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Survey results are in!


The results are in!  The survey's have been tabulated!  A huge thank you to the more than 150 districts who updated their enterprise systems this year in our 2nd annual EXPANDED survey.  We've combined the results from the first and second surveys into a single searchable online index. We think this is currently the most accurate and complete list of systems in use by California K-12 public school districts.  And there's still time to update YOUR district's list of enterprise systems if you didn't get a chance to do so yet.  The online survey will stay open until the end of the school year and we'll update the list continuously throughout the year.  

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CALPADS Flash Update #167

When to Use an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), Individualized Education Program (IEP), or an Individualized Service Plan (ISP) This Flash provides further specificity to Flash 161 regarding which plan types students with disabilities (SWD) should have. Individuals: Birth to 35 months should have an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). Ages 3 to 5, should have an Individualized Education Program (IEP), even if the child is attending a private preschool, private transitional kindergarten, or private kindergarten (that is not a nonpublic, nonsectarian certified school). LEAs should enroll students ages 3 to 5 who are attending a private school at the district level, with the Re...

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Site updates - March 4, 2024

Hello members!  We are making some minor tweaks to the School Data Leadership Association's website.  Please bear with us as we tweak some of the User Interface elements, add some additional functionality, and update the site.  We will be adding back any missing pages as we update them over the course of the next week or two. -Chris

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Unpacking the CAASPP ELA Performance Task Scores

A lot of energy, time, and money is being spent on state assessments, so it is proper to check in and ask how it is going. It would not make sense for us to continue to spend the effort on testing only to ignore the results. And yet, eight years into the California CAASPP system, little is known about individual-level student scores responses to the Summative tests, especially with the multiple-choice section of the test. The overall scale score each student receives does not actually break down the types of questions each student answered correctly. Over the last eight years this fact has remained – individual student level data on the Computer Adapted test is still unknown. In the las...

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Modernizing Your Approach to EdTech

The School Data Leadership Association is co-presenting a webinar on September 15, 2022 at 10 AM PST.   TOPIC:  Modernizing Your Approach to EdTech: From Management to Optimization DESCRIPTION:    Schools, districts and charter networks of every size are managing increasing numbers of edtech products - often with few dedicated resources and limited bandwidth. In this webinar, we'll sit down with Christopher Moggia, EdD, to discuss best practices every district can follow to drive more value from their edtech investments. We'll cover six steps to update your approach to edtech management:1. Document which edtech tools your students and teachers are using.2. Understand dist...

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Webinar - Easing your District into a Data Warehouse


K12 district information teams navigate a confusing array of data management strategies to connect, and pass data between, an ever-growing collection of applications.This webinar, led by the School Data Leadership Association, will answer the question that persists for all K12 educators and technologists: How do move towards truly connecting all of our data systems?Topics will include:What are districts' best data integration options?What is the future of data warehousing and data exchanges?What questions should data leaders ask if a district wants to achieve better cross-district data access?Presenters:Chris Moggia, Executive Director, School Data Leadership AssociationKathryn Grady, Senior...

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7th Annual District Systems Survey

Hello SDLA members!We've just put the finishing touches on the 7th annual district systems survey.You can find it here: 7th Annual District Systems Survey The URL is https://www.schooldataleadership.org/ca-k-12-school-districts/2022-district-systems-surveyPlease help us compile the best single resource for systems used by California school districts by taking 5-10 minutes to complete the survey. Hint - you can print the list out and use that to review your district's systems, checking them off as you go. The list can also be used to help your district understand what OPTIONS exist within each category.Each year we review the results and update the product pages listed on our site. Our goal i...

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CALPADS Reports (New!)

We are nearly finished with the build-out of the CALPADS reports section of the website.  We've listed the 84 active reports (both certification and support).  For each we list the name of the report, a screenshot, description, and list of the data elements (the actual headers of the report).  Eventually we will add some additional info for each. Registered members can also post comments/questions/tips for each.

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NEW Stability Rates Report on DataQuest

Stability Rates ReportStability Rates Report (with County data)Stability Rate Downloadable Data Files These reports were developed in response to requests from educators, policy makers, and stakeholders across the state. The SR reports identify the number and percent of students who receive a "full year" of learning in the same school. This measure was developed after an extensive review of various stability metrics calculated by other state educational agencies, an evaluation of the data the CDE collects, and in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. The CDE is also providing these data to fulfill a recommendation stemming from the Superintendent of Public Instruction's Impr...

