Title Slide

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Title Slide
South Carolina Department of Education
Achieving Quality Data
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Quality Data SASI Data
EIA/EFAFunding
EarlyChildhood
SASI stores a vast amount of data related to all
aspects of educating SCs students. Over 190
data items are extracted from SASI records
ClassSchedule
Student
CourseCodes /History
Teacher
Dropouts
Attendance
School toWork
Precode
Discipline
Career Tech Ed(CATE)
Trans-portation
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Quality Data SASI Data Put to Work!
SASI data is often relied upon to meet the
requirements of Federal, State, and District
policies and regulations.
UMIRS
Legislative Decision Making
School District Report Cards
EEDA
No Child Left Behind
Preprinted Test Sheets
Perkins Act
Medicaid Funding
Adequate Yearly Progress
Highly Qualified Teachers
and more
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Quality Data SASI Data Put to Work!
Increased demands for data result from state and
federal statutory and regulatory
requirements. Each data element requested via
SASI is tied to a requirement for reporting or
funding.

• USDA Reimbursements
• Education Accountability Act Report Card

Free or reduced lunch status
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Quality Data Shaping South Carolinas
Future

• The Collection of Accurate and Timely Data
  Allows
• TEACHERS to make appropriate decisions about
  their students needs.
• PRINCIPALS to track student and teacher
  progress.
• DISTRICT PERSONNEL to hire staff or provide
  resources where and when they are most needed.
• the SC STATE LEGISLATURE to know when resources
  are making a difference in education.
• the SC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION to plan and
  manage effective programs.

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Quality Data Getting Things Right
What constitutes quality data?

• Quality Data is Accurate
• Quality Data is Secure
• Quality Data is Timely
• Quality Data is Complete
• Quality Data is Trusted

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Define the Data Input Criteria
Data Quality How can data be improved?
Define the Data Input Criteria

• Policies and Regulations
• Standards and Guidelines

http//ed.sc.gov/
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Communication
Data Quality How can data be improved?

• Communication
• Schedule regular meetingsfor program experts,
  data entry staff, and technology staff.
• Encourage a forum for feedback
• on what works and what doesnt.
• Publish data entry collection deadlines via a
  Data Calendar.

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Quality Data How can data be improved?
Professional Development

• Hands-on SASI training workshops are provided
  by SDE Regional Technology Centers in
• Florence
• Conway
• Dorchester

Additional training Webinars Workshops may be
provided via Pearson School Systems (PSS).
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Quality Data How can data be improved?
Technology
Secure the Network!

• Protect the confidentiality of student records
• Utilize login passwords
• Implement periodic software updates
• Limit user rights within SASI
• Prohibit volunteers and non-trained employees
  from accessing SASI data.

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Data Quality How can data be improved?

• Data Entry Personnel
• SASI Clerks are the INITIAL SOURCE for quality
  data!
• Re-evaluate
• Job descriptions
• Salary level
• Skills and educational requirements necessary
  to do the job
• Recognize and reward exceptional data entry
  persons in your school.

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Quality Data How can data be improved?
Data Entry Environment
Communicate the data entry expectations.
Provide a quiet setting for data entry.
Allow data entry staff to attend SASIxp training.
Limit non-essential duties during heavy data
entry periods.
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Cooperation
Data Quality How can data be improved?

• Cooperation
• Quality is Everyones Responsibility

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Resources
Quality Data Resources which help improve data

• Technical Documentation
• Web sites - http//ed.sc.gov
• Forms/worksheets
• SDE 2006 Data Collection Manual

http//ed.sc.gov
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Resources 2005-06 Data Collection Manual

• Identifies the SASI fields collected, Atom by
  Atom

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Verification Validation
Data Quality How can data be improved?
Verification and Validation of SASI Data
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Data Quality (SDE) Reporting Manager Data
Validation

• Reports list error messages (by District or
  school) which identify missing, inaccurate, and
  invalid data.
• Validation reports are provided to the districts
  via the Reporting Manager.

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Role of the Principal What you should do

• Recognize the potential impact of inaccurate
  data
• Financially
• Pupil Accounting System (PAS)
• Student Accountability System (SAS)
• Relationship of Free Reduced lunch data to
• Nutrition programs
• Title 1 services
• E-rate program
• Publicly
• UMIRS Reporting
• AYP
• School Report Card
• Highly Qualified Teachers

Are you confident that your data reflect
appropriate codes for services provided at your
school?
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The Reality of Poor Data Quality the UMIRS
Report

• The Federal No Child Left Behind legislation
  mandates the collection and reporting of
• Truancy rates
• Violent offenses
• Drug-related offenses
• Student suspensions expulsions
• Programs services for dealing with truancy,
  violence and drug use
• Is your data painting an accurate picture
• of your students and school?

