Ten Questions BrightBytes Can Help You Answer as You Turn Big Data into Big Benefits for Students
- How can we be sure that we offer the specific professional development teachers need?
“With BrightBytes data, we discovered that most of our districts needed to focus on digital citizenship skills. We created online modules to teach those skills, and made them available for free to every teacher.” —Teela Watson, Director of Instructional Services & Digital Learning, Texas Education Service Center Region 11 (ESC 11)
- Is our organization’s data and direction clear to all stakeholder groups?
“Our districts use BrightBytes data to show their school boards where they are with integration. It’s been critical to provide clear, communicable data to identify challenges.” Teela Watson, Director of Instructional Services & Digital Learning, Texas Education Service Center Region 11 (ESC 11)
- How can we take complex data and use it to make an immediate difference in a student’s life?
“With the Student Success module, we can identify a student at risk of dropping out and the specific issues immediately. This information helps determine the right interventions.” —Jeffrey Luks, Manager, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)
- What can data show us in terms of interventions for each student?
“The Intervention module helps schools look at inputs and outputs to determine which interventions have the most impact on students.”
—Jeffrey Luks, Manager, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)
- How can we identify students in need early and get them the necessary support?
“By analyzing data from multiple sources, the Student Success module provides easy-to-understand visualizations to help target specific students for support.”—Bryan Fairbrother, Educational Data Services Leader, Mohawk (NY) Regional Information Center
- Is there a way to understand student trajectory earlier?
“The data is meaningful, impactful, and clear, so we can see the big picture, identify students who need help, and take immediate action.” —Bryan Fairbrother, Educational Data Services Leader, Mohawk (NY) Regional Information Center
- How can data help teachers learn to integrate technology in a way that meets students’ expectations?
“Teachers report using technology frequently, but students say otherwise. We have to provide the mindset and training to support a big shift. We started a book series and as a result, one teacher spent the summer rethinking lesson plans.” —Charlotte M. Golden, Director of Curriculum & Instruction/Educational Technologies, Carbon Lehigh (PA) Intermediate Unit #21
- Can data provide insight on the big picture of our initiatives?
“Often, districts make decisions based on intuition. With the Technology & Learning module, we’ve been able to connect the dots to see how to achieve smaller initiatives. The data helps us learn how each initiative works together toward a common goal.” —Lisa Cala Ruud, Managing Coordinator - Instructional Services, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)
- How can we better determine and validate new initiatives?
“The data puts assumptions in check. There was a lot of resistance about blended learning from educators who assumed students didn’t have devices or Internet at home. After the BrightBytes survey, they discovered only a small percentage lacked access.”
—Lisa Cala Ruud, Managing Coordinator - Instructional Services, Northeastern (NY) Regional Information Center (NERIC)
- How can we better understand our district’s digital equity?
“The data serves as a jumping-off point for conversations. We found most students have devices at home, but many of them are shared. That data impacts the consistency for instruction at home. A teacher needs to be intentional about using digital assets at home.” —Doug Renfro, Executive Director of Learning Technology and Library Services, Metro Nashville (TN) Public Schools
Learn More about using data to support students at the Bright Bytes website: http://www.brightbytes.net/
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