Overview and key findings: Data dashboards - Revision history

Jeddcohen at 22:37, 10 June 2016

2016-06-10T22:37:02Z

Jeddcohen: /* Technological how-tos */

2012-07-24T17:40:37Z

Technological how-tos

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:40, 24 July 2012
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	and [[To-dos for individual view\|here is a link]] to the list of remaining to-dos that would optimize its usefulness.		and [[To-dos for individual view\|here is a link]] to the list of remaining to-dos that would optimize its usefulness.

	Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data ~~dashboardshttps://bitbucket.org/davidism/oneville/src~~<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.		Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.

Jeddcohen: /* Technological how-tos */

2012-07-24T17:39:48Z

Technological how-tos

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:39, 24 July 2012
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	''Here's where we describe "how to" use every tool we used, so that others could do the same. We also describe "how to" make every tool we made!		''Here's where we describe "how to" use every tool we used, so that others could do the same. We also describe "how to" make every tool we made!

	[https://bitbucket.org/davidism/oneville/src\| Admin and Teacher View Source Code]		[https://bitbucket.org/davidism/oneville/src/ Admin and Teacher View Source Code]
	(written in Python)		(written in Python)

Jeddcohen: /* Technological how-tos */

2012-07-24T17:39:15Z

Technological how-tos

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:39, 24 July 2012
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	''Here's where we describe "how to" use every tool we used, so that others could do the same. We also describe "how to" make every tool we made!		''Here's where we describe "how to" use every tool we used, so that others could do the same. We also describe "how to" make every tool we made!

	[https://bitbucket.org/davidism/oneville/src]		[https://bitbucket.org/davidism/oneville/src\| Admin and Teacher View Source Code]
	(written in Python)		(written in Python)

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	and [[To-dos for individual view\|here is a link]] to the list of remaining to-dos that would optimize its usefulness.		and [[To-dos for individual view\|here is a link]] to the list of remaining to-dos that would optimize its usefulness.

	Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data ~~dashboards\|~~<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.		Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboardshttps://bitbucket.org/davidism/oneville/src<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.

Jeddcohen: /* Technological how-tos */

2012-07-24T17:37:40Z

Technological how-tos

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:37, 24 July 2012
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	''Here's where we describe "how to" use every tool we used, so that others could do the same. We also describe "how to" make every tool we made!		''Here's where we describe "how to" use every tool we used, so that others could do the same. We also describe "how to" make every tool we made!

	[https://~~github~~.~~com~~/~~sethwoodworth~~/~~SchoolDash Admin~~/~~Teacher View Source Code~~]		[https://bitbucket.org/davidism/oneville/src]
	(written in ~~the Django framework~~)		(written in Python)

	[https://github.com/sethwoodworth/OnevilleReportCard/ Individual View Source Code]		[https://github.com/sethwoodworth/OnevilleReportCard/ Individual View Source Code]

Micapollock at 03:51, 20 July 2012

2012-07-20T03:51:12Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:51, 20 July 2012
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	''Written by Mica Pollock, Jedd Cohen, and Josh Wairi for the dashboard project, with initial dashboard development by Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth and ~~final~~ development for piloting by David Lord of San Diego		''Written by Mica Pollock, Jedd Cohen, and Josh Wairi for the dashboard project, with initial dashboard development by Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth and next development for piloting by David Lord of San Diego

	Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.		Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.

Micapollock at 03:49, 20 July 2012

2012-07-20T03:49:10Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:49, 20 July 2012
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	''Written by Mica Pollock, Jedd Cohen, and Josh Wairi for the dashboard project, with initial dashboard development by Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth ~~with Evan Burchard,~~ and final development for piloting by David Lord of San Diego		''Written by Mica Pollock, Jedd Cohen, and Josh Wairi for the dashboard project, with initial dashboard development by Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth and final development for piloting by David Lord of San Diego

	Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.		Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.

Micapollock: /* Communication we hoped to improve */

2012-07-16T12:21:33Z

Communication we hoped to improve

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:21, 16 July 2012
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	In the dashboard project, we thought a lot about who needs to see which data on children. The quantitative measures or summary data about young people kept in a typical "Student Information System" (e.g., students' absences; their credits; a report card) never show "the whole child": '''[[Eportfolio\|eportfolios]]''' can help with that. But such basic measures still provide information crucial to the process of tracking student progress. And they do tend to predict things like graduating or “dropping out.”		In the dashboard project, we thought a lot about who needs to see which data on children. The quantitative measures or summary data about young people kept in a typical "Student Information System" (e.g., students' absences; their credits; a report card) never show "the whole child": '''[[Eportfolio\|eportfolios]]''' can help with that. But such basic measures still provide information crucial to the process of tracking student progress. And they do tend to predict things like graduating or “dropping out.”

