Data analytics -- more than a buzzword

Schools, districts and states have been collecting data for decades…but, the art of perfecting the management and analytics of data seems to be hitting a crescendo this year. I think this is largely in part due to the fact that emerging technologies are making it more affordable…and of course, the Department of Education has highlighted the need to “build data systems to track student achievement and teacher effectiveness” as one of its four key school reforms under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and even requiring evidence of successful and innovative data systems to be in place in order to qualify for incentives and grants.

I recently sat down to talk to David Fitzgerald, the Education Practice Manager over at Mariner, about how data is transforming schools and how we’ve got to help them get past using data solely as a reporting function and really use it as a way to drive innovation. Mariner has built a solution for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on the Microsoft Education Analytics platform that’s helping the district drive academic and operational success. You can read the case study here. In the coming months, you can hear from the school leaders directly about how their digital data dashboard initiative is progressing, the successes and lessons learned by signing up for their web series here.

Here’s my conversation with David…

Anthony Salcito discusses using data to transform learning with David Fitzgerald

Comments

• Anonymous
  December 20, 2009
  The report is very interesting. I didn't realize CMS had made this move to using data analytics.