In September, the CNYRIC’s Educational Data Services (EDS) team held its annual team retreat. The focus was equal parts “looking outward” (particularly as it pertains to NY Inspires), and reviewing internal policies, practices, and projects to keep the entire team aligned for the year ahead.
The retreat opened with a lively discussion about the aforementioned NY Inspires and its central premise of shifting away from “age-based” learning to competency-based learning, meaning that schools may be less beholden to the traditional “grade” structure due to individual student competencies in particular areas of the curriculum. What will this shift look like from a data standpoint, and how can it best be tracked for official purposes? How will it affect the traditional Regents diploma, if a particular exam doesn’t directly affect a student’s overall grade outside of that particular class? And moreover, what kind of flexible and adaptive systems can EDS implement to best track individual student pathways? Can clear pathways be presented to students before they start down a particular track? These were several among many questions discussed throughout the morning.
And despite the fact that NY Inspires is still very much in the early stages of implementation, the EDS team dug into discussions regarding state-mandated timelines for these processes, staying mindful of upcoming dates/deadines, and how to best navigate them. There will undoubtedly be more questions that arise as information becomes more concrete, but the team is vigilant and ready to continue focusing on these answers as the program moves forward.
From an internal/team standpoint, the back half of the retreat focused on the composition of focused EDS teams and committees, with members discussing their current roles and putting out calls to see if anyone was interested in cross-training across new or different disciplines. Team members also provided updates on a variety of ongoing and completed projects, with a particular focus placed on movement along the Mindex SchoolTool Advanced Analytics Dashboard track. Members of EDS and CNYRIC administration have kept in frequent contact with district representatives to talk about the dashboard tools, fine-tuning the types of custom reporting that would yield data that districts can act upon, and offering ongoing support for the ins and outs of the application’s usage.
The retreat closed with EDS administrators discussing plans to ensure that Data Warehouse consultants continue to work closely with district data coordinators from the same district to stay aligned on current events and potential paths toward greater support for each district under these services.
It was all time well-spent, and an interesting peek behind the curtain to see how the EDS team continually sets itself up for success year over year.
The retreat opened with a lively discussion about the aforementioned NY Inspires and its central premise of shifting away from “age-based” learning to competency-based learning, meaning that schools may be less beholden to the traditional “grade” structure due to individual student competencies in particular areas of the curriculum. What will this shift look like from a data standpoint, and how can it best be tracked for official purposes? How will it affect the traditional Regents diploma, if a particular exam doesn’t directly affect a student’s overall grade outside of that particular class? And moreover, what kind of flexible and adaptive systems can EDS implement to best track individual student pathways? Can clear pathways be presented to students before they start down a particular track? These were several among many questions discussed throughout the morning.
And despite the fact that NY Inspires is still very much in the early stages of implementation, the EDS team dug into discussions regarding state-mandated timelines for these processes, staying mindful of upcoming dates/deadines, and how to best navigate them. There will undoubtedly be more questions that arise as information becomes more concrete, but the team is vigilant and ready to continue focusing on these answers as the program moves forward.
From an internal/team standpoint, the back half of the retreat focused on the composition of focused EDS teams and committees, with members discussing their current roles and putting out calls to see if anyone was interested in cross-training across new or different disciplines. Team members also provided updates on a variety of ongoing and completed projects, with a particular focus placed on movement along the Mindex SchoolTool Advanced Analytics Dashboard track. Members of EDS and CNYRIC administration have kept in frequent contact with district representatives to talk about the dashboard tools, fine-tuning the types of custom reporting that would yield data that districts can act upon, and offering ongoing support for the ins and outs of the application’s usage.
The retreat closed with EDS administrators discussing plans to ensure that Data Warehouse consultants continue to work closely with district data coordinators from the same district to stay aligned on current events and potential paths toward greater support for each district under these services.
It was all time well-spent, and an interesting peek behind the curtain to see how the EDS team continually sets itself up for success year over year.
