Driven By Data

Posts tagged 1-30

DC Data Validation: Improving your process

DC Data Validation: Improving your process

Throughout the year OSSE and PCSB ask schools to “validate” a number of student data points – from re-enrollment rates to PARCC achievement subgroup scores. Schools are asked to review and certify certain groups of data in OSSE’s or PCSB’s databases and confirm their accuracy (versus the school’s internal records). While data validation can feel daunting, making a roadmap at the beginning of the school year allows you to streamline validation task management during the school-year when there are so many competing priorities.

Student DataDan TheisenMarch 4, 20201-30

Using Interim Assessments to Predict End of Year Results

Using Interim Assessments to Predict End of Year Results

Schools are taking more assessments than ever before. While the output and data from assessments vary – RIT scores and percentiles from NWEA MAP or a percent score from Achievement Network – common challenges exist for school leaders, regardless of the exam. School leaders are all aiming to create meaning from student scores and put interim scores in context with end-of-year outcomes. This post identifies one method (of many) that will help leaders make sense of current assessment results and what they imply about end-of-year outcomes.

Student DataDan TheisenFebruary 25, 20201-30

Strong Data Hygiene for Interconnected Systems

Strong Data Hygiene for Interconnected Systems

Data systems are great at making our schools run more efficiently… right up until a grade is missing on a report card or a student can’t log in on test day. As the web of interconnected systems grows in size and complexity, keeping your data clean and orderly is just as important as any software upgrade.

Student DataDan TheisenFebruary 12, 20201-30

Highlighting Value through a Total Compensation Statement

Highlighting Value through a Total Compensation Statement

When thinking about financial compensation, most employees only consider salary. As an employer, however, you know that your financial contribution to staff is much greater than that. If you can better communicate the full value of staff compensation, you can improve both employee engagement and retention.

Human CapitalDan TheisenFebruary 4, 20201-30

Broaden Your Employee Benefit Offering Through Tuition Assistance Programs

Broaden Your Employee Benefit Offering Through Tuition Assistance Programs

The benefits offered by your school can directly affect employee retention. In an earlier post, we covered flexibility benefit options, which account for four of the top valued benefits according to research from Harvard Business Review. Today, we are moving down the list to student loan assistance and tuition assistance.

Human CapitalDan TheisenJanuary 29, 20201-30

Financial Per Pupil Analysis: Why You Want It, and How You Can Do It

Financial Per Pupil Analysis: Why You Want It, and How You Can Do It

Effectively analyzing school financial statements across multiple years can be challenging. Changes in facilities, organizational structure, fundraising strategies, or student population (including opening or closing campuses, adding new grade levels, or experiencing demographic shifts) complicate the comparability of financials.

Finance & AccountingDan TheisenJanuary 22, 20201-30

Funding for Facilities: What are Lenders Looking for?

Funding for Facilities: What are Lenders Looking for?

Lenders want to know if you will pay them back. Whether you are considering traditional bank loans, taxable or tax-exempt bonds, or even special forms of financing created by state or federal government programs, the underlying question is the same. To find the answer, lenders look for assurances that your project and school will generate enough cash flow to service the debt (and that your school will stay open long enough to pay).

Finance & Accounting, Facility SupportDan TheisenJanuary 15, 20201-30

Four Things to Consider Before Beginning the Budgeting Process

Four Things to Consider Before Beginning the Budgeting Process

A well-conceived budget will serve as a “map” when making financial decisions throughout the year. It will reflect what you value as an organization, communicate your priorities to key stakeholders (board, staff, authorizer, families, funders), and highlight any new or changed priorities. Before the more technical work of the budgeting process begins, there are a number of broad concepts that we recommend every school focus on.

Finance & AccountingDan TheisenJanuary 8, 20201-30

Understand Assessment Data with Three Metric Types

Understand Assessment Data with Three Metric Types

Assessment data comes in fast throughout the year and provides multiple opportunities for all stakeholders to learn about the performance of a school. With so many ways to slice the data, it can be difficult to identify the most important stories.

