Objectives
CTE programs require extensive data analytics on students’ enrollment, proficiency, and progress toward certification to fulfill their Perkins Grant requirements.
Tiffany Gould, Ridgefield’s Executive Director of Teaching and Learning, notes that “prior to the CTE app, I had to go into the SIS and do a data mine, then pull the spreadsheet, and then figure out the pivot table or figure out the chart.” With SchoolData’s CTE application, she can now see all the students in CTE courses, their demographic information, and their concentrator status in “readable and understandable” displays that save her hours of manual data analysis.
At a Glance
Challenges
- State reports with outdated info
- Complicated calculations for Perkins indicators
- Graduation pathway data scattered over multiple data silos
Benefits
- Ability to align courses of study directly to state standards
- Review student progress in all CTE courses
- Faster access to actionable data
- Instant insights into enrollment disparities
Testimonial
"Working with SchoolData to collect the data the way the state collects it is huge. We can use today’s data, with the same formulas, the same requirements as the state — and impact change in the current year."
Tiffany Gould, Executive Director of Teaching & Learning
Outcomes
Analyze program effectiveness
Ridgefield can see at a glance which students are nearing completion of a CTE pathway, which students should be encouraged to become “concentrators,” and which pathways or demographics may need more recruitment.
With the addition of National Clearinghouse data to the application, Gould is looking forward to reviewing students’ post-high school outcomes for long-term views into the program’s preparation.
Timely and actionable data
Ridgefield is no longer at the mercy of state reporting that lags far behind current practice. Rather than waiting to be notified by the state about how their program is performing, Gould prefers being able to proactively “know how we’re doing with work-based learning.”
As Gould points out, it’s difficult for educators to be motivated by two-year-old data. For classroom teachers, data from the current year or last semester has a “much bigger impact on the willingness to look at their practice,” and if needed, change how they’re approaching instruction or recruitment.
Inclusive data for the students and community
Gould leans heavily on the CTE application when gathering data for the comprehensive local needs assessment required for Perkins funding about their work-based learning and industry credentials. Having CTE info integrated with demographic data has “helped to have conversations about enrollment among underrepresented groups. For example, how do we engage more females in our STEM classes or males in our health science classes?”
Ridgefield involves many stakeholders in the preparation of their comprehensive local needs assessment. The CTE application ensures that data can be shared safely and clearly with everyone from instructors to business advisories to regional partners.
Configured for clarity
Customizing the labels that appear on different courses or classes saves time for Gould that was previously spent “trying to crosswalk what we call a course of study” with its state classification. She modifies the dropdowns and selectors available in her district to make it “as streamlined as possible” to measure their performance by Perkins Grant standards.
Solution
As a CTE administrator and a long-time SchoolData user, Gould was excited to be a part of testing the CTE application with other pilot districts. “I had the opportunity to talk with my colleagues from around the state” about how they’re administrating CTE and compare notes about best practices.
Gould knows from her experience using Homeroom Dashboards and multiple intervention plan applications that SchoolData prioritizes user feedback in their development. In the user group, Gould and her peers would come to consensus about helpful features, and SchoolData would listen and “come back with a new column to filter, or an automated process that makes our work so much easier. That’s huge.”
