1. Mike Bostock, past chair of Naace Executive Committee Consultant, New Media Learning Ltd mike@new-media-learning.org ■ The Use of Electronic Data in Education - why no-one can escape it

2. Management Information Systems Learning Platforms Every Child Matters Some Conclusions Some Questions Some consequences Where are the growth areas? Outcomes to learning Measuring Learning Assessment What role will Naace play? The scope of this presentation

3. ‘Every Child Matters’ will only work if educational professionals are empowered with a broad set of data about the performance and context of individual pupils. The main pressures for growth are for the development of Learning Platforms, the need for broader school performance data, and government need for statistical information from schools. The Growth Areas for the use of Electronic Data Electronic data is becoming more important in Education

4. Management Information Systems “The successful provision and use of management information directly supports the drive to raise standards in schools. MIS systems provide leadership teams with essential tools to support personalised learning strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their learning institutions.” source: Becta MIS have potential for more effective use

5. Becta intends to regulate the MIS market to: improve value for money create open technical and data standards ensure interoperability of data make technical support more cost effective increase use of MIS for school improvement improve electronic data collection Management Information Systems MIS suppliers will need to comply with new regulations

6. School use of MIS (Management Information Systems) focuses generally on data entry and collation, rather than data transfer or analysis to support planning. - Becta Review 2006 Management Information Systems Schools are collecting data but not making the best use of it

7. Are Schools getting the best from their MIS? A system-agnostic self review model of effective use of an MIS A free service given to schools on demand Pilots with schools in Cornwall, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, etc An online version will be launched at BETT It leads to an MIS development Plan. The process helps the school leadership team to identify in relation of their use of MIS in support of an organizational data strategy, There is a potential for consultancy work for NAACE members who want to support schools going through this process. For details contact with me by e-mail: peter.maher@capita.co.uk

8. Assessment reform that exploits a more ambitious use of electronic data is overdue The curriculum is undergoing significant modernisation - but traditional assessment methods still provide shackles and filters on the achievements of learners Next generation assessment systems will: be integrated with e-learning use a broader set of learning metrics automate assessment and learner feedback provide adaptive learning Assessment Assessment needs to be significantly reformed

9. A significant driving force for the use of Electronic data in education is Every Child Matters (ECM). Every Child Matters creates a thirst for a broader performance data set and pupil contextual information. The information demands of Every Child Matters ECM will make extensive use of electronic information

10. What information is there about the whole child? Family information, health information, social context data, population trends, labour market, local skills needs, curriculum offer, provider comparisons, pupil destinations, deprivation index, employment trends, teenage parents, youth offenders, looked after children, abusive parents, behaviour, attendance, truancy, special needs, achievement, attainment, learning preferences, broader pupil achievement, within school variation, student satisfaction levels Where is this information held? Social Services, Education school improvement records, Special Educational Needs services, Psychology services, health records, Primary Care Trusts, Connexions, Local Authorities, Learning and Skills Councils, FE colleges, PRUs, police records, DfES, Ofsted, examination boards, school MIS, teachers’ markbooks, virtual learning environments, Transition Plans, ad hoc school records Information is held by many organisations

11. Education Information Systems …… School MIS Learning Platform Integrated Children’s System attainment achievement attendance exclusion post code learning profiles progress strengths and weaknesses targets e-portfolios At school level.... At National Level Information stored in an MIS will link to a Learning Platform to provide complete learner progress profiles Background information about learners can trigger positive intervention by education professionals At LA level LA data services Integration of information previously held in many places supports strategic planning. Additional data services and tools Data interoperability will allow schools to use a range of additional data services (FFT, Raiseonline) and data analysis and reporting tools

12. Key design features on new Education Information Systems (EIS) will include: Ease of use and low maintenance costs Data flow – enabling re-purposing of data More emphasis on interpreting data rather than just storing it Dynamic reporting to a range of partners - including pupils

13. The key self evaluation questions are: Is the investment making a difference? What evidence is there? Schools have a ‘descriptive tradition’ They too often talk about their systems rather than provide the evidence of effectiveness. Output measures are needed but these tend to be external, e.g. PANDA data.

14. The School of the Future what type of education will best prepare learners for the next 10 years what learning is what its outcomes are how to measure it Schools may no longer be fit for purpose. Building Schools for the Future invites us to do things differently. Learning lacks a real descriptive language. Potentially we could define learning not just as the acquisition of NC levels but in relation to a profile of learning attributes, competences and capabilities

15. What if supermarkets were judged by how much food they could store? What if banks were judged by how much money they had? What if schools were judged by their GCSE points scores and SAT scores? It is possible to chose the wrong output measures and miss the point. Schools should be measured by how well they prepare every pupil for life and work after they leave school.

