In late April, members from the CNYRIC’s Educational Data Services (EDS) and Test Scoring teams met with local district representatives to discuss effective data facilitation within schools, with the overall goal of providing participants with the tools, tips, and tricks needed to get the most out of their student data. The webinar and its respective breakout sessions were intended to help attendees of any level of familiarity with data facilitation meet this goal, and engage in important data-driven conversations within their districts.
The “Common Data View” breakout session saw EDS team members walk attendees through Common Data View (CDV) report generation from the outset of the process, helping explain the steps required at each point to produce a three-year trend report with actionable information.
With the reports now in hand, the EDS team then demonstrated what that “actionable information” looked like by discussing Data Analysis Protocols, which are step-by-step procedures to help users analyze data in a structured manner. They provide a framework by which users can structure conversations, ensure objectivity, promote equity of perspective, and better inform decision-making. Given the incredible breadth of available options and fields for report generation, having EDS members on hand to show-by-doing was key to satisfying the goal of offering value for every attendee.
Simultaneously, an “Assessment Scoring and Analysis Program” (ASAP) reporting session was being conducted by EDS and Test Scoring team members. After demonstrating start-to-finish navigation within the ASAP program, the team provided users with details on the reporting tools currently available in ASAP, as well as sample reports to help them visualize the report options that can be used to better understand past Regents exam results.
These report options are numerous indeed, and for every one among those options, there are several potential variations. For example: Users can review reports from a building, teacher, or class perspective, and can even drill into analysis based on question structure (better known as a “state standard”) to better understand testing patterns. District users are able to access and use this data in multiple capacities. Regents data helps in developing future curriculum, assisting with test review and preparation, and has many other uses.
While the breakout sessions offered great opportunities to see how the experts navigate and ultimately utilize these programs, just as important were the whole group sessions where all of the attendees were engaged with interactive exercises to help guide the direction of the morning’s discussions. The breakout sessions offered the nuts and bolts of the applications in question, but what preceded and followed them focused more on how to best engage in the conversations that these data in these reports could produce.
