Data Driven Decisions for Academic Achievement (D3A2)

Project Status

The D3A2 will be based upon a technical infrastructure that integrates and enhances existing systems to meet the following five objectives:

  1. D3A2 Content Exchange - Provide educators with electronic access to education content resources aligned to Ohio’s Academic Content Standards.
  2. D3A2 Local Data Analysis - Provide access to a data warehouse and business intelligence tools for data analysis and decision making at the local education agency level - including teacher access to individual student data.
  3. D3A2 State Required Reporting - Provide an efficient and effective system for local education agencies to exchange data with ODE.
  4. D3A2 Statewide Longitudinal Data Analysis - Provide a statewide longitudinal data warehouse for research, analysis, and decision making by a variety of stakeholders
  5. D3A2 Federal Required Data Reporting - Provide an automated, streamlined process to support reporting of federally required data.

Current Status

D3A2 Resource Exchange

Tools accessible through D3A2 will help educators analyze data, and then point them to resources such as lesson plans and assessments designed specifically to address the academic need identified by the data. In addition to linking content to data analysis, educators will have general search capabilities to locate education content resources aligned to the Ohio’s Academic Content Standards. Fedora (Flexible Extensible Digital Object and Repository Architecture) was selected as Ohio’s resource exchange tool. The D3A2 Resource Exchange release 1.0 was placed in production status on February 12th, 2007 and is available statewide. The first release includes the ability to store and manage Resource Exchange items in user created ‘book bags’ which can be easily shared with colleagues via email. The D3A2 Resource Exchange has since seen some minor enhancements. On June 29th, 2007 release 1.5 was placed in production. This release included enhanced search capabilities and improved page navigation. Additionally, the D3A2 project team is working to complete work on release 2.0 by the end of August 2007. This release will include additional enhancements to the user interface.

D3A2 Local Data Analysis

IBM’s Insight at School Education Data Warehouse solution was selected for Ohio’s Local Data Analysis objective. A proof-of-concept and development environment was completed on June 30, 2006. The Local Data Analysis tool is currently in the last stages of testing. Throughout November 2006 four Alpha* districts assisted the D3A2 Implementation Team by correcting and refining data load processes. The Alpha districts’ data has been loaded into the data warehouse and have limited district representatives evaluating the tool.Beta** Districts were selected in December and are currently working with their Information Technology Centers and the D3A2 Implementation Team to implement the tool. The Beta districts will be loading data through mid February 2007 and will assist with further refinement of the data load processes.As of 1/17/2007, more than 210 districts have completed an implementation request form on the D3A2 website. Once the Beta districts have been completed, the D3A2 Implementation Team and Information Technology Centers will work with districts who have submitted an Implementation request form to establish an implementation plan.

*Alpha districts - Bryan City, Columbus Public, Kettering City, and Greenon Local

**Beta districts - Fort Recovery Local Schools, Northwestern Local Schools (Clark), Painesville Township Local Schools, Madison Local Schools, Southwest Licking Local Schools, TRECA Digital Academy, Tri-valley Local Schools (Muskingum), and Westlake City Schools)

D3A2 State Required Reporting

Ohio is changing the method in which data are collected and exchanged between the state and the local education agencies through the implementation of data definition and data format standards for sharing data. These standards will be based upon the School Interoperability Framework (SIF) specifications and will be required for state data reporting. The use of SIF data specifications will replace the existing fixed length file format standards currently used for current reporting.ODE is currently working with ESP Solutions Group to perform a gap analysis between required state reporting data elements and SIF objects. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued on December 28, 2005 for the remainder of the D3A2 State Required Reporting objectives. Proposals are due February 6, 2007.

The RFP includes:

D3A2 Statewide Longitudinal Data Analysis

ODE currently has a data warehouse that contains detailed student, staff and financial data for multiple years. However, the primary focus of the data warehouse is on performance accountability data. Additionally, the data warehouse does not link students to courses to teachers and does not encompass every program area. ODE is expanding and enhancing its data warehouse and business intelligence environment to include all program areas, facilitate longitudinal data analysis on student achievement and link students to teachers via course while ensuring appropriate and secure access to data by districts, legislators, general public, and researchers. Utilizing funds from the grant, ODE was able to engage in a new contract with the Business Intelligence tool vendor, Microstrategy, to add products and capacity so that all ODE users can access the data in the way that best suits their working style: through a web application, by embedding live reports directly into Microsoft Office documents, or by receiving automatic reports through e-mail.

D3A2 Federal Required Data Reporting

ODE’s process for compiling and reporting data to the USDOE is not streamlined and relies upon multiple disparate programs and systems. ODE is automating and streamlining the process of compiling and reporting federally required data to meet the required specifications for the Performance Based Data Management Initiative (PBDMI)/Education Data Exchange Network(EDEN). Utilizing funds from the grant, ODE has contracted with a vendor for three years to provide an Informatica technical resource to automate the compilation and reporting of Ohio’s data to the USDOE for EDEN. Additionally, utilizing state funds, ODE has hired a full time data manager to manage the EDEN reporting process.