Three data management considerations for district leaders

Key points:

As data analytics comes of age for the K-12 sector, educators are increasingly turning to data insights to help identify student learning abilities and areas of opportunity, improve operational efficiency and assist in the professional development of teachers. Naturally, administrators are often tempted to use powerful enterprise-grade solutions like PowerBI or Tableau. After all, if it's good enough for a Fortune 500 company, it's also good enough for a school district, right?

Not so fast.

While it cannot be argued that enterprise-grade data analytics solutions are powerful, managers should consider how the approach taken to harnessing the potential of their data can significantly impact long-term results. For example, enterprise-grade solutions often come with expensive seat licenses and bloated software that make extracting insights from data expensive and complex.

Instead, school district administrators should consider real-time data analytics platforms designed and customized specifically for K-12 education. These platforms are often customized to student data and provide real-time information that can make a real difference in a student's education.

Here's what school administrators need to know to make an informed decision when it comes to implementing a data solution.

Legacy Enterprise Platforms: A Discrepancy for K-12

In addition to being expensive and overloaded for education, there are a few reasons why legacy data platforms are not suitable for K-12. Cost and scalability are two main factors. Enterprise platforms are expensive and scaling them to more than 20 users will exponentially increase costs that are not feasible even for large school districts. In fact, it would limit data access to just a few administrative employees.

School administrators considering legacy data platforms may also be underestimating the technical expertise needed to operate these systems. Legacy platforms typically require skilled data scientists to manage complex data storage and integration and extract actionable insights from the data. Few districts possess the in-house expertise (or have the budget to hire a team of data scientists) to make data work.

Finally, consider the narrow focus of legacy data platforms. The data analysis provided by legacy systems is often limited to assessment and accountability, such as grades, test scores, and attendance. They are not designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of student performance and certainly do not have the ability to provide “whole child” data such as emotional health and behavior.

The power of real-time data analysis

On the other hand, real-time data analytics platforms built for K-12 school districts are everything their legacy counterparts are not. Affordability and scalability are the biggest advantages. Rather than needing an expensive team of data scientists to customize a platform, educational data as a service (DaaS) will typically outsource data management to experts that enable scalability at a reasonable cost. DaaS platforms designed for education can also accommodate all users in a district: administrators, teachers, counselors, students, families, and even community members who work with students.

DaaS systems can automate data movement and make data accessible to the people who need it without expensive licenses. This improves education decision-making by ensuring that the right people at the right time have access to the latest data.

Real-time data analysis also offers valuable holistic insights that can help educators make the right decisions for students. By centralizing data on academics, behavior, attendance, and teachers, stakeholders gain valuable insights that promote a better understanding of the “whole child.”

So instead of a counselor submitting an IT help ticket to download data that is already months behind schedule, the DaaS system will provide real-time data that can allow the counselor to provide better guidance to students. Or teachers can look at a student's historical MAP score data to see what areas that student might need help with so they can provide tutoring or other support.

Successful integration strategies

Successful implementation is an ongoing process because school districts constantly collect data from multiple sources. Whether at the urging of the board, teachers, educators, or families, there will inevitably be needs or requests for additional data to refine the district's approach. That's why managers must keep an open mind and follow a long-term strategic approach that includes:

• Data ownership: Take ownership of district data; After all, it is data from the school, not a provider. The right provider will collaborate with districts to centralize data for better analysis and action.
• Get buy-in from leadership: Support from the superintendent and board ensures successful district-wide adoption. Involve decision makers from the beginning to secure resources and begin driving cultural change. On the operational side, involve teachers to act as pioneers and evangelists for the data solution: they are on the front lines and know which approaches will be most useful to students.
• Recognize data challenges: Start by knowing your pain points: Recognize where you currently have limitations and gaps in data utilization and work to find a solution that can solve those challenges. This is not the time to give in, so keep interviewing partners until you find one who can meet your needs.

Harnessing the power of data

DaaS platforms present a revolutionary approach to incorporating seamless collaboration and data sharing into school districts that can drive student learning like never before. By providing administrators, teachers, counselors, students, families, and even community members with the same data, DaaS solutions can reshape the landscape of K-12 education by providing actionable information about the whole child. To realize this potential, administrators must work with partners who understand K-12 education and understand the importance of real-time, purpose-built data analytics. With this approach, educators can make the most of their data and help students get the most out of their education.