Project SchoolView envisions a flexible enterprise P-20 information and knowledge management system that will equip users to manage and use information for informed decision-making.
The Colorado Department of Education (CDE), working in collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Governor’s Office of Policy and Initiatives, and the Colorado Departments of Higher Education, Human Services and Labor End employment, proposes to build a state longitudinal data system that meets the required system elements and capabilities set out in the Request for Applications and the demands of its ground-breaking P-20 education reform agenda. This agenda, which has been underway for several years, implements true P-20 education alignment across the state’s education systems and is anchored by a common definition of postsecondary and workforce readiness to ensure students exit prepared for postsecondary education and workforce success. Moreover, the Colorado General Assembly and the Office of Governor Ritter have made inter-departmental data sharing a state priority by way of legislation that authorizes the development of interdepartmental data sharing and the creation of a state-level data sharing advisory council. The Colorado approach to educational alignment seeks to produce meaningful information on educator and principal effectiveness through the development of the state’s first educator identifier system, which will be used to link all Colorado educators, students, and educator preparation programs for the purposes of individual and program evaluation. Colorado also seeks to expand its breakthrough analytical and data visualization tools to support meaningful accountability, transparency and strategic investment. In short, Colorado is among the national leaders in education reform and cross-system alignment. However, in spite of its impressive reform-oriented agenda, in the absence of SLDS grant funds to implement proposed data capture and interoperability solutions, the potential of the state’s agenda will not be fully realized.
Project SchoolView ™ envisions a flexible enterprise P-20 information and knowledge management system that will equip users to manage and use information for informed decision-making ensuring all students in Colorado are ready for postsecondary or workforce success. It addresses the following strategic priorities:
• CAPTURE: P-20 student-focused data are effectively and efficiently collected across multiple data sources including student information, programmatic classifications and educator quality.
• LINK: Data is effectively shared and exchanged across multiple agencies (human services, K-12, higher education, labor, corrections) and levels (district, state, federal) to promote accountability, inform policy and ensure a holistic view of student success.
• PROVIDE: Stakeholders (parents/guardians, students, educators, policymakers and researchers) have access via interactive portals to understandable, timely and reliable information, online content and collaboration tools to inform and improve student performance.
Colorado’s Race to the Top application will build on this foundation by focusing on building the performance capacity of stakeholders to leverage information to inform development, policy, programs and practice to drive increased student performance through professional development, innovative programs and improved instructional practices. Project SchoolView™ holds the potential to transform the delivery and evaluation of education in Colorado, offering a national model that advances the use of more robust and timely performance data throughout the P-20 education system and capitalizes on the state’s impressive student-centered education reforms.
