CDS SMART: An Education Intelligence Tool
Confluent Data Systems, in partnership with the Wenatchee School District, brings advanced analytical techniques to the world of education through the Scholastic Metrics Analysis and Reporting Tool (SMART). An advanced assessment analysis tool that incorporates assessment creation, distribution, data collection, and reporting, SMART replaces manual data collection efforts that prove tedious, time-consuming, error prone, and expensive.
SMART is both a warehouse of performance data and a tool for detailed analysis and reporting. It is most useful in situations where an entire grade-level takes the same assessments, and the assessment “strands” or objectives are identified for each question or section in the evaluation instrument. Superintendents, principals, and classroom teachers can then answer questions ranging from the general , “What percentage of 6th grade students are reading at grade level?” to the more specific, “What percentage of 2nd graders have mastered blended vowels?”
More importantly, SMART analysis can reveal which district-wide or school-wide measures correlate most significantly with success on standard tests (e.g. the WASL in Washington State). The relationships uncovered through this analysis can potentially drive instruction and improve standardized test scores.
Reports range in granularity from a single student up through class, school, and district summaries. The Student Report (Figure 1) shows not only a student’s actual score on each objective or strand in an assessment, but also the “standard” and the class average. This is a very useful report for communicating with parents.
At the other end of the spectrum, district-wide reports (Figure 2) illustrate statistics on any metric and can also correlate scores with any student attribute, such as ethnicity (See Figure 2), as well as any other measurable attribute for which the district has data to support.
SMART integrates and automatically synchronizes with Skyward™, SchoolMaster™, and other major gradebook and school management databases. This eliminates duplicate and unnecessary data entry, thereby ensuring data consistency and integrity. If a student is transferred from one class to another in your school’s current system, SMART will pick up the change automatically.
Confluent Data Systems provides SMART as a hosted solution, providing the software and underlying enterprise-level Oracle™ database management on our servers in our network operations center. As a web-based solution packaged with industrial strength security, SMART is an extremely secure and easily accessible data analysis solution that does not require district maintained technology, eliminating hassle and significantly decreasing operating expenses.
For additional information, or to set up a demonstration of SMART for your district please contact Ms. Devon Schallhorn directly at Devon.Schallhorn@Confluent-Data.com or (509) 888-0201.