	We undertook a collaborative design process that asked different district and school administrators, parents, and afterschool providers to look at the developing tools and comment on that very question -- which data available in Somerville's Student Information System was most important to view on demand? We held regular meetings with teacher and co-designer Josh Wairi, did repeated interviews with principals and service providers, and met with parents and service providers in evening review meetings. Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth, with Somerville technologist Evan Burchard (now of San Francisco), created the initial core of three views. ~~After~~ the initial technological development went slower than we hoped and budgeted for, delaying a fall pilot, David Lord, a fabulous and generous young developer in San Diego, developed the views to near professional-level completion for us for free. At the end of this page, you'll find the code for all three views. This code, and so, the dashboard tools themselves, are freely available for anyone to complete and adapt.		We undertook a collaborative design process that asked different district and school administrators, parents, and afterschool providers to look at the developing tools and comment on that very question -- which data available in Somerville's Student Information System was most important to view on demand? We held regular meetings with teacher and co-designer Josh Wairi, did repeated interviews with principals and service providers, and met with parents and service providers in evening review meetings. Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth, with Somerville technologist Evan Burchard (now of San Francisco), created the initial core of three views. Seth was working on the dashboard while also helping to project manage on other efforts, and after the initial technological development went slower than we all hoped and budgeted for, delaying a fall pilot, David Lord, a fabulous and generous young developer in San Diego, developed the views to near professional-level completion for us for free. At the end of this page, you'll find the code for all three views. This code, and so, the dashboard tools themselves, are freely available for anyone to complete and adapt.

	While just implementing a store-bought tool could have been faster, we felt that it was crucial to collaborate with the Somerville community to design the tools. In that process, some issues about data display became clear to us:		While just implementing a store-bought tool could have been faster, -- and while the future of open source, free dashboard design for schools likely lies in large, experienced tech development groups tackling such projects for pay -- we felt that it was crucial to collaborate with the Somerville community to design the tools. In that process, some issues about data display became clear to us:

	'''A gap in student data equals a gap in service.		'''A gap in student data equals a gap in service.

Micapollock: /* Questions to Ask Yourself if You’re Tackling Similar Things Where You Live */

2012-07-16T02:11:03Z

Questions to Ask Yourself if You’re Tackling Similar Things Where You Live

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:11, 16 July 2012
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	:➢ What infrastructure would support actual conversations ABOUT "data," between the people who share young people?		:➢ What infrastructure would support actual conversations ABOUT "data," between the people who share young people?
	:➢ Which conversations about data should happen in person and which could be supported online? Could you do an experiment to test which works for what?		:➢ Which conversations about data should happen in person and which could be supported online? Could you do an experiment to test which works for what?
	:➢ What data isn’t found in any “student information system” but should still be known?		:➢ What data isn’t found in any “student information system” but should still be known? By whom?
	:➢ Is your district spending tons of money on data display tools to get basic data in front of people?		:➢ Is your district spending tons of money on data display tools to get basic data in front of people?
	:➢ If so, how might low cost tech development or professional development on the tools you already have support such information-sharing?		:➢ If so, how might low cost tech development or professional development on the tools you already have support such information-sharing?

Micapollock: /* Our products: Concrete communication improvements and next steps */

2012-07-16T02:09:45Z

Our products: Concrete communication improvements and next steps

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:09, 16 July 2012
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	===Our products: Concrete communication improvements and next steps===		===Our products: Concrete communication improvements and next steps===

	Our goal in 2011-12 was to pilot and tweak these three tools with teacher Josh Wairi, Principal Purnima Vadhera, and Wairi's families/students and their afterschool providers. We're disappointed to not yet pilot these tools, because throughout the design process, we’ve gotten feedback from parents, teachers, and administrators about all three dashboards’ potential value. Staff emphasized the ways the tools could support information-sharing and conversation in meetings, one-to-one interactions, and email-based conversations about the data. And in recent interviews, several immigrant parents emphasized the way the individual view dashboard could spark parent involvement: smiling, one said, "Parents are not just left out of the school. With this, you are bringing them in, sucking them into the school curriculum!"		Our goal in 2011-12 was to pilot and tweak these three tools with teacher Josh Wairi, Principal Purnima Vadhera, and Wairi's families/students and their afterschool providers. Our fabulous but part-time and pro bono developer in San Diego finished the tools to near-pilot readiness by late Spring 2012, but fell about 60 development hours from pilot-readiness on the admin and teacher views (and roughly 300 hours from pilot-readiness on the individual view). Remaining work: to finish tweaking the final programming "tubes" linking the dashboard to Somerville's Student Information System so that data could be displayed 100% glitch-free.

