Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Data Warehouse Workshops and Refresher Courses?

Currently I have scheduled a Data Warehouse: Basics and More course in Bourne on June 29, and a Data Warehouse Refresher course on August 22. (These are offered through the Cape Cod Collaborative but are open to all districts in the region at no cost, please click the links above to sign up.)

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

Average class size data (calculated from the latest Student Course Schedule data collection) can now be found in the School and District Profiles area of the ESE Web site. This calculation divides the total number of students in classes by the total number of classes, based on SCS data. (In the past, the closest the DESE was able to come to a class size statistic was student/teacher ratio.)

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

Commissioner Chester has announced a schedule for the June release of 2011 preliminary MCAS and MCAS-Alt results. This release will include full preliminary MCAS results for ELA, multiple-choice results for Math and STE (grades 5 and 8), and full MCAS-Alt results. As a reminder, this preliminary information is embargoed; while it may be used for instructional planning, it may not be discussed with the public or press.

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

As I think most everyone knows by now, this year the ESE asked districts to submit student course schedule (SCS) data in addition to the regular collection of student (SIMS) and educator (EPIMS) data.

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 bad news: The Data Warehouse will be offline this Thursday (5/19/11) starting at 12:30 pm.

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

Thanks to the efforts of the Central DSAC and the FLLAC Collaborative, several of the presentations from the March 16 Southeast Data Institute are now available as online videos. Please visit the Data Institute Materials page for links to the following video presentations and related materials:

  • 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

The Southeast Data Network meeting will be held this Wednesday, May 4, from 8:30-11:00 am at the North River Conference Center, 525 Beech Street, Rockland.

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.