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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Fiftieth Legislature – First Regular Session
AD HOC COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION DATA SYSTEMS
Minutes of Interim Meeting
House Hearing Room 3 -- 2:00 p.m.
CoChairman Carter called the meeting to order at 2:02 p.m. and roll call was taken by the secretary.
Members Present
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Representative Kate Brophy McGee, CoChairman |
Jeff Billings |
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Representative Heather Carter, CoChairman |
Rebecca Gau |
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Representative Catherine Miranda |
J. Elliott Hibbs |
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Representative David Stevens |
Mark Masterson |
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Jaime Molera |
Members Absent
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None |
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CoChairman Carter greeted the Members and stated that she has received many inquiries of interest about the data system for Arizona. She indicated that Mr. Masterson will begin the presentations.
Presentation on Modifications to the Student Accountability Information System and the Arizona Education Learning and Accountability System
Mark Masterson, Arizona Department of Education (ADE), stated that technology is the mortar which binds education, the foundation of society (Attachment 1). He stated that ADE is about student success, great teachers, effective institutions, and ensuring that there is a road for student success (that students be college-ready and career-able). He added that ADE wants to create an atmosphere in Arizona so that businesses and corporations want to be here to hire Arizona students.
Mr. Masterson stated that currently there is much data available, but not much information. The data is separated out in every system in the state, and in every school district. He explained that what is needed is a statewide system that uses information to orchestrate the resources of all the districts and uses local education agencies (LEAs) to focus on progressing each student along a personalized success plan aligned with locally adopted standards.
Mr. Masterson stated that he intends to use the predictive analytics, successful in industry and business, which see trends and react to them. He stressed that the same concept can be applied to students and will deliver information to teachers that will identify student issues or problems with the academic courses and prepare the teachers to resolve the issues. He stated that this is all possible with the right systems, the right technology, the right information, the right resources, and the right standards. He explained that the pathway to this next generation of education is access, using computer labs and collaborative environments.
Mr. Masterson added that important next steps in the process are the teacher-student connection and the acquisition of data integration, which can be quite expensive to implement, with licensing and privacy requirements. He stressed that, while many Arizona districts have higher maturity levels, the State of Arizona is very much at the beginning of this path to predictive analytics: integrated → connected → engaged → personalized. He stated that support from the Governor, the Superintendent, the House and the Senate is all aligned.
Mr. Masterson then described for the Members the successes of the ADE Information Technology (IT) Modernization Effort:
· The Student Accountability Information System (SAIS) phases I, II, II, and IV have been completed with a $1 million project grant from the Governor; the system will be available for FY2012.
· The ADE financial system replacement was initiated.
· The Arizona Education Learning and Accountability System (AELAS) program was initiated.
· A Data Governance Board was established, per legislative request, to manage ADE along with the State Board of Education. There is complete transparency and the Data Governance Board provides guidance and permission to proceed with the business case.
· SAIS was never documented, so ADE reverse-engineered it in order to document the business rules.
· The roadmap for the first year of AELAS was defined, with the next step being the development of the business case before the end of 2011, and delivery of the business case in September 2012 as well as to have SAIS implemented on the new AELAS architecture at that time and on supported operating systems.
· SAIS will be broken down into many different services, rather than the huge system that it is today. This will follow a “pay for service” model.
· SAIS is constructed of four components: transaction, integrity, aggregation and finance. Each will be re-worked.
Mr. Stevens stated that he is skeptical and does not yet support this approach. He stated that he must be won over because he has seen a half-dozen failed systems that started just like this. He asked Mr. Masterson if he is aware that the State of Arizona intends to revamp its entire IT system; Mr. Masterson replied that he has been working closely with the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) and they are very aware of every step that he is taking. Mr. Stevens requested more detail on the data and the systems. Discussion ensued about systems and vendors selected to be used. Mr. Masterson stated that the current foundation is built on Microsoft, so migrating over 100 systems away from that would be costly.
CoChairman Carter asked the cost of the new system, as she had heard a press report suggesting a $50 million figure. Mr. Masterson replied that $50 million would be a wild guess because, without a full business case, any number would be premature.
CoChairman Carter asked how the new system will be different from the old system. Mr. Masterson explained that the new system does not exist, that it is a vision using his thirty years of experience to apply predictive analytics to the school system to enable students and teachers to utilize the data collected.
Mr. Molera stated that he appreciates the candor of the comments by the superintendent and Mr. Masterson that the current system is not working. He added that a lot of money is being spent at the local level because this current state system is not functioning.
Mr. Molera asked for further explanation about what must be done at a local level to catch up with the state’s plans. Mr. Masterson replied that small districts currently have spreadsheets at best, and other tools that do not enable them; these small districts will benefit the most from the new system and be the easiest to implement. Mr. Masterson added that the big districts will be more difficult to implement because they have current systems with architecture that may not match with the new architecture.
Mr. Stevens cautioned that there is a huge cost in being on the leading edge of technology; it is cheaper to get the job done with cost-effective, already available technology. Mr. Masterson clarified that he was speaking of being on the leading edge of education.
CoChairman Carter summarized the following:
1. the old system is compliance-driven by layered-on legislative mandates which is an “old school bureaucracy” and regulatory approach that is not value-added and looking at efficiencies
2. the new system will provide real-time availability to static day-to-day data that complies with common standards across education LEAs which will require much conversation about what type of data is being collected, how it is collected, and so forth
Ms. Gau commented that her understanding of real-time data is SAIS data, attendance data, and finance data which has had a huge time-lag in the past. She clarified that assessment data is different, as it is compiled yearly.