			We're disappointed to not yet pilot these tools, because throughout the design process, we’ve gotten feedback from parents, teachers, and administrators about all three dashboards’ potential value. Staff emphasized the ways the tools could support information-sharing and conversation in meetings, one-to-one interactions, and email-based conversations about the data. And in recent interviews, several immigrant parents emphasized the way the individual view dashboard could spark parent involvement: smiling, one said, "Parents are not just left out of the school. With this, you are bringing them in, sucking them into the school curriculum!"

	In a recent planning meeting with OneVille staff, Principal Vadhera described the value of the three integrated dashboard views, in contrast to the old system of hand-compiling data from different locations: “Right now, in just five minutes, I have seen a complete picture of the kid. Without even checking in with folks [other staff]. Normally, I would have to wait for them to get back to me, and bring charts and graphs to meetings. What a great way to launch conversation.”		In a recent planning meeting with OneVille staff, Principal Vadhera described the value of the three integrated dashboard views, in contrast to the old system of hand-compiling data from different locations: “Right now, in just five minutes, I have seen a complete picture of the kid. Without even checking in with folks [other staff]. Normally, I would have to wait for them to get back to me, and bring charts and graphs to meetings. What a great way to launch conversation.”

	~~Purnima~~ and Josh ~~both~~ suggested that the dashboards could enhance teamwork among educators ~~at Healey~~: In staff team meetings, access to each view could allow teachers and administrators to collaboratively assess a student’s basic situation and design more targeted interventions. If using the individual view, educators could then record their plan by submitting it as subject-specific comments ~~that get~~ archived in the homeroom (lead) teacher’s email.		Finally, both Principal Vadhera and teacher Josh Wairi suggested that the dashboards could enhance teamwork among educators: In staff team meetings, access to each view could allow teachers and administrators to collaboratively assess a student’s basic situation and design more targeted interventions. If using the individual view, educators could then record their plan by submitting it as subject-specific comments then archived in the homeroom (lead) teacher’s email.

	~~'''~~The ~~families whose children most need assistance are often~~ the ~~hardest to reach with technology~~, ~~but they are also~~ the ~~most in need~~ of ~~such rapid access to information. Rather than say parents "won~~'t use~~" technology~~, ~~how about training?~~''' ~~We’d~~ need to ~~continue training outreach on~~ the ~~dashboards during a pilot phase~~ of the "~~individual view~~,~~" because~~ we ~~face the same challenges as anyone working to enhance collaboration around students across barriers of income, racial/ethnic background, language difference and tech literacy~~. ~~Not all parents have home access to computers and internet (though phones with internet access are increasingly popular~~, ~~and the individual view could be accessed by smartphone). Some parents are not functionally literate~~ in ~~their home language~~. ~~These communication barriers block parents from understanding data even if it~~ is ~~on paper or shared verbally~~. ~~Technology training at least offers parents skills for checking data on demand~~.		The ultimate lesson here involves the timeline of software development, and the risks associated with community-based design research if one is literally designing a new technological tool from scratch. Developing a software application from scratch means lots of work on the developer's end before any immediate use by the community partner. The reality is that part-time technologists creating these products to community specifications, working alone on our limited budget, couldn't quite create a financially sustainable tech solution for Somerville's data viewing. We might lose confidence in local open source development, but we've learned the hard way that some developers move faster than others and that the basic need is sufficiently budgeted development hours. And, the reality is that a tool for easily seeing data "all in one place" otherwise may not exist in Somerville for some time due to the expense of "off the shelf" tools. We're optimistic that next developers can pick up right where we left off, rather than starting from scratch like we did. That's how open source development works, in fact. The code for these dashboard products is now available online and free to the next developer. See '''Technological how-tos''', below.

