Strategic Data Project Convening 2019 has ended

Create Your Own Event

Strategic Data Project Convening 2019

This year’s conference theme, "Strength in Numbers," is a celebration of a decade of data-informed progress from across our network and an opportunity to discuss our future direction. Join us for our 10th-anniversary celebration. We will look back at the evidence-informed progress we’ve made as a sector but also look forward to the pressing issues of the day. This year the event will take place at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA from May 20–22, 2019.

11:00am EDT

Alumni Roundtable — Financial Analyses

Limited Capacity seats available

Join your fellow members of the SDP Network in swapping tools, protocols, and resources that are instrumental in your work. In this alumni roundtable, you will have the opportunity to get as much as you give.

What is it? An opportunity to meet up and give and get concrete resources with other convening attendees working in similar areas or on similar challenges.

What is it not? A formal presentation on this topic, or someone sharing “the answers.”

What to do: If you have something to contribute in this area, as well as something to learn—then add it to your schedule! Please come to the exchange with one question or request of your fellow attendees, as well as one concrete thing to share. You can share a tool that helped solve a problem, a reading or person that shifted your thinking in a big way, or something (e.g., a process) you’ve developed.

Alumni

Bo Yan

Data Strategy, Jefferson County Public Schools

Bo Yan has been leading the effort to develop and implement Cycle-based Budgeting at Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky for the past five years. More can be learned about the work at http://cyclebasedbudgeting.org. He was a proud Cohort 6 SDP fellow.

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Tools Exchange

11:00am EDT

Alumni Roundtable — Leveraging Google Sheets

Limited Capacity seats available

Join your fellow members of the SDP Network in swapping tools, protocols, and resources that are instrumental in your work. In this alumni roundtable, you will have the opportunity to get as much as you give.

What is it? An opportunity to meet up and give and get concrete resources with other convening attendees working in similar areas or on similar challenges.

What is it not? A formal presentation on this topic, or someone sharing “the answers.”

What to do: If you have something to contribute in this area, as well as something to learn—then add it to your schedule! Please come to the exchange with one question or request of your fellow attendees, as well as one concrete thing to share. You can share a tool that helped solve a problem, a reading or person that shifted your thinking in a big way, or something (e.g., a process) you’ve developed.

Alumni

Dan Wick

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Tools Exchange

11:00am EDT

Alumni Roundtable — Measuring SEL and Student Engagement

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Join your fellow members of the SDP Network in swapping tools, protocols, and resources that are instrumental in your work. In this alumni roundtable, you will have the opportunity to get as much as you give.

What is it? An opportunity to meet up and give and get concrete resources with other convening attendees working in similar areas or on similar challenges.

What is it not? A formal presentation on this topic, or someone sharing “the answers.”

What to do: If you have something to contribute in this area, as well as something to learn—then add it to your schedule! Please come to the exchange with one question or request of your fellow attendees, as well as one concrete thing to share. You can share a tool that helped solve a problem, a reading or person that shifted your thinking in a big way, or something (e.g., a process) you’ve developed.

Alumni

Tara Chiatovich

Tara Chiatovich is a Research Scientist at Panorama Education. She is an education researcher with extensive experience analyzing quantitative and qualitative data to uncover patterns and support decisions that have a positive impact on learners. Prior to her current position, Tara was a Research Scientist at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she managed a representative study of 3,000 preschoolers to determine best practices in early childhood education.

Tara received her Ph.D. in Education at Stanford University and her M.Ed. in International Education Policy at Harvard Graduate School of Education., Panorama Education

https://avatars.sched.co/6/86/7965318/avatar.jpg.320x320px.jpg?d91

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Tools Exchange

11:00am EDT

Alumni Roundtable — NWEA MAP Analyses

Limited Capacity seats available

Join your fellow members of the SDP Network in swapping tools, protocols, and resources that are instrumental in your work. In this alumni roundtable, you will have the opportunity to get as much as you give.

What is it? An opportunity to meet up and give and get concrete resources with other convening attendees working in similar areas or on similar challenges.

What is it not? A formal presentation on this topic, or someone sharing “the answers.”

