District Spotlight: Unlocking Student Success

Building Holistic Student Performance Profiles 

Plainfield CCSD 202

Unifying Data for a Holistic Picture of Student Performance

Data Challenge 

Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 sought to break down data silos between attendance, student involvement, and academic performance to better understand each student’s journey and provide more personalized support. 

Analytics Solution 

Using Student Analytics Lab, the district developed a comprehensive view of student data, facilitating discussions that connect key data points. A team of curriculum and instruction associate principals, principals, and the director of high school curriculum and instruction from four high schools collaborated to advance the district’s strategic goal of improving math scores. 

With guidance from their advisor, Sara Thomas, the team engaged in targeted professional development to strengthen instructional strategies and make more effective, data-informed decisions. Their approach emphasized a comprehensive understanding of student performance by analyzing a wide range of data points, helping educators see the bigger picture and gain deeper insights into each student’s academic journey.  

Through meaningful, team-based discussions around the data, educators were able to develop targeted, individualized student plans that address specific learning needs and support overall achievement in mathematics. This holistic and collaborative approach not only leads to better student outcomes but also fosters stronger alignment and collaboration across departments. 

This holistic approach helps guide individualized student plans, leading to better student outcomes and stronger collaboration between departments. 

Early Intervention and Student Success

Compton Unified School District

Proactive Student Intervention with Real-Time Data

Data Challenge 

While Compton Unified has recently enjoyed some relative success at the secondary level, not every student was graduating College & Career Prepared. Without an effective system, too many students were falling behind. Interventions tended to be reactive rather than proactive. Compton Unified needed a way to identify students who are off track academically and/or socially.  

Analytics Solution

The district developed two dashboards, “Freshmen on Track” and “Early Warning Indicator,” to provide real-time insights. These tools allow staff to identify students who need support based on attendance and grades, identify hotspots, implement targeted interventions before failure occurs, and determine if their interventions are effective.  

Early Intervention and Student Success

School District of Altoona

Empowering Middle School Families with Readiness Scorecards

Data Challenge 

We wanted a better way to communicate college and career readiness indicators to  middle school families, ensuring students were on track for success in high school and beyond. While we heavily utilize the Redefining Ready College and Career Readiness indicators at the high school level, we saw a need to translate these indicators into meaningful metrics for middle school students. Families often received anecdotal feedback about their child’s progress, but we sought a way to provide clear, concrete data to better inform future planning. 

Analytics Solution 

To address this challenge, we developed individual readiness scorecards for 9^th-grade students. Since 8^th grade is a crucial transition point to high school, these scorecards were designed to highlight key factors that contribute to future success. The scorecards consolidate multiple data points, including:

• Grades (translated into an “on track” measure despite standards-based grading challenges) 
• Attendance 
• Co-curriclar participation 
• Social-emotional learning competencies 
• Discipline records 
• State test scores 
• Benchmark assessments 

Recognizing that data transparency was critical, we ensured each personalized report included clear explanations of each indicator, making it easy for families to interpret their child’s progress. 

Implementation Process 

Developing the scorecards required extensive work to ensure data accuracy. As a team, we took the lead in validating data from our Student Information System (SIS) and ensuring it was correctly pulled into Frontline Student Analytics. This process involved repeated cycles of validation and corrections to ensure the data was displaying correctly and aligning with the intended indicators. 

Collaboration with Frontline Data & Analytics was essential. We worked closely with them to refine how data flowed from the SIS to the analytics platform, ensuring it was displayed in an intuitive and useful manner for educators and families alike. 

Family Engagement & Impact 

We introduced the readiness scorecards to families during student conferences, providing an opportunity for meaningful discussions between teachers and parents. We supported teachers in using the scorecards to explain how each indicator connects to high school readiness. Because the report was well-organized and self-explanatory, families found it easy to understand. Many parents expressed appreciation for having concrete data about their child’s readiness, rather than only anecdotal feedback or grades.  

Lessons Learned & Future Plans

One of the biggest challenges was ensuring the accuracy of the data displayed. We had to work closely with Frontline to correct any errors and ensure the data was pulling correctly from the SIS. This experience highlighted the importance of planning the data pipeline thoroughly before implementation. 

For other districts considering a similar approach, we recommend: 

1. Start by visualizing the final report – Define what you want the scorecard to look like before gathering data. 

2. Identify all necessary data points – Determine where each piece of information is stored and ensure it is consistently recorded in the SIS. 

3. Collaborate with your analytics provider early – Work closely with vendors to ensure data is flowing correctly and is accurately represented. 

Looking ahead, we are considering expanding this initiative by developing conference reports for additional grade levels. Our goal is to provide teachers with valuable data to facilitate discussions with families about student progress at all levels. 

We are proud to have taken this step in empowering families with actionable data, ensuring students are on the right track for high school and beyond. 

Strategic Planning & Stakeholder Engagement

Colton Joint Unified School District

Ensuring Resource & Program Alignment Through Data Reviews

Data Challenge 

Colton Joint Unified wanted to ensure school site goals and district-wide strategies were aligned with resource allocation and program effectiveness. 

Analytics Solution 

By implementing structured Data Reviews with analytics dashboards, the district was able to track key performance indicators, filter data for specific site needs, and create visual reports that streamlined decision-making. This approach resulted in more relevant goals and a stronger connection between school sites and district leadership. 

Strategic Planning & Stakeholder Engagement

Consolidated High School District 230 

Using Data to Drive Strategic Planning & Community Engagement

Data Challenge 

District 230 faced the data challenge of needing to build its own strategic plan around metrics that truly matter and have a direct, measurable impact on student success. This involved not only identifying the most critical metrics but also narrowing the focus and establishing an ideal state for each, followed by a clear prioritization of areas requiring immediate attention and improvement. The district recognized the necessity of a structured approach to ensure that strategic efforts were precisely targeted and yielded tangible results for student outcomes. 

Analytics Solution 

To overcome this challenge, District 230 implemented an analytics solution centered around a comprehensive strategic framework dashboard, designed around the identified key metrics. This dashboard, enhanced by the capabilities of Student Analytics Lab (formerly, 5Lab), empowers school leaders with actionable data insights to drive instruction, optimize student support, and strategically allocate resources by facilitating the identification of trends, targeting of subgroups, and provision of timely interventions. Featuring 15 indicators of school success that are continuously measured and monitored, the district actively utilizes this data in monthly board meetings to highlight student growth, achievement, and behavior, thereby reinforcing transparency and fostering greater engagement. While all 15 metrics are actively monitored, the district is strategically focusing intensive improvement efforts on 5 specific metrics identified for their urgent impact on the school community and their critical importance for future success. The district is committed to these goals for the next few years, implementing a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle to continuously refine its strategies and drive sustained improvement.