NATIONAL COOPERATIVE EDUCATION STATISTICS SYSTEM The National Center for Education Statistics established the National Cooperative Education Statistics System (Cooperative System) to assist in producing and maintaining comparable and uniform information and data on early childhood education and elementary and secondary education. These data are intended to be useful for policymaking at the federal, state, and local levels. The National Forum on Education Statistics, among other activities, proposes principles of good practice to assist state and local education agencies in meeting this purpose. The Cooperative System and the National Forum on Education Statistics are supported in these endeavors by resources from the National Center for Education Statistics. Publications of the National Forum on Education Statistics do not undergo the formal review required for products of the National Center for Education Statistics. The information and opinions published here are the product of the National Forum on Education Statistics and do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education or the National Center for Education Statistics. September 2006 This publication and other publications of the National Forum on Education Statistics may be found at the National Center for Education Statistics website. The NCES World Wide Web Home Page is http://nces.ed.gov The NCES World Wide Web Electronic Catalog is http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch The Forum World Wide Web Home Page is http://nces.ed.gov/forum Suggested Citation: National Forum on Education Statistics. (2006). Forum Guide to Decision Support Systems: A Resource for Educators (NFES 2006–807). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. For ordering information on this report, write: U.S. Department of Education ED Pubs P.O. Box 1398 Jessup, MD 20794-1398 Or call toll free at 1-877-4ED-PUBS or order online at http://www.edpubs.org. Te chnical Contact: Ghedam Bairu 202-502–7304 [email protected] Task Force Members This document was developed through the National Cooperative Education Statistics System, funded by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education, and produced by a volunteer task force of the National Forum on Education Statistics (an entity of the National Cooperative Education Statistics System). A list of task force members follows. Co-Chairs Tom Ogle Raymond Yeagley Missouri Department of Northwest Evaluation Association Elementary and Secondary Education Lake Oswego, Oregon Jefferson City, Missouri Members Bethann Canada Thomas Purwin Virginia Department of Education Jersey City Public Schools Richmond, Virginia Jersey City, New Jersey Bertha Doar Lee Rabbitt Rockwood School District North Kingstown School Department Eureka, Missouri North Kingstown, Rhode Island Patricia Eiland Jeff Stowe Alabama State Department of Education Arizona Department of Education Montgomery, Alabama Phoenix, Arizona Project Officer Ghedam Bairu National Center for Education Statistics Task Force Members iii Acknowledgments Many local, state, and federal education agency officials contributed to the development of this guide. The members of the Forum’s Decision Support System Literacy Task Force wish to acknowledge this support. The task force would also like to thank the Technology (TECH) Committee and all Forum members for their help in developing this document. A web resource published by Daniel J. Power strongly influenced the task force’s early work. Carol Dodd (Los Angeles Unified School District) provided suggestions about the use of decision support systems to improve communi­ cations between administrators and teachers. Larry Fruth (Schools Interoperability Framework Association) shared expertise during discussions about interoperability. Tim Magner (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Te chnology) provided expert technical feedback that considerably improved this guide. Bob Bellamy (Better School Business, LLC) also provided technical expertise. Andy Rogers (Quality Information Partners) and Stephanie Rovito (Education Statistics Services Institute) prepared the first draft of this guide. Tom Szuba (Quality Information Partners) offered useful recommendations to improve the document, and helped write it. The task force is also grateful to Lee Hoffman and Emmanuel Sikali (NCES) for reviewing the document. Frances Erlebacher edited the document and the Creative Shop provided layout and design services. Throughout this document, there are references to several publications produced by the National Forum on Education Statistics. The task force highly recommends these documents as they represent the work of education practitioners from across the country. They can be accessed at http://nces.ed.gov/forum/publications.asp. iv Forum Guide to Decision Support Systems: A Resource for Educators Table of Contents Task Force Members . .iii Acknowledgments . .iv Foreword . .vii Introduction . .ix Part I: What is a Decision Support System? . .1 Defining the Concept . .1 Data Warehouse and Data Mart . .2 Transforming Education Decisionmaking . .3 Summary . .4 Part II: Components of a Decision Support System . .5 Common Components of Decision Support Systems . .5 Data Quality: The Foundation of Any Decision Support System . .5 1. Data collection . .5 Hardware, Software, and Data Management Processes . .7 2. Hardware, networks, and operating systems . .7 3. Underlying data sources . .7 Accessibility . .7 Ownership . .7 Interoperability . .8 4. Extract, transform, and load (ETL) process . .8 5. Data warehouse or data aggregator . .9 6. Analysis and reporting tools . .9 Analysis tools . .9 Reporting tools . .10 Predefined reports . .11 Ad-hoc reports . .12 7. User dashboard . .12 Summary . .13 Part III: Developing a Decision Support System . .15 Conducting a Needs Assessment . .15 Data Security Planning . .16 User Training . .17 Differentiated professional development . .17 Ongoing professional development . .18 Summary . .18 Part IV. Summary . .19 Appendix: Elements of a Decision Support System Request for Proposal (RFP) . .21 Table of Contents v Foreword The Decision Support System Literacy Task Force of the National Forum on Education Statistics (Forum) is pleased to introduce the Forum Guide to Decision Support Systems: A Resource for Educators. This document was developed by educators for educators to reme­ dy the lack of reliable, objective information available to the education community about decision support systems. The authors hope it will help readers better understand what decision support systems are, how they are configured, how they operate, and how they might be implemented in an education institution. Like other Forum guides, this document was prepared by Forum members—represen­ tatives of local and state education agencies, federal agencies, and national organizations involved in education data collection and use. This work was supported by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education. The National Forum on Education Statistics provides an arena for local, state, and national leaders in the education data community to discuss issues, address problems, develop resources, and consider new approaches to improving data collection and utility. The Decision Support System Literacy Task Force hopes you find the Forum Guide to Decision Support Systems: A Resource for Educators useful, and that it helps improve data- driven decisionmaking in schools, school districts, and state education agencies across the nation. Tom Ogle Raymond Yeagley Task Force Co-Chair Task Force Co-Chair Missouri Department of Northwest Evaluation Association Elementary and Secondary Education Forum Review Procedures Task force members review all products iteratively throughout the devel­ opment process. Documents prepared, reviewed, and approved by task force members undergo a formal.