What to do: If you have something to contribute in this area, as well as something to learn—then add it to your schedule! Please come to the exchange with one question or request of your fellow attendees, as well as one concrete thing to share. You can share a tool that helped solve a problem, a reading or person that shifted your thinking in a big way, or something (e.g., a process) you’ve developed.

Alumni

David Furlow

Senior Leader Data Analytics and Strategy, Education Strategy ACS International School

Learning Analytics, Data Storytelling, Educational Data Analytics, Liberating Structures, Facilitation, Problem Solving, Strategy, Agilehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/david-furlow-transforming

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Tools Exchange

11:00am EDT

Alumni Roundtable — Working with Your Information Technology Leaders and Vendors

Limited Capacity seats available

Join your fellow members of the SDP Network in swapping tools, protocols, and resources that are instrumental in your work. In this tools exchange, you will have the opportunity to get as much as you give.
What is it? An opportunity to meet up and give and get concrete resources with other convening attendees working in similar areas or on similar challenges.
What is it not? A formal presentation on this topic, or someone sharing “the answers.”
What to do: Preview the challenge areas available. Identify one that you’re working in where you have something to contribute, as well as something to learn—then add it to your schedule! Please come to the exchange with one question or request of your fellow attendees, as well as one concrete thing to share. You can share a tool that helped solve a problem, a reading or person that shifted your thinking in a big way, or something (e.g., a process) you’ve developed.

Alumni

Matt Goodlaw

Social Scientist, Texas Education Agency/New Mexico PED

My background is interdisciplinary social sciences with major focuses on pollical economy, social psychology applied towards education. Currently am a social scientist working with the Texas Education Agency, Office of Special Populations. Among other things, we have been developing... Read More →

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Tools Exchange

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — A System for Measuring Improvement of New York’s Lowest-Performing Schools

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

If 40 of New York State’s lowest-performing schools do not improve student outcomes over the next three years, they risk the appointment of an Independent Receiver or even closure. How do these schools show evidence of measurable progress? How do you set rigorous, yet achievable goals for schools that lag far below state benchmarks on key indicators (e.g., test scores, graduation rates, drop-out rates, etc.)? Working with stakeholders across the New York State Education Department, we designed a rigorous, transparent, ESSA-aligned system for helping superintendents direct and track improvement efforts in these schools. The new methodology integrates 41 types of indicators and sets realistic annual goals, while also providing flexibility to help schools prioritize and address their unique challenges. Come hear about how we did it and what we discovered along the way.

Fellows

Jeffrey Fletcher

Education Specialist & SDP Fellow, New York State Education Department

Jeffrey Fletcher is a SDP data fellow with the New York State Education Department. Prior to the fellowship, Jeffrey was a Senior Research Assistant at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work consisted of both quantitative and qualitative... Read More →

Andrew Morozov

Associate in Education Research, New York State Education Department

Andrew Morozov, Ph.D. (SDP Cohort 9) is Associate in Education Research at the New York State Education Department. In this role Andrew provides data analytics that improve the quality of public education in the state with a focus on accountability and turnaround of the state's lowest... Read More →

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Longfellow B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Building a Culture of Data Use in Fulton County Schools

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Fulton County Schools is committed to using data to inform classroom instruction. Historically, this was happening in isolated pockets across the system using a variety of methods, protocols, and tools. However, the system lacked a cohesive vision and framework that provided leadership and guidance on best practices for data-driven decision making.
This session will highlight how SDP Fellow Kim Richards developed scalable processes for data-driven instruction and built teacher data literacy to strengthen the district’s data culture. The session will also explore how Kim navigated the complex organizational priorities and structure in order to successfully implement the tools and protocols she developed.

Fellows

Kim Richards

Coordinator of Accountability, Fulton County Schools

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Creating an Integrated Enterprise District Data Warehouse

Limited Capacity filling up

Palm Beach, like many other school districts, hopes to perform regular sophisticated analyses, but an outdated data system divorced from the district’s research and evaluation function make answering analytical questions a challenge. Learn how Data Fellow Paul Houchens sought to modernize Palm Beach’s current data warehouse, consolidate the Educational Data Warehouse and Research & Evaluation department data sources, and expand the system to include other databases (i.e. Human Resources, Professional Development, Transportation, and other local systems).

