System will put useful data in hands of educators at faster pace

The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) is partnering with Double Line Inc. to offer a statewide data collection and analytics system that will allow educators to have real-time, actionable insights to guide interventions and programs that can improve outcomes for Kansas students.

The project is made possible by a $3.4 million competitive State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) grant the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) awarded to KSDE in 2020. KSDE also contributed $2.5 million. The project automates federally mandated reporting, freeing up educators and staff members to focus on student engagement, said Kathi Grossenbacher, KSDE’s director of Information Technology (IT).

“We are delighted to begin this project with Double Line,” Grossenbacher said. “Double Line brings the extensive knowledge and expertise needed to build a sustainable standards-based solution that positions our agency to grow and evolve to support the continuous improvement of education services and student outcomes.”

While KSDE currently has a data exchange with Kansas’ public school districts and private accredited systems, it is a manual process. This project will change it to an automated process, allowing educators to have access to information and insights more quickly.

“We’re putting data in their hands that they can utilize to effect change,” Grossenbacher said.

Since its founding, Double Line has played an important role in the education space by supporting states, government agencies and nonprofit organizations in delivering technology and data solutions that enable institutions to better serve individuals, staff members and communities.

Goals of the KSDE project include:

1. To modernize the KSDE infrastructure and operations that support data collection, analysis and dissemination of the data.
2. To transform data sharing capabilities that will replace manual processes and build interoperable mechanisms to support delivery of applicable SLDS data by implementing the Ed-Fi platform. Ed-Fi Data Standard is a set of rules that allow previously disconnected educational data systems to connect. Any educational technology powered by Ed-Fi can connect with any other and allows a full-picture view of student progress in a common format.
3. To implement Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) to promote increased interoperability and gains in efficiency with tools, such as Generate. Generate can be used to automate compliance education data reporting to the U.S. Department of Education.
4. To create and customize near real-time data dashboards for internal and external stakeholders.