16. How can ICT raise aspirations and achievement ? Two horizons... Horizon 1 Achieving the best within the current way that learning is organised Aspiring to current best practice with ICT and school improvement Horizon 2 Consider how learning might be organised differently to increase the scope for better learning Adopting a transformational approach to school improvement BSF = Doing things differently….

17. www.future-learning.net Naace members have defined Transformed Education and provided audit tools to measure the extent to which learning is transformed

18. “If we insist on looking at the rainbow of intelligence through a single filter, many minds will erroneously seem devoid of light.” Renée Fuller Pupils with a dominant linguistic learning preference do better at school, at the expense of the with other dominant learning preferences.

19. Every dominant learning preference can lead to a high paid job –all are equal

20. Learning management systems have the scope to measure a greater range of learning attributes It is possible to attach simple measures to attributes of learning that have no natural units Example : Learning preferences Learning Metrics : Li 4 Lo2 Mu1 BK0 Vi2 SP3 IR1 IS4 … plus many more

21. A focus on ironing out WSV would raise standards by 10%

22. Simple tools can reveal the extent of variation in each subject

23. The variation of selected groups of pupils can be analysed and measured

24. Leadership Quality = High Achievement + Low Variation “Nothing else matters about leadership if a school isn't getting the best from every pupil and that their entitlement is demonstrably consistent across all subjects and teaching groups.” The Leadership Quotient (LQ) In theory, leadership quality is measurable

25. Continuity and extension of learning Increasing stimulating/motivational experiences Providing wider and more flexible courses Involvement in and management of target setting Tracking learning and interventions Improving planning and preparation Assessment for and of learning Reducing administration easing organisation Involving and communicating with parents Exploring progression by ability not age Offering learners greater autonomy Learning Platforms Source : Becta Learning Platforms have significant scope to make extensive use of data for learning

26. Does your implementation plan for e-learning aspire to promote learning that is transformational? To what extent do schools’ plans for new investments in Learning Platforms focus on improvements in learning quality? How should assessment professionals work to achieve the reforms needed to capture the full range of attributes developed by e-confident learners, and become more aligned with a broader range of learning methods and styles? Questions for policy makers Leaders need to get to grips with key developments in the use of electronic data.

27. Assessment reform that exploits a more ambitious use of electronic data is overdue The curriculum is undergoing significant modernisation - but traditional assessment methods still provide shackles and filters on the achievements of learners Next generation assessment systems will: be integrated with e-learning use a broader set of learning metrics automate assessment and learner feedback provide adaptive learning Assessment

28. Developments in the use of electronic data should, as a priority, demonstrate how they improve learning effectiveness and the management of learning. Obstacles to data flow need to be removed at an early stage in order to enable growth and innovation. ‘Standards’ for data interchange need to allow for curriculum reform, changes in how we monitor the growth of a broader range of learning attributes, and the development of more innovative assessment methods. Some consequences ….

29. Developments should involve all stakeholders from the ICT and data communities who have a professional interest in positive, managed developments in this area Teachers’ use of electronic data should be seen as an important area of professional growth in the pursuit of Personalised Learning and in support of the aims of ‘Building Schools for the Future’ Schools, and those who support them, should aim to be ‘data smart’ and ‘data confident’.

30. There are significant professional implications to the growth in electronic data use. Most professional roles in ICT and Education will require an engagement with the use of electronic data, as significant as an expertise in ICT and learning Perspectives and interests in this area are fragmented. Which group of people is best placed to pull this together? Naace will seek to be influential in this area by promoting the perspective of practitioners. What role will Naace play?

31. Some conclusions... The ECM agenda will require data aggregation across IT systems in order to track the development of the whole child Electronic data is a key area of development as important to ICT professionals as teaching and learning Data analysis and feedback systems will become more widespread, more integral with job functions, and more accessible by teachers, learners and parents All those who work in this area need to be data smart and data confident

32. Some questions... Pupils will increasingly be educated in more than one school from age 14. How can electronic performance information be effectively managed across a range of institutions? Education professionals at every level have a need to access subsets of the broader information profile of every child. How can we ensure that data use is effective, yet meet with child protection and data protection requirements? All schools will have a Learning Platform by 2008, yet the debate on what how they will need to work in order to transform learning lags behind the establishment of standards for them. How can we ensure that standards don’t stifle innovation?

33. What will schools need to do to become data smart ? What will teachers need to do to become data confident ?