Fellows

Paul Houchens

Director Research and Evaluation, SDPBC

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Kennedy B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — De-Mystifying Accountability Targets in Massachusetts

Limited Capacity filling up

In 2018, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education introduced a new accountability system to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act. While similar to the previous accountability framework, the new requirements, combined with a new standardized assessment, resulted in an opaque and complex system for school leaders to understand. The simultaneous release of results and targets after the school year was over provided an additional layer of complexity.
Come learn about how SDP Fellow Monica Hogan and Boston Public Schools created tools to help school leaders understand a complex, new accountability system and enabled progres monitoring throughout the year.

Fellows

Monica Hogan

Director of Analytics, Boston Public Schools

https://avatars.sched.co/9/e5/4059050/avatar.jpg.320x320px.jpg?70a

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Kennedy B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Developing a Methodological Toolbox for Data Analysts at the Syracuse City School District

Limited Capacity filling up

The Syracuse City School District is increasingly using data to inform policy. While the data needed is often descriptive in nature, more complex methodologies are occasionally needed for certain policy decisions. These analyses require more time and are more difficult to communicate than standard analyses.
This roundtable discussion will cover our process for developing a set of tools to help our data team complete rigorous analyses and communicate results. This will involve sharing details of our “toolbox,” with a focus on our tool for communicating results. Finally, we will end with a table discussion of what tools, processes, and resources each of our organizations uses for research projects.

Fellows

William Wagner-Flynn

Data Analyst, Syracuse City School District

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Diving Deep into Teacher Quality

Limited Capacity seats available

Youngstown City School District has been underperforming for over a decade. The teachers have been rated at a high level year over year despite the underperformance of the students on mandated state testing. How can we be sure that students are getting high quality instruction from teachers equitably? Join Gregory Kibler in discussing Youngstown’s journey to make teacher evaluations truly reflective of the quality of the instruction that occurs day to day. We will explore the process of aligning observations, feedback and student data to help evaluators provide a true reflection of teacher quality that will allow for a more equitable instruction for all students.

Fellows

Gregory Kibler

Director of Data and Accountability, Youngstown City School District

I am the Director of Data and Accountability at Youngstown City Schools inYoungstown, Ohio.

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Longfellow A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — How to Produce Actionable Evidence from Program Evaluations

Limited Capacity filling up

Many large-scale educational interventions are implemented without evidence to support their effectiveness. When this happens, program evaluations are conducted retrospectively using administrative data. However, post-implementation, educational leadership often have a stake in and preconceived notions about the effects of the intervention. For this reason, it can be difficult to sway leadership into action with estimates of general program effects. In this roundtable session, we will discuss case studies of program evaluations conducted in Palm Beach and lessons for working with leadership to establish action plans to ensure that findings are used to improve programs and policies.

Fellows

Abigail Todhunter-Reid

Consultant, Reid Education Research

I am a Cohort 9 Data Fellow Aluma working as a freelance research consultant. I specialize in data wrangling and program evaluation, and I am frequently inspired by motivation theory and personality research.

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Improving Teacher Evaluation in Tennessee: Increasing Accuracy, Strengthening Feedback

Limited Capacity seats available

This project examines evidence of the strengths and weaknesses of Tennessee’s evaluation system and considers the rationale for a revised rubric, the strategic work needed to develop support for this rubric, and the evidence needed in order to assess the validity, reliability, and impacts of this revised rubric. Particular attention will also be paid to the question of how to build political will for higher expectations that are explicitly intended to result in lower average teacher ratings.

