Funding for school districts is at a historically high level due to ESSER dollars, but the needs competing for those funds are proportionally higher as well. How do districts prioritize among the broad allowable categories that may be funded by ESSER and at the same time ensure that they can sustain initiatives beyond the spending deadline? Data analytics are the best way to make informed decisions that will allocate resources equitably.
In a recent whitepaper developed by the Frontline Research and Learning Institute, ESSER and Equity: Leveraging Stimulus Funding to Increase Equitable Opportunities, Dr. CyLynn Braswell discussed several ways that data analytics support making better decisions. For example, using data that combines students’ attendance, grades, and disciplinary referrals into one graph creates an “Early Warning System” that can be used to plan interventions, determine staffing needs, and develop professional learning to support educators. Analyzing grades for students receiving specialized services such as dyslexia services helps to demonstrate the impact of services, as well as to identify areas where services need to be strengthened or additional staff deployed.
One innovation in data analytics is the use of location data with new mapping tools such as those available in Frontline Analytics, powered by Forecast 5. Analyzing data about where students live and the services to which they have access empowers educators to support families by making services more accessible. For example, one Texas school district used location data to determine which families with multiple children in school needed additional services. They also re-evaluated their communications when they realized that one family had seven students across three schools and was receiving communications from 41 teachers. “Implementing family grouping has enabled NISD to strategically support sibling and family groups as efficiently as possible,” said Julie Meek, Director of Data Services for Northwest ISD in Texas. “We’ve been able to target areas of need such as WiFi access, food availability, attendance monitoring, and parental involvement in order to assist our students and families more effectively.”
The Frontline Research and Learning Institute provides examples of guiding questions that a district or campus team can ask to design their own analytics reports to guide the investment of ESSER funds. Read the article in the Frontline Research and Learning Institute whitepaper here to learn more about using data analytics.
Frontline Education’s Data and Analytics Advisory Team created a webinar forecasting the “8 K-12 Trends to Watch in 2022.” Watch it here to learn how analytics can be leveraged by district leaders to help address some of the most pressing issues in K-12 education right now.