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U.S. Department of Education Releases Resource Collections for Elementary, Secondary, and Postsecondary Schools

 The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights issued two resource collections—one for elementary and secondary schools and one for postsecondary institutions—designed to assist in planning for a successful and equitable return to schools and campuses. The two collections include fact sheets, Q&As, letters to educators, and other materials explaining the obligations that elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools have under the federal civil rights laws enforced by OCR to provide educational environments free from discrimination. Read the Elementary and Secondary Resource Collection PDF (508K)Read the Postsecondary Resource Collection PDF (356K) As we look forward...

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Kahoot! will acquire Clever, a leading US K-12 EdTech learning platform, accelerating its vision to build the world's leading learning platform

Kahoot! today announced the acquisition of Clever, one of the most widely-used digital learning platforms by U.S. K-12 schools, to make learning awesome worldwide. Oslo, Norway (May 6, 2021) – Kahoot!, a global learning platform company, announced today the acquisition of Clever Inc., a privately-held, California-based company that is one of the most widely-used digital learning platforms by U.S. K-12 schools. The partnership between two of the most popular platforms in education, with distinct and highly complementary offerings, will provide improved learning solutions and offerings to U.S. schools, while accelerating the global expansion of Clever's solutions. Kahoot! Group will acquire 10...

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US DOE Approves some Accountability Waivers for 2020-21

The United States Department of Education on Tuesday April 6, 2021 approved in writing a request from the California Department of Education to waive some accountablity, school identificiation, and related reporting requirements for the 2020-21 school year due to challenges related to the Covid-19 pandemic.   Please note that these accountabilty requirement waivers did NOT extend reporting or testing deadlines nor did they waive the administration of any CAASPP, CAST, CAA, ELPAC, or related state tests.  In addition no extension to testing deadlines were issued. You can read the full report below: 

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Leveraging ESSER III to Advance Education in Your District

Be an ESSER III Hero: Three Technologies that Facilitate A Successful Return to School On Thursday, March 11, 2021, the first anniversary of the pandemic declaration, H.R. 1319, the "American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021," was signed and became Law 117-2. The ARPA, a $1.9 trillion plan, included an even larger relief package for ESSER III than ESSER I and ESSER II combined, providing $123 billion for schools to tackle learning loss and prepare to reopen in the fall. These funds provide critical assistance to help schools and districts maintain a high-quality learning environment, continue the establishment of innovative learning methods, and combat COVID-19 related learning loss. Our ...


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Let's Stop Trying to Turn Teachers into Analysts

Jenny Rankin, whose research revealed that teachers drew the wrong conclusion from test data most of the time when using conventional reports.

In ten years, will historians look back at the 30-year effort to get teachers to interpret test data as a failure? I'm impatient. I don't want to wait ten years. Although I'm no historian, here's my verdict. Yes, it was a failure. This long push to make teachers do "data-driven decision-making" has flopped. But of all those who share responsibility for this flop, teachers are the least culpable. Evidence of its failure is everywhere. The tests most teachers favor are the ones they create. Those teacher-created tests often reveal the least about the degree to which students have mastered the subject matter they've studied. State tests are disliked, disrespected and misunderstood. Proof of how...

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Assessment Spotlight Issue #97 - July 7, 2020

Focusing on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System and English Language Proficiency Assessments of California (ELPAC)—and including, when timely, updates on California's other statewide assessments. New Resource! Guidance on Diagnostic and Formative Assessments Today, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond announced the availability of a new resource, "Guidance on Diagnostic and Formative Assessments." This informative document describes how educators can use California's approved assessments to evaluate where students are academically at the start of and throughout the school year. CALPADS and the ELPAC: Changes Beginning July 1, 2020, the California Longi...

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CA State releases official guidance on school re-openings

Editor's note:  Still not sure if they understand schools or not.  Keeping students 6 feet apart from each other is clearly not a viable option in schools where 40 students are crammed into a single classroom.  Unclear what resources, if any, will actually flow to schools to enable these recommendations to lead to actual implementation.  But here they are . . . . California Releases Guidance on Re-Opening of Schools Stronger Together -  Published June 8, 2020. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/hn/documents/strongertogether.pdf

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Assessment Spotlight Issue 93 - May 29, 2020

Assessment Spotlight Focusing on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System and English Language Proficiency Assessments of California (ELPAC)—and including, when timely, updates on California's other statewide assessments. Newly Updated Smarter Content Explorer! The Smarter Content Explorer has recently been updated! Offering new features based on educator feedback, this user-friendly web tool combines the information provided in the Smarter Balanced Content and Item Specifications—key resources used in test and item development—into an easy-to-use search interface. Users can access customized content generated by a quick search by subject, grade, and targ...

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