday, August 23 at Norton Middle School, 8:30-11:30 am OR 12:15-3:15 pm
REGISTER: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhaWVhhRUxYVTFvT1M3U2hERWt5Vnc6MA
All courses will be taught by Laura Tilton, Southeast DSAC Data Specialist and held in air-conditioned PC computer labs.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
2011 MCAS and Accountability Data
DESE recently posted important information regarding 201l MCAS preliminary data and accountability data, and for discrepancy reporting. Please see the Commissioner's Memo and printable Release Schedule for complete details. Some upcoming dates are listed below:
August 8: District/school leaders can begin to access full preliminary (embargoed) 2011 MCAS results through the Security Portal (first in DropBox, then in EDW)
August 9: District/school leaders can access to preliminary (embargoed) school and district accountability data through the Security Portal.
August 8 (2:30 pm) OR August 9 (10:00 am): MCAS and Accountability Reporting Teleconference (register at www.mcasservicecenter.com)
The Commissioner's Memo also mentions the updates and improvements that will take place in the Education Data Warehouse later in August. I'll certainly be sharing additional information as it becomes available!
August 8: District/school leaders can begin to access full preliminary (embargoed) 2011 MCAS results through the Security Portal (first in DropBox, then in EDW)
August 9: District/school leaders can access to preliminary (embargoed) school and district accountability data through the Security Portal.
August 8 (2:30 pm) OR August 9 (10:00 am): MCAS and Accountability Reporting Teleconference (register at www.mcasservicecenter.com)
The Commissioner's Memo also mentions the updates and improvements that will take place in the Education Data Warehouse later in August. I'll certainly be sharing additional information as it becomes available!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Using Excel for Dynamic Inquiry
At the end of June, the Southeast DSAC Literacy Specialist and I had the good fortune to work with a group of teachers who were part of a district "Literacy Intervention Team." Their immediate goal was to explore the growth and performance of their 6th grade students who had participated in the previous year's targeted literacy intervention efforts.
I assisted the group in developing a large Excel spreadsheet which contained all the relevant student data, and we spent time exploring this data dynamically, asking questions such as:
As a result of this work (and previous work/conversations in districts), I would like to offer a workshop entitled "Using Excel for Dynamic Inquiry" so that districts/schools may develop their own dynamic tools for looking at data.
Please take a few minutes to participate in a short survey to indicate your interest in such a workshop, and feel free to forward the survey to others in your district who may be interested. Thank you for your feedback!
I assisted the group in developing a large Excel spreadsheet which contained all the relevant student data, and we spent time exploring this data dynamically, asking questions such as:
- How did our intervention students perform on this year's MCAS test? What type of growth did we see in these students? How did they perform on local assessments (SRI, DRA-2, etc.)
- Were there students who were not included in our intervention efforts who scored Warning/Failing on the MCAS? Who were they and why were they not included in intervention efforts last year?
- What about the performance of students whose were initially identified last summer for intervention, but did not participate? (parents "opted out" of literacy intervention or other reasons)
As a result of this work (and previous work/conversations in districts), I would like to offer a workshop entitled "Using Excel for Dynamic Inquiry" so that districts/schools may develop their own dynamic tools for looking at data.
Please take a few minutes to participate in a short survey to indicate your interest in such a workshop, and feel free to forward the survey to others in your district who may be interested. Thank you for your feedback!
SURVEY LINK:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFRpWjR4UjJqcl9QOXMzai1ZaTZoR0E6MQ
Student Claiming Field Re-Setting July 15
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. For additional information about the value of student claiming, please read my previous blog post entitled, "Student Claiming: A Good Idea."
The folks at DESE will be re-setting the student claiming fields on Friday, July 15, 2011. Starting next week (July 18th), once you have "rolled over" your student information system to the 2011-2012 school year, you may upload a "claiming file" of all currently registered/enrolled students. Once you have successfully uploaded and accepted the data you will then be able to access MCAS and SIMS history for all students registered to be in your schools this September.
Please note that for those districts currently using SIF for claiming, this process should happen automatically. For further information, please contact your ESE SIF representative.
If you've haven't previously claimed students in the Data Warehouse, this summer (after July 18th) 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.
The folks at DESE will be re-setting the student claiming fields on Friday, July 15, 2011. Starting next week (July 18th), once you have "rolled over" your student information system to the 2011-2012 school year, you may upload a "claiming file" of all currently registered/enrolled students. Once you have successfully uploaded and accepted the data you will then be able to access MCAS and SIMS history for all students registered to be in your schools this September.
Please note that for those districts currently using SIF for claiming, this process should happen automatically. For further information, please contact your ESE SIF representative.
If you've haven't previously claimed students in the Data Warehouse, this summer (after July 18th) 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.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Blog Archives
I got an email recently from a blog subscriber professing her undying love for the content of this blog (really!). She mentioned that she saves all the blog e-mails and uses them for reference when she gets stuck or has a question.
This prompted me to write this post reminding readers that ALL the blog archives are posted online at http://southeastdata.blogspot.com/. I realized that since many of the blog's readers only see the content as it gets e-mailed, you might forget that the blog archives are available online as well.
You can search blog posts from the link above by typing in a keyword (box at top of page), clicking on a label (right side of page), or browsing by date (also on right side of page).
For those that are new to the blog, you may wish to go back and browse some of the archives...and for those that aren't, you can go back and revisit topics as they come around again.
Happy Summer!
This prompted me to write this post reminding readers that ALL the blog archives are posted online at http://southeastdata.blogspot.com/. I realized that since many of the blog's readers only see the content as it gets e-mailed, you might forget that the blog archives are available online as well.
You can search blog posts from the link above by typing in a keyword (box at top of page), clicking on a label (right side of page), or browsing by date (also on right side of page).
For those that are new to the blog, you may wish to go back and browse some of the archives...and for those that aren't, you can go back and revisit topics as they come around again.
Happy Summer!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)