Student DataDan TheisenDecember 11, 20191-30

Designing an EVP to think beyond salary & benefits

Designing an EVP to think beyond salary & benefits

We have conducted several compensation studies helping schools develop a compensation philosophy and strategy that is best for staff and financially sustainable. Compensation, after all, is the most important factor candidates consider when evaluating multiple offers. However, we always push school leadership to remember that salary is just one factor and should be considered alongside many others.

Human CapitalDan TheisenDecember 4, 20191-30

The Economics of Scheduling Decisions

The Economics of Scheduling Decisions

We often begin our school budget training for charter applicants by asking the group to identify the major levers that impact total teacher salary expenses. Almost without fail, the two answers given are 1) teacher salary levels and 2) average class size. What most people overlook is that there is a third, equally important lever: 3) schedule configuration.

Operations, Student Data, Human Capital, Finance & AccountingDan TheisenNovember 20, 20191-30

Choosing a Student Information System

Choosing a Student Information System

The Student Information System (SIS) serves as a school’s database of enrolled students, their attendance, class schedules, parents and emergency contacts, and often much, much more. The SIS is like a school’s brain – critical to its ongoing functioning – and so adopting or switching to a new one is no small decision. Although needs vary between schools, some basic considerations apply across the board. This post aims to familiarize you with some of the main questions to ask yourself (and prospective vendors) before making a decision

Operations, Student DataDan TheisenNovember 13, 20191-30

How should I choose a student recruitment budget?

How should I choose a student recruitment budget?

As many school administrators and staff already know, approximately 90% of funding received by schools is driven by enrollment. Student recruitment can drive enrollment, and thus has a significant impact on the financial stability of your school.

Finance & Accounting, Operations, Student DataDan TheisenNovember 6, 20191-30

Four Ways to Deal with a Low Cash Balance

Four Ways to Deal with a Low Cash Balance

Operating with a low supply of cash reserves can be an extremely stressful situation for any business. This can be a particularly daunting challenge for public charter and independent schools as cash inflows do not always align well with required cash outflows.

Finance & AccountingDan TheisenOctober 30, 20191-30

What Staff Want Most and How You Can Give it to Them

What Staff Want Most and How You Can Give it to Them

Attracting and retaining high-quality employees is critical to school success. One of the ways school leadership can show its staff, both new and returning, that they are valued is by offering benefits that they truly value.

Human CapitalDan TheisenOctober 23, 20191-30

Best Practices for Sharing State Test Results

Best Practices for Sharing State Test Results

Building on our data experience with schools, we have compiled best practices for managing the communication and wider dissemination of state test results across critical internal stakeholders.

Student DataDan TheisenOctober 16, 20191-30

Underlying Factors Causing Absenteeism

Underlying Factors Causing Absenteeism

Attendance and absenteeism are continuous educational challenges. However, before schools can effectively address absenteeism and improve their attendance rate, it is critical to understand common factors that can impact the students they serve.

Student DataDan TheisenOctober 9, 20191-30

Three Best Practices for Creating Action-Oriented Dashboards

Three Best Practices for Creating Action-Oriented Dashboards

As more and more data is made available to educators, data dashboards are increasingly hailed as one-stop, silver bullet solutions to school problems. Despite investing money and staff time into data visualization software and dashboard development, end-users (principals, instructional coaches, and teachers) often don’t find the information useful. We believe that dashboards are not a solution on their own. It’s the analysis and communication of the data that makes it useful to educators and directs their time, passion and attention.

Student DataDan TheisenOctober 2, 20191-30

Make your school budget work for you throughout the year

Make your school budget work for you throughout the year

All too often school leaders go through the process of making a budget – only to let it collect dust once it’s complete. A budget done well transforms abstract goals into concrete numbers and allows you to track progress towards those goals throughout the year. If you are not coming back to your budget on a regular basis as the year progresses, you can stray from your goals and expose your school to unintended risks.

Finance & AccountingDan TheisenSeptember 25, 20191-30

Executing On Your Succession Plan Through Micro-Exposures

Executing On Your Succession Plan Through Micro-Exposures

We have found in our work around the country that schools struggle to implement their succession plans even after they are created. Too often a succession plan sits untouched until a leadership transition occurs, and the organization stumbles because team members have not been trained on the challenges of roles outside of their own.

Human CapitalDan TheisenSeptember 18, 20191-30