Beta ESE MCAS Reports Dashboard

The Data Warehouse folks at DESE host a variety of monthly conference calls on Data Warehouse developments for the following users groups:

• Report Author User Group - 1st Wednesday of the month at 2 pm
• District User Group - 2nd Wednesday of the month at 2 pm
• Local Assessment Workgroup – 4th Wednesday of the month at 2 pm

To get more information about any of these groups and subscribe to receive notification about these conference calls, please visit the main EDW Web page, and scroll to the bottom of the page.

During today's District User Group call, Jeff Comenitz shared information about the new "ESE MCAS Reports Dashboards" that are under development. The student-level dashboard is now available in the EDW (in beta form) for testing and feedback in Public Folders > ESE MCAS Reports > Beta > MCAS 600-Level Reports.

This Dashboard allows the user to quickly access all of the 600-level reports. The user can click on a report name, and see an image of a sample report before running it. The user can also choose "Run as HTML" or "Run as PDF" to select the output and go to the prompt page for the report. They are also working on a "Run with Options" link which would allow the user to set the report to run in the background.

Jeff is encouraging folks to check out this beta Dashboard and send feedback to datawarehouse@doe.mass.edu.

Regional Data Institute Details

The “Lassoing Local Data: Creating Systems that Support a Culture of Inquiry” event will be held March 16, 2011 at Stonehill College in Easton and will be open to teams from school districts in the Southeast region of Massachusetts. Teams must be coordinated through the superintendent's office, as spots for this free event are limited.

For details, please visit https://sites.google.com/site/southeastdatainstitute/.

DART Tool Enhancements

Last summer, DESE published the Excel-based "DART" (District Analysis and Review Tool), available online 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.

A variety of enhancements to the DART were published last week, including the addition of 2010-2011 SIMS data, new enrollment data, curriculum indicators, and graduation information. (Details are listed on the DART page linked above.)

There is also a brand-new file called "DART Detail: Finance and Staffing," the first in a series of DART files that will provide more detail in particular areas. This tool allows you to compare five districts and their three year trends in finance and staffing.

Of course, the most useful tool for most of us this week has been ... a shovel. Happy snow!