Illinois School District Implements Data Warehouse for Analytics
Community Unit School District 308 in
Illinois has implemented a data warehouse solution for data management,
analytics and reports.
The district set a goal three years ago to consolidate its disparate
databases into a data warehouse so it could better use the information to
understand the effect of variables on student achievement. The district selected
performance management solution provider,
DecisionEd.
According to information on the company's site, DecisionEd is designed to
bring quantitative business decision-making tools, such as the
Kimball methodology and star schema
models, to K-12 education. The solution features data dashboards, reports,
alerts, scorecards, metrics and analytics. The data management tools let the
district combine its various databases into a unified system to provide a
district-wide view of student, school, program and district performance, so
administrators and faculty can analyze all of the information and pinpoint
factors that affect student achievement. They can then open an on-screen
dashboard or generate reports to view the information using the integrated
IBM Cognos
dashboard and reporting tool.
"The data warehouse tool will give the district the ability to measure the
impact of our decisions and actions on the success of our students," said Brenda M. Dixon, director of assessment, data and accountability, in a prepared
statement. "It will also enable administrators to analyze data and recognize
student needs, determine a course of action to meet those needs, implement the
resulting strategies and monitor results."
Community Unit School District 308 serves nearly 18,000 students and employs
more than 2,000 staff, teachers and administrators in the communities of Aurora,
Joliet, Montgomery, Oswego, Plainfield and Yorkville, IL.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].