	'''~~While we could not pilot~~ the ~~dashboard~~ in ~~the 2011-2012 year, we have been exploring local leads~~ to ~~create a model of basic computer and email training run by~~ parents, ~~youth, or local students, for parents who need this support.~~''' ~~See the [[Summary: Schoolwide toolkit/parent connector network\|Parent Connector]] project. Our goal was~~ to ~~combine email~~ training ~~with training parents to use~~ the "~~Individual View~~" ~~dashboard~~. ~~Another hook could be training~~ parents to ~~join~~ the ~~school's new, parent-created schoolwide listserv~~. ~~'''The school has already established a computer~~ in ~~the school's new Parent Welcome Center, available~~ for ~~parent use at prescheduled times, and there's daily availability of the computer lab in the local housing project~~.		'''The families whose children most need assistance are often the hardest to reach with technology, but they are also the most in need of such rapid access to information. Rather than say parents "won't use" technology, how about training?''' We’d need to continue training outreach on the dashboards during a pilot phase of the "individual view," because we'd face the same challenges as anyone working to enhance collaboration around students across barriers of income, racial/ethnic background, language difference and tech literacy. Not all parents have home access to computers and internet (though phones with internet access are increasingly popular, and the individual view could be accessed by smartphone). Some parents are not functionally literate in their home language. These communication barriers block parents from understanding data even if it is on paper or shared verbally. Technology training at least offers parents skills for checking data on demand.

	~~The ultimate lesson here involves~~ the ~~timeline of software development, and~~ the ~~risks associated with community~~-~~based design research if one is literally designing a new technological tool from scratch. Developing~~ a ~~software application from scratch means lots~~ of ~~work on the developer's end before any immediate use~~ by ~~the community partner. The reality is that the young~~ local ~~technologist who created these products to community specifications went too slowly, working alone on our limited budget~~, ~~to create a financially sustainable tech solution~~ for ~~Somerville~~. ~~We might lose confidence in local open source development, but we~~'~~re seeing that other developers can move faster and~~ the ~~reality is that a tool for easily seeing data "all in one place" otherwise will not exist in Somerville due~~ to the ~~expense of~~ "~~off the shelf~~" ~~tools~~. We'~~re optimistic that even if not right now in Somerville~~, ~~another community and next developer can pick up right where we left off, rather than starting from scratch like we did~~. ~~That~~'s ~~how open source development works~~, ~~in fact. The code~~ for ~~these dashboard products is now available online~~ and ~~free to~~ the ~~next developer. See '''Technological how-tos''', below~~.		'''While we could not pilot the dashboard in the 2011-2012 year, we have been exploring local leads to create a model of basic computer and email training run by parents, youth, or local students, for parents who need this support.''' See the [[Summary: Schoolwide toolkit/parent connector network\|Parent Connector]] project. Our goal was to combine email training with training parents to use the "Individual View" dashboard. Another hook could be training parents to join the school's newly schoolwide, parent-created listserv. '''The school has already established a computer in the school's new Parent Welcome Center, available for parent use at prescheduled times, and there's daily availability of the computer lab in the local housing development.

	Even though the tools weren't finished for Somerville in the end, the open source code (below) now exists to ~~pull information out of Somerville's Student Information System~~ for easy viewing and sorting. And because the tools are open source, they can support next efforts at creating free educational data displays for districts or programs too often spending fortunes on storebought tools. Our entire Ford grant could have been eaten up in buying Somerville a tool off the shelf. Instead, we have added a tool to the “kit” by producing an open source dashboard and code next developers can modify. Still, we note that the OneVille projects in which we used preexisting free tools – Google sites or wikispaces for [[Eportfolio]] software, or Google Voice and low-cost pre-existing text messaging for the [[Summary: Texting for Rapid Youth Support\|texting]] project – seeded the most longstanding local change most quickly and actually got people communicating.		Even though the tools weren't finished for piloting glitch-free in Somerville in the end, the open source code (below) now exists to display data for easy viewing and sorting. And because the tools are open source, they can support next efforts at creating free educational data displays for districts or programs too often spending fortunes on storebought tools. Our entire Ford grant could have been eaten up in buying Somerville a tool off the shelf. Instead, we have added a partial tool to the “kit” by producing an open source dashboard and code next developers can modify. Still, we note that the OneVille projects in which we used preexisting free tools – Google sites or wikispaces for [[Eportfolio]] software, or Google Voice and low-cost pre-existing text messaging for the [[Summary: Texting for Rapid Youth Support\|texting]] project – seeded the most longstanding local change most quickly and actually got people communicating.

