Spring Branch ISD Featured News

Grant support provides foundational work that will help students reach academic goals

Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD) and its nonprofit partner, Spring Branch Education Foundation (SBEF), have announced plans to create a student-centered informational dashboard that will improve its current data system and meet the growing needs of students and families for current information.

Through this project, SBISD will overhaul its data architecture so that information once inaccessible will now be delivered real-time to educators, learners, and parents. A complete view of student progress will enable educators to provide the right support at the right time, according to Christina Masick, SBISD chief information officer.

This work has been made possible by a grant to SBEF from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

"Making secure, real-time information available to educators is absolutely critical to The Learner's Journey," said SBISD Superintendent Scott R. Muri, Ed.D. "We have created a culture of high expectations for all students, which places increased importance on students to take responsibility for their own learning. Providing students with real-time feedback on their progress will empower them and their families to make data-informed decisions."

Building on the Ed-Fi Data Standard, the standard used for the exchange of student data that ensures security and privacy, SBISD’s IT system will seamlessly connect educational data systems currently siloed.

“This is foundational work that makes multiple data systems compatible,” Masick explained. “Our goal is to make all student information available on one dashboard so that students and families have a full view of the student’s academic journey. They will be able to measure current progress in order to reach their academic goals. If intervention is necessary, parents will know that.”

Currently, SBISD houses important student data in many formats, including online and paper files. Searching for online data means logging into multiple programs with limited tools to measure programmatic performance.

“At the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, we work to help ensure educators have critical data at their fingertips so they can best support the students who need it most,” said Lyria Zeh, program officer, Data Driven Education, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. “Our work with SBISD enables teachers and parents in Spring Branch to use data to help students with the right intervention at the right times.”

“Unifying our data systems positions SBISD to make data more actionable for teaching, learning, and operational improvements. This is key to the district’s Learner’s Journey, and we are grateful to the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation for partnering with us to make this possible,” said Elliott Witney, SBISD associate superintendent for Academic Design and Performance.

SBISD students and families can expect to see the first iteration of the student-centered dashboard over the course of the next year.  

ABOUT THE MICHAEL & SUSAN DELL FOUNDATION:

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (www.msdf.org) is dedicated to improving the lives of children living in urban poverty around the world. Headquartered in Austin, TX, with additional offices in New Delhi, India, and Cape Town, South Africa, the Dell Foundation funds programs that foster high-quality public education and childhood wellness, and improve the economic stability of families living in poverty. The Foundation has committed more than $1.5 billion to global children's issues and community initiatives to date.

ABOUT SPRING BRANCH EDUCATION FOUNDATION:

Spring Branch Education Foundation is committed to supporting SBISD students and educators. It partners with the district and community to fund programs that enhance education and ̅students for the future. In 2016, Caruthers Institute ranked SBEF 42^nd in the nation among 188 K-12 education foundations and in the top 10 of its division of foundations with $1 million to $1,999,999 in revenues. Since 1993, the Foundation has donated more than $13 million to the district. SBEF is a 501(c)3 organization; all donations are tax deductible.

ABOUT ED-FI

Ed-Fi securely and seamlessly connects educational data systems. A not-for-profit organization fully funded by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Ed-Fi aims to boost student achievement by empowering educators with comprehensive insight into their students.

Founded in 2012, Ed-Fi streamlines data management in school districts and states across the country. By allowing schools to integrate the data previously siloed within disconnected tools and software—and organizing it through a single, secure data standard—Ed-Fi finally solves one of the country’s most perplexing educational challenges: how to get a complete, accurate view of individual student achievement.