Fellows

Kevin Schaaf

Research Manager, Tennesse Department of Education

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Is Our Theory of Change Working? A New Approach to Improvement Science at CityBridge Education

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

Underlying nearly every project is a theory of change – a dashboard aims to improve student outcomes via increased data use, a program evaluation aims to increase an intervention’s effectiveness or reach by analyzing its impact, an evaluation system aims to increase teacher quality via clear standards and accountability. But do they? This session explores how CityBridge Education, an organization that incubates new school entrepreneurs, used a theory of change-based improvement process to evaluate its effectiveness and continually improve. It did this despite having tiny n sizes, no formal measures such as test scores, and limited existing research to inform its work. We will also discuss other tools in the improvement science toolbox that can support continuous improvement for a variety of projects and organizations.

Fellows

Savannah Gress

Director of Portfolio Evaluation, CityBridge Education

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Kennedy B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Looking Past the “Vault”: Leveraging New Ways to Track College Graduates

Limited Capacity filling up

Delivering value in higher education closely tracks with the strength of a graduate’s workforce outcomes & an institution’s propensity to respond to its regional needs. This project examined higher education’s traditional path to track graduates in light of new technologies. It reflects the collaborative work with key partners to design a process to link student records to workforce outcomes outside of bureaucracy and revealed three ways such a democratic connection answers the question how does education link to work?

Fellows

Sue Mujherjee

Chief Strategy Officer, Shippensburg University, Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education

Hello, I am excited to learn from all of you! I work for Pennsylvania's public post-secondary four year sector - fourteen universities and over 100,000 students. We are the largest producers of knowledge workers in the Keystone State. I am interested in developing a seamless narrative... Read More →

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Kennedy A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Maybe you shouldn’t use that logistic regression. How Atlanta Public Schools simplified and revamped their early warning system.

Limited Capacity filling up

Advanced analytics don’t always have to involve a highly sophisticated model. Thomas Price and his team at Atlanta Public Schools developed a multi-variable predictive early warning system between 2015 and 2016, yet buy-in and usage from their targeted audience floundered. After sitting down with school teams and discussing what went wrong, it became apparent that the identification model t was more complicated than necessary. In this roundtable, learn how Thomas and his team revamped and simplified their early warning model to fit the needs of school administrators more directly.

Fellows

Thomas Price

Data Strategist, Atlanta Public Schools

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Comstock, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Nevertheless, they persisted? A Case Study of the Louisiana Educates Pilot Program

Limited Capacity seats available

First-generation college students from low-income backgrounds are enrolling in college at higher rates than ever before. But what steps can be taken to close the persistence gap? In Louisiana, the University of Louisiana Lafayette (UL) is piloting an evidence-based program for eligible first-generation, low-income students from New Orleans public high schools. This capstone discussion involves an evaluative case study of the program’s first year, including a discussion of the mixed-methods approach, engagement with key stakeholders, and the development of actionable output for university personnel and community partners.

Fellows

Kate Babineau

Senior Research Fellow, The Cowen Institute, Tulane University

Kate is a Senior Research Fellow with the Cowen Institute, a core fellow with the Newcomb Institute, and a Cohort 9 Fellow with Harvard University's Strategic Data Project. Her areas of interest include qualitative and mixed-methods research, data visualization, research ethics, and... Read More →

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Kennedy A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — On Demand Data for All: Strategies for Supporting Data-Driven Culture at Relay Graduate School of Education

Limited Capacity filling up

In this roundtable, we will dream of a utopia where all decisions are made using data and all the data is always available, instantaneously, at one’s finger tips….and then we talk about what to do in real life. At Relay Graduate School of Education, we believe that data-driven decisions are the key to continuous improvement. Over the past two years, SDP Fellow Daniel Stuckey has worked to enhance data-driven culture by creating an ecosystem of strategies to improve data infrastructure and provide staff with the access, time, and skills they need to use data for programmatic improvements. In this session, Daniel will discuss the Relay playbook, which leverages dashboards, data days, and data governance to increase data-driven culture. He will reflect on strategies for change management, coalition-building, and prototyping that are fundamental to the work. And he will talk in depth about efforts to make valuable incremental changes to our data infrastructure in the short term while simultaneously making a game-changing investment in an operational store aligned to the Ed-Fi teacher preparation data model.