	===Questions to Ask Yourself if You’re Tackling Similar Things Where You Live===		===Questions to Ask Yourself if You’re Tackling Similar Things Where You Live===

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:37, 10 June 2016
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	''Written by Mica Pollock, Jedd Cohen~~, and Josh Wairi~~ for the dashboard project, with initial dashboard development by Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth and next development for piloting by David Lord of San Diego		''Written by Mica Pollock and Jedd Cohen for the dashboard project, with initial dashboard development by Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth and next development for piloting by David Lord of San Diego

	Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.		Click here for the '''[[Summary: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Summary</font>]] '''on this project; click here for the '''[[Expanded story: Data dashboards\|<font color=#0000FF>Expanded story</font>]] '''on this project.
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	In Somerville, teachers and administrators said they couldn’t easily view or sort patterns in student data because that data was buried in different “fields” in the student information system (SIS), which Somerville couldn’t afford to replace or fundamentally upgrade.		In Somerville, teachers and administrators said they couldn’t easily view or sort patterns in student data because that data was buried in different “fields” in the student information system (SIS), which Somerville couldn’t afford to replace or fundamentally upgrade.

	We - local academic researchers and a teacher co-researcher (~~Wairi~~), and several local technologists - worked with one classroom's families, related afterschool providers, and two principals (with the ongoing advice of central administration in the Somerville School District), to try to meet the need for a user-friendly, affordable way to view and examine lots of student data in one place. The result of our work is a suite of three “data dashboards," open source web applications designed to let family, teachers, principal, and afterschool providers quickly view and sort data they need to see. We created an “admin view” for principals, which shows Student Information System data on all students in the school; a “teacher view,” which shows a teacher such data on the students in his or her class; and an “individual view,” designed to link teachers, afterschool providers, and families in communication about the details of an individual student’s data profile.		We - local academic researchers and a teacher co-researcher (Josh), and several local technologists - worked with one classroom's families, related afterschool providers, and two principals (with the ongoing advice of central administration in the Somerville School District), to try to meet the need for a user-friendly, affordable way to view and examine lots of student data in one place. The result of our work is a suite of three “data dashboards," open source web applications designed to let family, teachers, principal, and afterschool providers quickly view and sort data they need to see. We created an “admin view” for principals, which shows Student Information System data on all students in the school; a “teacher view,” which shows a teacher such data on the students in his or her class; and an “individual view,” designed to link teachers, afterschool providers, and families in communication about the details of an individual student’s data profile.

	In the dashboard project, we thought a lot about who needs to see which data on children. The quantitative measures or summary data about young people kept in a typical "Student Information System" (e.g., students' absences; their credits; a report card) never show "the whole child": '''[[Eportfolio\|eportfolios]]''' can help with that. But such basic measures still provide information crucial to the process of tracking student progress. And they do tend to predict things like graduating or “dropping out.”		In the dashboard project, we thought a lot about who needs to see which data on children. The quantitative measures or summary data about young people kept in a typical "Student Information System" (e.g., students' absences; their credits; a report card) never show "the whole child": '''[[Eportfolio\|eportfolios]]''' can help with that. But such basic measures still provide information crucial to the process of tracking student progress. And they do tend to predict things like graduating or “dropping out.”

	We undertook a collaborative design process that asked different district and school administrators, parents, and afterschool providers to look at the developing tools and comment on that very question -- which data available in Somerville's Student Information System was most important to view on demand? We held regular meetings with teacher and co-designer Josh ~~Wairi~~, did repeated interviews with principals and service providers, and met with parents and service providers in evening review meetings. Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth, with Somerville technologist Evan Burchard (now of San Francisco), created the initial core of three views. Seth was working on the dashboard while also helping to project manage on other efforts, and after the initial technological development went slower than we all hoped and budgeted for, delaying a fall pilot, David Lord, a fabulous and generous young developer in San Diego, developed the views to near professional-level completion for us for free. At the end of this page, you'll find the code for all three views. This code, and so, the dashboard tools themselves, are freely available for anyone to complete and adapt.		We undertook a collaborative design process that asked different district and school administrators, parents, and afterschool providers to look at the developing tools and comment on that very question -- which data available in Somerville's Student Information System was most important to view on demand? We held regular meetings with teacher and co-designer Josh, did repeated interviews with principals and service providers, and met with parents and service providers in evening review meetings. Somerville technologist Seth Woodworth, with Somerville technologist Evan Burchard (now of San Francisco), created the initial core of three views. Seth was working on the dashboard while also helping to project manage on other efforts, and after the initial technological development went slower than we all hoped and budgeted for, delaying a fall pilot, David Lord, a fabulous and generous young developer in San Diego, developed the views to near professional-level completion for us for free. At the end of this page, you'll find the code for all three views. This code, and so, the dashboard tools themselves, are freely available for anyone to complete and adapt.

