Priorities
Interoperability
Transforming Data to Information
While states, districts, and schools have long collected certain education data for accountability purposes and in an attempt to be more data-driven, there is growing interest in leveraging new digital learning tools, online services, educational “apps,” and other technologies in the classroom. Yet, for all the data available to us through technology, school leaders and educators still lack the ability to easily transform that data to information to help guide decisions about instruction, school administration, and operations. Simply put, education data and information systems need to be in service of learning.
SETDA developed this new report, “Transforming Data to Information in Service of Learning,” to raise awareness about the major K-12 data standards and interoperability initiatives underway to address this gap and to offer recommendations for how K-12 education can become more responsive to educators and better targeted toward individual student success. Broadly speaking, these initiatives focus on ensuing consistent data definitions, enabling the sharing of information across systems, and facilitating the search and discovery of education resources.The report will help education leaders understand the context for these interoperability initiatives and their relationship to teaching and learning. The widespread implementation of new and emerging interoperability initiatives will be instrumental to realizing the full potential of technology in education.