Fellows

Daniel Stuckey

Director of Research and Data, Relay Graduate School of Education

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Targeting success when the goal keeps moving

Limited Capacity seats available

Highlander Institute has a mission to improve educator and system capacity to provide personalized experiences for every learner. But how do you measure success in personalized learning?
SDP Fellow Danielle Blasczak worked to refine, supplement, calibrate, validate and disseminate a tool consisting of 28 indicators within 4 prioritized domains. This work has enabled Highlander Institute to better able to triangulate data between classroom observations and student achievement scores while continuing to scale quality practices.
Join this conversation to engage in a discussion about maintaining measurement consistency in an ever-changing personalized learning landscape.

Fellows

Danielle Blasczak

Research and Evaluation Manager

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Kennedy A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

11:00am EDT

Capstone Roundtable — The request behind the request: program evaluation for continuous improvement

Limited Capacity seats available

When stakeholders ask for data, they often ask questions along the lines of, “can I have test score data for these students between Spring and Fall?” or “I would like a list of students who are behind grade level.” Behind these simple requests are often a more complex set of questions, such as, “Did students who enrolled in my summer program perform better than expected?” or, “Which students should we target for this reading intervention?” These are the “requests behind the requests.” When the Data Strategy and Analytics Team at Tulsa Public Schools set out to launch a continuous improvement focused program evaluation initiative, we realized we had to not only build our analytical capacity, but also build the demand to engage in that work.

Fellows

Jonathan McIlroy

Manager of District Performance, Tulsa Public Schools

Tuesday May 21, 2019 11:00am - 11:45am EDT
Longfellow A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Are Teachers Better Predictors of Student Success than Computer Assessments?

Limited Capacity filling up

During the 2017-18 school year, Youngstown City School District implemented two computer-based assessments to identify student academic ability and identify the proper types of supports needed to positively impact student achievement. While most teachers and administrators embraced this new technology, some remain skeptical of its ability to properly identify those students in need of support, arguing that teachers are the best predictors of student success. This capstone centered around answering the question of whether computer based assessments or teachers better predict how students would do on the end-of-year tests. At this roundtable, SDP Fellow John LaPlante will show how Youngstown teachers did at predicting student success as compared to their computer-based assessments. Did teacher experience have an impact? What about teacher effectiveness ratings? The answers may surprise you.

Fellows

John LaPlante

Chief Information Officer, Youngstown City Schools

Early Warning Systems, Program Effectiveness

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Agassiz, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Building a Platform for the Jump from Educator Evaluation to Growth

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

West Virginia’s Educator Evaluation System is failing to achieve its purpose of raising student performance by improving instruction. Educators view it as a compliance exercise and perceive little benefit to student learning. The system also fails to differentiate educator performance in a way that can support professional development or human capital decisions. The West Virginia Department of Education’s long-term goal is to refocus the system on growth. This will require mindset shifts and policy change. Come learn about the department’s efforts to prepare for bigger changes by rebuilding the technology platform that supports evaluation.

Fellows

Oliver Ho

SDP Fellow / Coordinator, West Virginia Department of Education

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Longfellow B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Designing an Informed and Effective Grant Selection and Evaluation Process

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

The K-12 Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation needed to design a new process that could effectively surface and evaluate grant opportunities that would improve the use of data and evidence by the K-12 team and the field. It was important that the process be aligned to the team’s strategy and equity goals, and that an effective system was in place to measure progress towards those goals. This roundtable will discuss the following questions: What are the important factors to consider when evaluating competing ideas that have different levels of risk and reward? How can organizations ensure their work is aligning to equity goals and what are effective ways to measure progress towards meeting those goals?

Fellows

Andrew Corcoran

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Senior Program Officer

Andrew Corcoran is a Senior Program Officer on the K-12 Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. His work ensures that the K-12 strategy measurement, learning, and evaluation work is supported by equity-centered evidence that evolves and... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Kennedy B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Exploring Connections between Safe School Perceptions and Teacher Retention

Limited Capacity filling up

The landscape of school safety has shifted dramatically over the last several years. The impact that safety has on students is imperative and evident – but how do the perceptions of a safe school environment impact teachers? What facets of school safety influence teachers’ decision to remain in a school, or in the profession as a whole? This project centers around the development of a safety index for Kentucky, with the intention of examining how the amount and severity of school safety violations influence teacher turnover rates.

