Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Quick Access to EDW Reports

The latest version of the Data Warehouse includes a great new feature - the Reports Page. This page provides links to run each of the available reports in HTML or PDF format directly. It also provides the option of scheduling a report to be run in the background.

Rolling your mouse over any of the report names provides a "screen shot" of a sample reference report. No more waiting for the report to finish only to find it wasn't the one you expected!

In addition, this page provides direct links to the pre-run reports in the DropBox, School and District Profiles, the DART tool, and other Data Warehouse documentation.

To get to the Dashboard, log in to the EDW, and go to Public Folders > ESE MCAS Reports > ESE MCAS - 2011 Preliminary Report View.

Monday, June 27, 2011

June 2011 Preliminary MCAS Data in EDW

The June 2011 preliminary MCAS and MCAS-Alt results are now available in the MCAS drop boxes. All EDW school and district users have been granted access to MCAS drop boxes. (Please note that the preliminary data is embargoed and may not be publicly released.)

There is a new link from the EDW to "Pre-Run Reports and Data Files" which leads to a set of PDF links of student roster reports (school level), test item analysis reports (school and district level), and performance summary reports (school and district level.)

In addition, there are some preliminary reports available in the EDW:
Preliminary district reports: R-301, R-302, R-306
Preliminary school reports: R-401, R-402, R-406
Preliminary student reports: R-606, R-610, R-613, R-616, R-617
Preliminary growth reports for ELA only: G-601, G-602

Please refer to the message on the EDW Welcome screen (after logging in) for additional information about current and future improvements to the EDW, including the PowerPoint presentation and Q&A from the recent Webex presentations.

Last Call for Data Warehouse Basics Workshop - this Wednesday!

Data Warehouse: Basics and More
Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Location: Bourne High School
Instructor: Laura Tilton, DSAC Data Specialist
Cost: Free

This workshop for new Data Warehouse users 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 and related 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.

All participants will need to make sure they have been granted access to the Data Warehouse in the security portal (and know their username and password) by their district’s Directory Administrator. This needs to be done by June 28 at the very latest, as the Data Warehouse requires an overnight wait for access changes. The instructor for the workshop does not have the ability to assign or change Data Warehouse access.

Register through the Cape Cod Collaborative at this link:
http://cccollaborativeorg.dependable-hosting.com/professionaldevelopment/index.asp?CategoryID=26#87

I will also be offering a "refresher" course on August 22 (also listed at the CCC link above) which will include information about the "new" features of the data warehouse (if available.)

Monday, June 20, 2011

It's that time of year!

As the school year winds down, it's also a busy time of year data-wise! The MEPA data were released earlier this month, and the MCAS raw data files and roster files (embargoed!) were placed in DropBoxes at the end of last week. The end of this week will bring new preliminary data in the Data Warehouse, the MEPA-MCAS crosswalks in DropBoxes. If you missed the webinar last week on MCAS Reporting, the PowerPoint presentation can be found in the MCAS Reporting section of the MCAS Service Center.

Last week's conference call on EDW improvements provided of an insight into the improvements being made to the system. (PowerPoint to be posted soon on the ESE Web site.) Some features we can look forward to include:



  • Faster report generation due to back-end improvements

  • Interface enhancements including reports in a separate window, prompts directly on the report itself, and links to pre-run reports in DropBoxes

  • MEPA and CD status data will be in EDW

  • Faster access to appropriate prompts (for example, less scrolling to get to the district's name)

  • On-screen previews of sample reports so users know what the report looks like before it is run

I don't have details about what features will be available when (I believe the goal is late summer), but I do know that we will see a few of the improvements in this week's EDW release. In addition, the new system and the old system will co-exist for a while as folks get used to the new system.

As a reminder, I am offering a Data Warehouse "Getting Started" workshop on June 29 and a "Refresher" course on August 22 (in Bourne). The refresher course will include any information about the "new" system that is available at that time. Spots are still available and you can sign up through the Cape Cod Collaborative.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Release of Spring 2011 MCAS Test Items

Selected items (and answers) from the Spring 2011 MCAS tests are now available in PDF format from the ESE Web site.

http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/2011/release/

Competency Determination (CD) Student Status Update

The updated Competency Determination (CD) attainment status files are now available in the DropBox in the ESE Security Portal. The CD status data reflect the following:


  • MCAS results through the March 2011 retests in English Language Arts and Mathematics


  • MCAS Performance Appeals through May 17, 2011


  • MCAS-Alt results through the spring 2010 tests


  • MCAS-Alt Portfolio Appeals through May 12, 2011

For additional details, please see the Commissioner's Memo dated June 10, 2011.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Data Warehouse Improvements

The folks at ESE are taking steps to improve the performance of the data warehouse in the short-term (given the pre-release of MCAS data scheduled for June) as well as the longer-term (August and beyond). One of the steps that will be most beneficial to EDW users is that there will be a direct link to pre-run reports stored in district dropboxes.

The pre-run reports will be:

Pre-burst District Reports (for district-level users with 209 and 210 roles)
o Items Analysis
o Performance, CPI and SGP by Subgroup
o Data files (.csv, .xls)

Pre-burst School reports (for school-level users with 211 roles)
o Student Roster
o Items Analysis
o Performance, CPI and SGP by Subgroup
o Data files (.csv, .xls)
o MCAS-Alt Portfolio

Additional updates and improvements will come later in the summer with re-designed reports and enhanced servers for the main EDW database. Stay tuned!