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The Reality of Poor Data Quality Coding Errors
on the UMIRS Report
175 offenses of chewing gum are reported as
175 hand gun violations on the UMIRS
report.WHY?
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The Reality of Poor Data Quality Coding Errors
on the UMIRS Report
Culprit Inaccurate Coding The middle school
used the state standardized discipline code for
hand gun violation (781) instead of creating a
user-defined code to record incidents of chewing
gum. Are you confident that data entry at
your school is based on current, accurate,
and standard codes?
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The Reality of Poor Data Quality
Inaccurate Highly Qualified Teacher Data
Joe teaches Algebra I at a SC middle school. Joe
is S.C. certified and highly qualified in Math.
Why are Joes Algebra classes flagged as not
having a highly qualified Math teacher?
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The Reality of Poor Data Quality Inaccurate
Highly Qualified Teacher Data
Answer Two numbers in Joes certification
number were transposed upon entry, therefore he
was could not be verified as SC certified
teacher. -or- An out-dated course code was used
when scheduling Joes Algebra classes in SASI.
The course code was not state approved for
indicating a core subject.
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The Reality of Poor Data Quality Inaccurate
Highly Qualified Teacher Data

• Highly Qualified Teacher counts are affected by
• Incomplete teacher information
• Invalid teacher Social Security and/or
  certificate numbers
• Out of date/incorrect course codes

Ooops!
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The Reality of Poor Data Quality Inaccurate
Data

• Worrisome dirty data
• Lunch status, gender, birth date, GR9 race
  data fields are often left blank or completed
  with invalid codes.
• Duplicate student records existThe unique
  State ID field is often blank.
• Inaccurate dropout dates, program
  entry/withdrawal dates are often found.
• Invalid characters are found in name fields
• Incorrect number of digits in numeric fields,
  etc.

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The Reality of Poor Data Quality Inaccurate
Data

• Worrisome data entry processes
• Not completely enrolling new students with
  birthdates, etc. SUNs program is not invoked
  potential for duplicate students.
• Not inactivating students prior to the first
  day of testing. Inaccurate counts represented in
  AYP calculation.
• Not using standardized codes.

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Role of the Principal What you should do

• Ask Yourself
• Are data complete for students, teachers,
  courses, etc?
• What verification methods are implemented in
  my school or district prior to submitting
  data to the SDE?
• Which persons are responsible for the data?
  Have they been trained?
• Are the most current guidelines and codes
  being utilized?

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Questions
Data Quality
?
?
QUESTIONS
?
Office of Technology Barbara Solomon(Bsolomon_at_ed
.sc.gov)
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Resource Links

• The Following several slides are hidden
• Use to expand presentation if more time is
  allowed.

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Achieving Data Quality

• Whether borne of the need to comply with No
  Child Left Behind or in an attempt to produce
  data-driven decisions, schools are dependent on
  their data more and more.
• - Margaret Spellings, US Secretary of Education

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Achieving Data Quality

• In God we trust, all others bring data.
• - Margaret Spellings, US Secretary of Education

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The Six Components of Quality Data

• Policies and Regulations
• Standards and Guidelines
• Training and Professional Development
• Timelines and Calendars
• Technology
• Data Entry Environment

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The Six Components of Quality Data

• Policies and Regulations
• Standards and Guidelines
• Training and Professional Development
• Timelines and Calendars
• Technology
• Data Entry Environment

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Quality Data Timelines Calendars
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Maintain a Data Collections Calendar

• Include deadlines, holidays, testing days, etc.
• Identify the staff person responsible for the
  various data tasks
• Distribute calendar and timelines to all staff
  well ahead of the deadline date.

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Data Quality How can data be improved?
Effective tools

• Utilize forms and worksheets

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Quality Data Policies and Regulations
1

• School and District Administrators are bound by
• District Policies
• State Regulations
• Federal Regulations

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Quality Data Standards and Guidelines
2

Guidelines and standards encourage accurate,
consistent data. The SDE web site,
http//ed.sc.gov/ , is a useful tool. Many
individual offices post memos and help sheets
related to requirements for data entry.
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Quality Data Training and Professional
Development (cont.)

• Additional training is provided by SASI Vendor,
  Pearson School Systems (PSS)
• SASI Webinars (web based training)are
  periodically provided to SC school and district
  personnel by Pearson School Systems (PSS).
• SASI Workshops (on-site training) are also
  offered by PSS instructors to SC district or
  school level support persons. Instruction is
  provided in district or school computer labs
  across SC.  

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Quality Data Training and Professional
Development (cont.)