Fellows

Anthony Pinson

Data Analyst, Kentucky Department of Education

I serve Kentucky's Department of Education as a Data Analyst for our Instructional Transformation grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I am also a Cohort 9 Agency Fellow.Recently, my work's primary focus is on assisting in the development, refinement, and implementation... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Filling the Data Void on the K–12 Curriculum Market

Limited Capacity filling up

Can we improve K-12 instruction by identifying high-quality, standards-aligned curricular materials and increasing market demand for such materials. EdReports is attempting to do just that. Yet data on LEA curriculum procurement are not readily available for analysis, limiting our ability to understand the state of the curriculum market and whether, how, and why it is changing. In this roundtable, SDP Fellow Mark LaVenia will share EdReports efforts to generate demand for high-quality materials associated with classroom improvement by building an instructional materials database that will allow for a better understanding of curriculum quality.

Fellows

Mark LaVenia

Data Strategist, EdReports

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — From Zero to Sixty: Developing a System for Data Collection, Dashboards, Employee Accountability, Partnership Management, and Service Optimization

Limited Capacity filling up

NE Basecamp is an educational nonprofit supporting educators through embedded, year-long professional development. Historically, the most powerful organizational data lived in handwritten classroom observation sheets. At this roundtable, SDP fellow Annice Correia Gabel shares the process of modernizing a robust data collection system for coaches and future efforts to design a functional framework for employee feedback and accountability, contract design with district and school partners, and data-driven service tailoring. Ultimately, how should NE Basecamp leverage data systems with an eye toward future research?

Fellows

Annice M. Correia Gabel

Director of Analytics and Operations, NE Basecamp

Annice is an SDP Data Fellow and Director of Analytics and Operations at New England Basecamp. In this role, Annice strengthens NE Basecamp’s capacity to make meaning out of data so that they can best serve schools implementing personalized learning. She previously worked at the... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Stratton, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Improving the Teacher Feedback Cycle: Lessons and Open Questions in NYC

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

What does it look like when teachers become the drivers of their own growth and development? Can a teacher evaluation and observation policy designed for nearly 70,000 teachers simultaneously provide meaningful ratings and supportive feedback? Join us for a discussion exploring research Josh’s team led across 3 community school districts at the NYCDOE. We’ll walk through lessons learned, challenges, and open questions about the conditions for success needed for a collaborative, trusting culture of learning and the role that central offices can play to support that. Help us further push the conversation on how to balance policy ‘compliance’ with broader human capital goals.

Fellows

Joshua Dormont

Amplify, Senior Product Manager

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Longfellow A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Steady or Stagnant?: Moving the needle on college-going outcomes for Fulton County Schools

Limited Capacity full
Adding this to your schedule will put you on the waitlist.

This interactive session will focus on the college-going outcomes for Fulton County Schools over the past 7 years through the district’s first college-going dashboard. During the presentation, participants will discuss dashboard creation and usability, and will also have an opportunity to identify and discuss interventions to answer the question: how can the district move its seamless enrollment rate beyond its 7-year average?

Fellows

Jhanelle Adams

Coordinator (district-level), Fulton County

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Kennedy A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Sub Here Often? Improving Substitute Fill Rates in Chicago Public Schools

Limited Capacity filling up

In this roundtable, we will explore the effects of using stipends to improve substitute teacher fill rates in Chicago Public Schools. CPS has suffered from an average substitute fill rate of less than 80%. As of last school year, there were 1,600 requests per day and over 2,500 active subs at any given time, yet 300 unfilled requests on any given day. To help boost fill rates, high-need schools were identified and substitutes now receive stipends to take jobs at these schools during this school year.
While the stipends have shown promising results thus far, they have also created unintended consequences, and revealed larger challenges. Come contribute to a discussion involving how data is best used to identify problems and solutions, the role of teacher absences and substitute teaching, and whether financial incentives are an effective way to change behavior.