	While just implementing a store-bought tool could have been faster, -- and while the future of open source, free dashboard design for schools likely lies in large, experienced tech development groups tackling such projects for pay -- we felt that it was crucial to collaborate with the Somerville community to design the tools. In that process, some issues about data display became clear to us:		While just implementing a store-bought tool could have been faster, -- and while the future of open source, free dashboard design for schools likely lies in large, experienced tech development groups tackling such projects for pay -- we felt that it was crucial to collaborate with the Somerville community to design the tools. In that process, some issues about data display became clear to us:
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	'''A gap in student data equals a gap in service.		'''A gap in student data equals a gap in service.

	Principals Vadhera and DeFalco, teacher Josh ~~Wairi~~, and various students we talked to in our other pilots, all mentioned instances where a student “fell through the cracks” because of a piece of missing data. For example, some stakeholders told stories of a student who received an unexpectedly poor grade, with the parent, the homeroom teacher, or the administrator surprised by the news. Administrators also described how seeing patterns faster could support timely interventions. For example, Principal Vadhera talked about needing to quickly sort data by "students with IEPs," to ensure these students had MCAS accommodations on testing day.		Principals Vadhera and DeFalco, teacher Josh, and various students we talked to in our other pilots, all mentioned instances where a student “fell through the cracks” because of a piece of missing data. For example, some stakeholders told stories of a student who received an unexpectedly poor grade, with the parent, the homeroom teacher, or the administrator surprised by the news. Administrators also described how seeing patterns faster could support timely interventions. For example, Principal Vadhera talked about needing to quickly sort data by "students with IEPs," to ensure these students had MCAS accommodations on testing day.

	'''One-Stop Shopping: It seems crucial to be able to see different kinds of student data at the same time, in a single display -- and, to be able to sort that data to check for patterns.		'''One-Stop Shopping: It seems crucial to be able to see different kinds of student data at the same time, in a single display -- and, to be able to sort that data to check for patterns.
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	In creating the individual view, we drew on a data display model from the New Visions schools in New York (http://www.hfrp.org/var/hfrp/storage/fckeditor/File/9thGradeTracker.pdf)		In creating the individual view, we drew on a data display model from the New Visions schools in New York (http://www.hfrp.org/var/hfrp/storage/fckeditor/File/9thGradeTracker.pdf)
	combined it with Somerville’s locally designed K-6 report card, and worked with teacher Josh ~~Wairi~~ and his families (with advice from his students and afterschool providers) to integrate everyone’s insights into the testable product.		combined it with Somerville’s locally designed K-6 report card, and worked with teacher Josh and his families (with advice from his students and afterschool providers) to integrate everyone’s insights into the testable product.

	==Our work, and our '''<font color=red>¡Ahas!</font color>==		==Our work, and our '''<font color=red>¡Ahas!</font color>==
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	===Our products: Concrete communication improvements and next steps===		===Our products: Concrete communication improvements and next steps===

	Our goal in 2011-12 was to pilot and tweak these three tools with teacher Josh ~~Wairi~~, Principal Purnima Vadhera, and ~~Wairi's~~ families/students and their afterschool providers. Our fabulous but part-time and pro bono developer in San Diego finished the tools to near-pilot readiness by late Spring 2012, but fell about 60 development hours from pilot-readiness on the admin and teacher views (and roughly 300 hours from pilot-readiness on the individual view). Remaining work: to finish tweaking the final programming "tubes" linking the dashboard to Somerville's Student Information System so that data could be displayed 100% glitch-free.		Our goal in 2011-12 was to pilot and tweak these three tools with teacher Josh, Principal Purnima Vadhera, and families/students and their afterschool providers. Our fabulous but part-time and pro bono developer in San Diego finished the tools to near-pilot readiness by late Spring 2012, but fell about 60 development hours from pilot-readiness on the admin and teacher views (and roughly 300 hours from pilot-readiness on the individual view). Remaining work: to finish tweaking the final programming "tubes" linking the dashboard to Somerville's Student Information System so that data could be displayed 100% glitch-free.