CoChairman Carter added the following items to her summarization:
3. vendor selection must be fair, clear, deliberate and transparent
4. legislative needs must be addressed: data standardization, business rules, and a sunrise process
5. reporting requirements of the new architecture will provide efficiencies over the old redundant ways of fulfilling reporting requirements
6. define how the new data system will support the legislative reform efforts such as Move On When Reading, teacher evaluation system, and the pay for performance model
CoChairman Brophy McGee stressed the importance of eliminating the reporting redundancies, which will put more dollars in the classroom and fewer into administrative tasks. She also spoke about the importance of avoiding unfunded mandates if the system is not in place but the legislative requirement is; the legislative requirement must be funded.
Presentation on Rewarding Excellence in Instruction and Leadership
Don Covey, Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools, addressed the Committee to explain why the accurate and reliable data system that ADE is designing is so important. He stressed that a challenge for educators has always been to ask the right questions to get the right data. He discussed the $87 million dollars approved for technology that comes in two packages: administrative need and student need. Each school district must submit a plan as to how it will use these dollars, but there is no oversight for the administrative side. He stressed the importance of the effective use of data and of the collaboration of ADE, the Governor’s office, the County Superintendents’ offices, and local districts.
Dr. Covey described the establishment and organization of the five regional centers which are data and training points to help local education agencies (LEAs) and charter schools:
Dr. Covey distributed information about the Maricopa County Education Service Agency (MCESA) (Attachment 2) and listed the goals of today’s presentation:
Kristine Morris, Chief Deputy Superintendent, Maricopa County Education Service Agency, addressed the Committee to explain the importance of the converging forces to ensure that students are prepared for college- and career-readiness. She stressed the importance of data use and standards and assessments.
Ms. Morris described the Arizona Ready goals and discussed the Arizona Ready blueprint:
Ms. Morris discussed enabling legislation with regards to Arizona Ready and its four pillars:
1. data use
2. standards and assessments
3. great teachers and leaders
4. support to struggling schools
Ms. Morris explained that, at the current time, data management systems are so varied and in data pockets that do not communicate with each other that Arizona is data-rich but information-poor. She stressed the importance of moving from just collecting data to using it to generate information, acquire knowledge, plan strategically, take action, and measure results.
Mark Svorinic, Program Manager, Arizona Department of Education and Maricopa County Education Service Agency, addressed the Committee to discuss the MCESA-ADE alliance and how it is leveraging its resources to pilot a pathway for the new statewide student and teacher data management system. He described how the MCESA-ADE alliance has, in less than nine months:
Dr. Covey explained how organization used to be “top down” but now is “bottom up,” capturing information about what teachers and principals need. He listed recommendations to support the statewide longitudinal data systems of AELAS:
Ms. Gau asked how longitudinal data systems are integrating all information for one student. Mr. Masterson replied that is the focus and that the data must first be extracted from legacy software systems.
Mr. Stevens cautioned that the emphasis on technology to solve many of the problems may be overrated and that it is important to keep in mind that technology brings its own problems. He stressed the importance of getting the job done and not focusing so much on the technology.
Mr. Billings asked what some of the different systems are and if they have been tied together yet. Ms. Morris replied that the process to tie them together has begun, and explained that data governance task forces have been formed to define how current data is coded and how it matches with the new standards, as well as locating where the data resides and in which system.
Al Dullum, Project Manager, Data Management System, Maricopa County Education Service Agency, addressed Mr. Billings’ question by explaining how he is extracting current assessment data from the different systems such as Galileo. He explained how extensible markup language (XML) technology will be used to analyze and allow crosstalk among the systems. He added that existing technology will be used in all cases.
CoChairman Carter expressed concern that pockets of efforts all over the state may not be working together and asked what would happen if the Legislature passes bills requiring tasks that are not compatible with one or more of these pockets. Discussion ensued.
Mr. Masterson commented that some districts have made recent investments in their systems and that it is important to allow those districts to utilize the full lifespan of those systems. He stated that the rollout will go first to those districts which do not have systems in place.
CoChairman Brophy McGee asked if the ADE systems are talking together. Mr. Masterson replied that some do, such as SAIS, but that some are still at the starting point; he added that legislation demands that this situation be remedied.
CoChairman Brophy McGee asked for more detail about Dr. Covey’s suggested legislation. Dr. Covey explained that every school district is required by ADE to submit a technology plan about how technology will be used for students, but there is no requirement to submit a plan for data systems; he is requesting guidelines and leadership from the Legislature to specify equipment and compatibilities for data systems. Discussion ensued.
CoChairman Carter summarized today’s meeting and future agenda items as:
Mr. Billings commented that SAIS was started as an accountability system with three variables but is moving now into an instructional improvement system with seventy variables. Mr. Masterson explained that AELAS will be a state-standard system which will be flexible and nimble. Ms. Gau added that the new system will have two foci: accountability and instruction.
CoChairman Carter suggested that the Committee have one meeting just on the budgeting of this project.
Public Testimony
There was none.
Without objection, the meeting adjourned at 4:07 p.m.
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Jane Dooley, Committee Secretary
December 6, 2011
(Original minutes, attachments and audio on file in the Chief Clerk’s Office; video archives available at http://www.azleg.gov)
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AD HOC COMMITTEE
ON EDUCATION DATA SYSTEMS
November 9, 2011
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