Data is the lifeblood of an organization and I believe all data can be grouped into a few basic types: money and membership. Our data on money includes what we spend, how much we receive, what services we use, what services we provide, what things we own etc. Membership data includes who we employ, who we serve and to whom we are accountable.
When it comes to educational data and its exchange, I can see just three basic types: Finance, Human Resource and Student. But rather than submitting a comprehensive data set to CDE in each of these types of data, we have multiple submissions at different times and often in different formats. The reason is that data has grown to prominence at the state department in a piecemeal manner. Data systems have been adopted independently by units in CDE and timetables for collections, training and upgrades have also been set unit by unit. All during this time, the employees of CDE have struggled and worked very hard to meet the demands of accountability systems built on data in an Information Age.
The time has come for everyone to step back and take stock. Are we doing this the best way we can? This is the point of HB 1270 and HB 1320. Some might see this as a critique of CDE, but I look at this as an effort to make the quantum leap that must be made. The problem is less about people than about systems. There will be costs involved in moving away from the method we using today. It will take political will and it will take unprecedented cooperation between state and local agencies.
1270 calls for an independent audit of the data management processes in our state. There are 24 co-sponsors for HB 1320 which calls for comprehensive oversight, a single authority over data at CDE, establishment of a fully automated transactional system of data exchange and adequate change windows for both the State Board of Education and School Districts.
The political will is mounting which may mean that the quantum leap forward is soon coming. Perhaps the days of submitting data nine months in arrears will finally come to an end and we can focus our efforts on using data rather than reporting it.