	We're disappointed to not yet pilot these tools, because throughout the design process, we’ve gotten feedback from parents, teachers, and administrators about all three dashboards’ potential value. Staff emphasized the ways the tools could support information-sharing and conversation in meetings, one-to-one interactions, and email-based conversations about the data. And in recent interviews, several immigrant parents emphasized the way the individual view dashboard could spark parent involvement: smiling, one said, "Parents are not just left out of the school. With this, you are bringing them in, sucking them into the school curriculum!"		We're disappointed to not yet pilot these tools, because throughout the design process, we’ve gotten feedback from parents, teachers, and administrators about all three dashboards’ potential value. Staff emphasized the ways the tools could support information-sharing and conversation in meetings, one-to-one interactions, and email-based conversations about the data. And in recent interviews, several immigrant parents emphasized the way the individual view dashboard could spark parent involvement: smiling, one said, "Parents are not just left out of the school. With this, you are bringing them in, sucking them into the school curriculum!"
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	In a recent planning meeting with OneVille staff, Principal Vadhera described the value of the three integrated dashboard views, in contrast to the old system of hand-compiling data from different locations: “Right now, in just five minutes, I have seen a complete picture of the kid. Without even checking in with folks [other staff]. Normally, I would have to wait for them to get back to me, and bring charts and graphs to meetings. What a great way to launch conversation.”		In a recent planning meeting with OneVille staff, Principal Vadhera described the value of the three integrated dashboard views, in contrast to the old system of hand-compiling data from different locations: “Right now, in just five minutes, I have seen a complete picture of the kid. Without even checking in with folks [other staff]. Normally, I would have to wait for them to get back to me, and bring charts and graphs to meetings. What a great way to launch conversation.”

	Finally, both Principal Vadhera and teacher Josh ~~Wairi~~ suggested that the dashboards could enhance teamwork among educators: In staff team meetings, access to each view could allow teachers and administrators to collaboratively assess a student’s basic situation and design more targeted interventions. If using the individual view, educators could then record their plan by submitting it as subject-specific comments then archived in the homeroom (lead) teacher’s email.		Finally, both Principal Vadhera and teacher Josh suggested that the dashboards could enhance teamwork among educators: In staff team meetings, access to each view could allow teachers and administrators to collaboratively assess a student’s basic situation and design more targeted interventions. If using the individual view, educators could then record their plan by submitting it as subject-specific comments then archived in the homeroom (lead) teacher’s email.

	The ultimate lesson here involves the timeline of software development, and the risks associated with community-based design research if one is literally designing a new technological tool from scratch. Developing a software application from scratch means lots of work on the developer's end before any immediate use by the community partner. The reality is that part-time technologists creating these products to community specifications, working alone on our limited budget, couldn't quite create a financially sustainable tech solution for Somerville's data viewing. We might lose confidence in local open source development, but we've learned the hard way that some developers move faster than others and that the basic need is sufficiently budgeted development hours. And, the reality is that a tool for easily seeing data "all in one place" otherwise may not exist in Somerville for some time due to the expense of "off the shelf" tools. We're optimistic that next developers can pick up right where we left off, rather than starting from scratch like we did. That's how open source development works, in fact. The code for these dashboard products is now available online and free to the next developer. See '''Technological how-tos''', below.		The ultimate lesson here involves the timeline of software development, and the risks associated with community-based design research if one is literally designing a new technological tool from scratch. Developing a software application from scratch means lots of work on the developer's end before any immediate use by the community partner. The reality is that part-time technologists creating these products to community specifications, working alone on our limited budget, couldn't quite create a financially sustainable tech solution for Somerville's data viewing. We might lose confidence in local open source development, but we've learned the hard way that some developers move faster than others and that the basic need is sufficiently budgeted development hours. And, the reality is that a tool for easily seeing data "all in one place" otherwise may not exist in Somerville for some time due to the expense of "off the shelf" tools. We're optimistic that next developers can pick up right where we left off, rather than starting from scratch like we did. That's how open source development works, in fact. The code for these dashboard products is now available online and free to the next developer. See '''Technological how-tos''', below.