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Congressional Briefing Focuses on Data as a Tool to Advance Learning and Meet the Accountability Provisions of No Child Left Behind Press Release: For Immediate Release For more information contact: Irene Spero, Vice President The Consortium for School Networking Highlights Data-Driven Decision Making as a Tool to Improve Achievement Wahington, DC. (May 3, 2004) – The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of information technologies and the Internet in K-12 education to improve learning, recently hosted a congressional briefing focusing on the data collection requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The April 8 briefing, “Data-driven Decision Making: A Powerful Tool to Improve Student Achievement,” was attended by more than 100 legislative leaders, staff members, and educational association executives. The event was sponsored by CoSN in partnership with Educational Testing Service, (www.ets.org), IBM, (www.ibm.com), SAS (www.sas.com), Dell (www.dell.com), Plato Learning (www.plato.com), SchoolNet (www.schoolnet.com), PowerSchool (www.apple.com/education/powerschool), Texas Instruments (www.texasinstruments.com) and Scholastic Administr@tor. The briefing included opening remarks by the two Congressional sponsors, Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) and Helen Soule, special assistant in the Office of Postsecondary Education for the U.S. Department of Education. A panel of school districts leaders from around the country discussed the ways in which they were collecting, analyzing and reporting data for both accountability and improvement purposes. At the end of the briefing, attendees were able to visit a showcase of technology solutions for data driven decision making. “No Child Left Behind holds states, districts and schools accountable for student achievement. This call for greater accountability means administrators and teachers need to show proof that what they are doing is working. School districts and states must collect more data, in more detail and disaggregate the data to show which schools and students are making progress,” said Irene K. Spero, CoSN Vice President and Project Director. “With the right tools and training, data collection, analysis and reporting can be a powerful means for continuous school improvement. The Data-Driven Decision Making initiative was developed by CoSN for the very purpose of assisting teachers and administrators meet this challenge.” Key points stressed by participants included:
About the Data-driven Decision Making Initiative CoSN launched the Data-driven Decision Making initiative in February 2003 as a response to the challenges teachers and administrators at the school, district and state level face in understanding how to use data appropriately as a tool to accelerate student learning. CoSN intends to make the Data-driven Decision Making initiative a highly respected source of up-to-date, unbiased information for educators on collecting, understanding and using data effectively; an easy to use mechanism for educating school leaders about data-driven decision making and its applications in elementary and secondary education; and a nationally recognized framework for sharing knowledge among educators and transferring knowledge between the educational and vendor communities. Further information about the Data-driven Decision Making initiative is available at the project’s website, www.3D2Know.org. About the Consortium for School Networking Founded in 1992, CoSN, a national nonprofit organization, is the premier voice in educational technology leadership. Its mission is to advance the K-12 education community’s capacity to effectively use technology to improve learning through advocacy, policy and leadership development. CoSN members represent school districts, state and local education agencies, nonprofits, companies and individuals who share this vision. CoSN leadership initiatives include: Cyber Security for the Digital District (www.securedistrict.org); Data-Driven Decision Making (www.3d2know.org); Safeguarding the Wired Schoolhouse (www.safewiredschools.org); Taking Total Cost of Ownership to the Classroom (www.classroomtco.org); and the development of the Council of School District Chief Technology Officers (CTO). Visit www.cosn.org or phone 202/861-2676 to find out more about CoSN’s programs and activities that support leadership development to ensure that information technology has a direct and positive impact on student learning in elementary and secondary schools.
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