Fellows

Megan Lane

Data Scientist, Chicago Public Schools

Megan Lane is a strategic data fellow with Chicago Public Schools. At CPS, Megan is leading various projects in the Talent Office, including understanding substitute fill rates, analyzing teacher hiring patterns, and developing Educator Preparation Scorecards. These projects will... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — The Hosts with the Most: The Importance of Host Teacher – Participant Relationships

Limited Capacity seats available

Aspiring teachers participating in the Urban Teacher preparation program each receive a host teacher. When structured interviews with alumni of the program on school climate yielded unprompted responses around the importance of the host teacher on their experience, it became necessary to learn more about the host teacher – participant relationship, including attempts to corroborate the data quantitatively and modifications to the host teacher survey to elicit additional information. This roundtable will include findings for improving the selection and training of host teachers in teacher preparation programs.

Fellows

Kristina Cassiday

Senior Director of Evaluation and Research, Junior Achievement USA

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Kennedy A, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — The Right Course of Action: Assessing Mathematics Coursetaking Policies in Orange County Public Schools

Limited Capacity filling up

This roundtable will focus on the effectiveness of a policy moving students to a lower level mathematics course after the first quarter of students’ freshman year in high school. Learn how Ann Cisney Booth navigated challenges in Orange County Public Schools when executing whether this policy led to impacts on student achievement data.

Fellows

Ann Cisney-Booth

Senior Administrator, Research and Evaluation, Orange County Public Schools

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Kennedy B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Using Data Visualizations to Inform Accreditation Decisions

Limited Capacity filling up

In what ways can data be used to enhance the strategic decision making process for continuous improvement for educator preparation programs? The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing tackled this question by developing and scaling interactive data visualizations that identify and highlight areas of achievements and concerns with teacher preparation programs across the state. Data visualizations and relevant accreditation information have been consolidated into one dashboard to provide centralized access for the Commission, accreditation teams and approved institutions. This roundtable session will look at sample data visualizations and discuss how to leverage the data to help programs improve.

Fellows

Phi Phi Lau

California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, Research Data Specialist

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Charles Ballroom, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Visualizing Postsecondary Data to Inspire Educator Action

Limited Capacity filling up

Leveraging local student information systems, the National Student Clearinghouse, and the College Scorecard, the Connecticut RISE Network, has developed dashboards to help educators better understand postsecondary outcomes. These dashboards have democratized access to alumni outcomes for educators, while sparking conversation around issues of college readiness, summer melt, and postsecondary outcomes across the RISE Network. This session will review the development and impact of these dashboards, while also discussing some of the pilot programs that have emerged around addressing summer melt and college enrollment as a result.

Fellows

Salman Khan

My interests include understanding, researching, and improving student pathways from high school to college.

BA, Rutgers University |
Certificate in College Counseling, UCLA Extension |
MA, Stanford University, Harvard University

https://avatars.sched.co/8/3c/5398018/avatar.jpg.320x320px.jpg?eb9

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Rogers, Third Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session

1:00pm EDT

Capstone Roundtable — Who Gets Picked? Selection of Schools for Say Yes Wraparound Services in Cleveland

Limited Capacity seats available

In January 2019, Say Yes to Education announced that Cleveland was the 4th Say Yes chapter, guaranteeing students tuition scholarships for college, as well as extensive wraparound supports to help them get there. To make the latter a reality, we first had to decide how these core services would be deployed in CMSD schools.
But, given limited resources, which schools should receive these services? This roundtable will share how Say Yes and CMSD chose to roll out services to maximize continuous learning about getting students to college. This roundtable will focus on the data-informed strategy and constraints for getting more CMSD students to college.

Fellows

Emily Hilty

Managing Director, Data Governance & Strategy, Teach for America

Emily Hilty is Managing Director of Data Governance and Strategy at Teach for America. As a cohort 9 fellow, she was a data strategist at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University, where she studied American politics... Read More →

Wednesday May 22, 2019 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
Longfellow B, First Floor Charles Hotel (1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA, USA)

General Session, Roundtable

Session Topic Roundtable Session