Tuesday, July 24, 2012

It's That Time of Year: Student Claiming


If this blog post seems like deja vu, it probably is...the student claiming process needs to take place annually!

By default, the Education Data Warehouse allows schools and districts to access data for tests administered only in those schools or districts. 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.

This means that Data Warehouse users can view historical data for students who are new to the district OR new to a school, if those students have been “claimed.” For instance, a middle school principal would (by default) only be able to view data for students who took the MCAS at the middle school. After the student claiming process has been completed, he or she would be able to access the data for students entering from the elementary school, as well as data for students who have come in from other districts.

The student claiming fields in the EDW have had their annual re-set as of July 12, 2012. So, once your district has "rolled over" the student information system to the 2012-2013 school year, a "claiming file" of all currently registered/enrolled students can be uploaded to the warehouse. Once you have successfully uploaded and accepted the data, users will then be able to access MCAS and SIMS history for all students registered to be in your schools this September. It's a great idea to do this now, if possible, before the preliminary data is released in August!

Generally, the student claiming process is handled by the person in your district who manages the SIMS data and involves creating and uploading a file containing a subset of the most recent student data. Information on the process for student claiming can be found at the end of Chapter 3: Basic Access of the EDW User Guide.

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.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

2012 MCAS and Accountability Data Release

The recent Commissioner's Update contained an announcement regarding the release of the 2012 MCAS and accountability data, including a release schedule, MCAS discrepancy reporting information, review of provisional and preliminary accountability data, EDW updates, and reporting teleconferences on August 6 and 7.

The full announcement is online here: http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=6928.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

2012 School Leader's Guide to Accountability

The School Leader's Guide to the 2012 Accountability Determinations is now available publicly on the ESE Web site at http://www.doe.mass.edu/apa/accountability/default.html in either Word or PDF format.

"The primary purpose of this guide is to help district and school leaders understand the key changes to the Massachusetts School and District Accountability and Assistance System resulting from the state receiving flexibility from certain No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requirements. This guide may also be used to aid leaders in communicating these changes to parents/guardians, teachers, staff members, and other stakeholders."

This document provides extensive detail about the NCLB waiver request, the Progress and Performance Index (PPI), the Composite Performance Index (CPI), the Student Growth Percentile (SGP), and the system for classifying schools and districts to "levels" for accountability and assistance purposes.

It's a great beach read!

Growth and EDW 3.0 Workshops August 2012

The Southeast DSAC (Laura Tilton, Data Specialist) will be offering the following no-cost workshops on Thursday, August 16 at Pembroke High School. Workshops require a minimum of 12 participants (maximum of 24) and priority will be given to participants from regional Level 3 districts. (Customized in-district workshops are also available upon request for Level 3 districts.)

Getting to Know Data Warehouse 3.0 (2.5 hours, 9:00-11:30, August 16)
The workshop will provide a structured environment in which to explore data using the pre-defined reports in the new Education Data Warehouse, including the Growth Model reports and NEW classroom-level reports. Participants will access their own district or school’s data, and will have time to run and save reports for use in planning for the 2012-2013 school year. This workshop is appropriate for both new and previous users of the Education Data Warehouse; all attendees must have been assigned appropriate Security Portal access to the EDW by their district's Directory Administrator.

Exploring MCAS Growth Data (2 hours, 12:00-2:00, August 16)
This workshop (suggested as an extension to the previous workshop) will go beyond an overview of the Growth Model and focus on the use of MCAS growth data and reports at multiple levels (district, school, classroom/group, and student). Participants will deepen their understanding of the growth model and how to interpret growth reports (with connections to the new Educator Evaluation System), engage with school/district growth data following a data analysis protocol, and learn what growth reports are available and where to find them.

Please register via this form to reserve your spot. Thank you!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

EDW 3.0 Report Basics Handout

After mentioning that there are new 2012 pre-preliminary reports in the EDW, I realized that it would be helpful to post a copy of the EDW 3.0 Report Basics handout. This handout walks through the necessary steps to:
  • Log in to the EDW
  • Create a folder in "My Folders"
  • Run reports and convert/save a to PDF
PDF files are much more manageable for printing, saving, and sharing (especially for multi-page reports) - although please remember that reports containing confidential data (student names and scores, etc.) should not be shared via email or stored to unsecured flash drives. The My Folders and District Folders areas of the EDW are secure and a better choice for storing files or sharing them with others in your district with EDW access.

I hope this is helpful!

EDW 3.0 Report Basics Handout:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bw5VovkMQ3FFaHQwd3lJWEVxa2M

Monday, July 2, 2012

Preliminary MCAS 2012 in EDW 3.0

The following EDW 3.0 reports are now available with preliminary MCAS 2012 data:

District-Level Reports
  • MCAS District Results by Subgroup (PE304)
  • MCAS District Results by Strand and Topic (CU306)
  • MCAS District Test Item Analysis Summary (IT301)
  • MCAS District Test Item Analysis Graph (IT302)
School-Level Reports
  • MCAS School Results by Subgroup (PE404)
  • MCAS Detailed School Performance (PE408) and its drillthrough
  • MCAS School Results by Strand and Topic (CU406)
  • MCAS School Test Item Analysis Summary (IT401)
  • MCAS School Test Item Analysis Graph (IT402) 
Student-Level Reports

  • Assessment Detail (Individual Student)(PE606)
  • Assessment History Summary (Individual Student)(PE613)
  • MCAS Student Item Analysis Roster (IT616)
  • MCAS Student Roster (All Subjects)( PE617)
  • MCAS Student Growth Scatter Plot (GR601) (ELA only)
  • MCAS Student Growth Roster (GR602) (ELA only)
Please remember that there is an embargo in place for preliminary MCAS data. While this data may be used for instructional planning, it may not be discussed with the public or press.

See the bottom of the “EDW Home” tab within the EDW for additional features and functionality that have been added to the EDW 3.0. The "EDW Home" tab can be added as the default home page in your EDW account by following the steps outlined in the May 17 blog post.