• SDE offices often hold training sessions to
  address specific data concerns, updates or
  changes to collections

Did someone from your district attend a Safe
Schools session?
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Data Quality A Feedback Loop

• The quality of data will improve when all staff
  understand how the data will be used
• Quality data can be achieved in a school or
  district through the collaborative efforts of all
  staff.
• Suggestions, recommendations and/or questions all
  play a part in improving data quality.

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Data Quality Data Entry Clerks Identify
Top 5

• Ways to Improve Data Quality

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Data Quality Data Entry Clerks Identify
Top 5
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Data Quality Data Entry Clerks Identify
Top 5

• answering, screening, and directing telephone
  calls
• taking telephone messages
• making copies
• directing visitors
• assisting students who come into the office
• providing technical assistance to other support
  staff
• writing tardy passes, early dismissal sign-out,
  etc.
• assisting with fire/tornado drills
• assisting with dismissal at bus and car lines

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Data Quality Data Verification (School
District)

• Methods of Finding Errors
• Verify student data against original
  documentation.
• Print reports prior to submission and review
  (with as many qualified eyes as possible) for
  accuracy
• Pay close attention to values in fields that
  relate to each other, such as address and zip
  code.
• Use the SASI query tool to generate reports
  verifying values.

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Quality Data Data Verification
Sources of Inaccurate Data

• Initial data entry errors / typos
• Poor or non existent data entry rules
• Deliberate mistakes
• Out of date data
• Incomplete data
• Inadequate training

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Data Quality Data Verification (SDE)
State level validation rules are run against data
collected via S.W.E.E.T (SASI Web Extract
Export Tool)
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Data Quality Data Verification (SDE)
The 6/26/06 QDC4 STUDENT Collection Results by
District

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Data Quality (SDE) Data Validation
The SASI TEACHER Atom State-Wide Validation
Statistics
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Data Quality Data Verification (SDE)
The 6/26/06 QDC4 STUDENT Collection Results by
School
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Data Quality Resources for Getting it Right!

• The SDE 2006 Data Collection Manual identifies
  which data fields are collected, the SDE office
  which utilizes the data, and the reason the data
  is collected.
• The manual, in Adobe format, can be viewed or
  printed from the SDE website

http//ed.sc.gov/agency/offices/tech/dts/TechDocs.
html
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05-06 Data Collection Manual
Resources 2005-06 Data Collection Manual

• Identifies Office/Program Contacts

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Resources 2005-06 Data Collection Manual
Table identifies how data was used last year, by
which SDE office and from which data collection.
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Resources 2005-06 Data Collection Manual

• Provides the current years SASI data collection
  schedule

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Role of the Principal What you can do
With Special Regard to Data Entry Personnel

• Appreciate that data entry personnelare the
  initial source of the majority of your data.
• Validate the importance of data entry duties.
• Provide trained back-up and verification help.
• Encourage the exchange of tips and feedback
  related to data entry and their jobs.

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Data Quality Role of the Principal

• Recognize the qualities of an exceptional data
  entry person.
• Detail oriented
• Organized
• Dedicated to providing quality data
• Able to multi-task
• Efficient
• Prompt
• Flexible
• Able to maintain composure under stressful
  conditions
• Discreet while handling confidential data

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Role of the Principal Questions to Consider

• How do you and your staff use data to measure
  student achievement and make future
  instructional/operational decisions?
• When you place your signature on a report, how
  confident are you that the data is correct?
• What data are collected in your school?
• Are you aware of which data effects your school
  financially?

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Role of the Principal What you should do

• Work with your staff and district personnel to
  develop standard data entry and reporting
  procedures.
• Understand the laws and regulations that affect
  data at your school. Such as, FERPA, Family
  Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
• Check reports for accuracy before validating
  them with your signature and sending them to the
  district.
• Along with staff, periodically spot-check source
  documents against SASI data.
• Ensure that your staff have access to the
  technology tools they need.

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Role of the Principal What you should do

• Stay current regarding data collections by
  attending meetings and training sessions.
• Suggest data collection method improvements to
  District personnel.
• Encourage and allow staff to attend necessary
  training.
• Consider alternative forms of training,
  i.e.,train-the-trainer or web-based training
  options.

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Role of the Principal What you should do

• Support and monitor district data security
  policies and procedures.
• Encourage the use of data to make instructional
  decisions.
• Provide an environment that produces accurate
  data entry.
• Develop a calendar specifically for school
  district data reporting deadlines.

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Quality Data SASI Data Put to Work!
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Data Quality Data Verification

• Can I ever be sure that my data is complete and
  accurate?

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Sources

• National Forum on Education Statistics. (2004).
  Forum Guide to building a Culture of Quality
  Data A School District Resource (NFES
  2005-801). U.S. Department of Education.
  Washington, DC National Center for Education
  Statistics.