Best Practices Case Studies

Panhandle Area Education Consortium

Created in 1967 to support rural school districts in the northwest region of Florida, the Panhandle Area Education Consortium offers a professional development course in data-driven decision making to administrators and instructors in 20 Region I school districts. The consortium leverages resources across districts to deliver training and support. Because teachers rarely receive instruction in data-driven decision making during pre-service, they need to learn analysis techniques to make use of it.

The trainers begin by helping teachers see their role in education as supporting students on an education continuum rather than covering a set of standards. They learn the difference between summative data-a snapshot in time, and formative data-periodic assessment throughout the year. Because districts use different data management software tools, the trainers focus on the basics of using data with simple productivity tools such as Microsoft Excel. In addition to the class, the program models data-driven decision making by applying it to professional development. Teachers create an individualized learning plan based on self-assessment and comparative data. The principal signs off on the individual plan and PAEC helps to deliver necessary training.

Many of the members of PAEC also belong to the Gateway Student System Consortium (GSS) (not affiliated with the computer company), created to provide student information data warehousing services and assist small districts with state and local reporting. This home grown system is staffed by 4 system analysts who support the 16 member districts. The GSS's first priority is to provide the highest quality data to the state to help districts claim their state funding. Next, they provide attendance, assessment, grade reporting and many other school related functions to help districts run their school systems. Finally, they look for opportunities to provide "value-added" services including flowing data in certain formats or linked in a particular way to selected downstream products or applications for local management and reporting purposes.