BOCES
Situation
Because effective skills in data analysis and interpretation are essential to the development of school improvement plans and student performance, the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex (WSWHE) Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) provides data analysis services to member school districts. The Data Analysis Services group supports school districts in collecting and analyzing data to identify strengths and weaknesses at the program, school and student level. WSWHE BOCES analyzes responses to more than 7,000 individual surveys and 50,000 exams every year.
Challenge
- Manual analysis of free-response questions was time consuming, and detecting nuances in text answers was difficult due to the volume of responses
- Staff cutbacks and other resource restrictions required the data analysis service to find ways to handle an increased number of requests without adding expense
- Large datasets of survey and assessment information had to be merged from multiple sources
Solution
WSWHE BOCES used IBM SPSS Statistics and IBM SPSS Text Analytics for Surveys to analyze survey responses and student exam data in order to better serve the needs of administrators, teachers and students.
“We cut the time required to analyze a project from about two days to only 45 minutes. Our resulting conversations were streamlined and allowed us to focus on strengths and concerns.”
-– Nicole Catapano, Ph.D. Coordinator for Data Analysis
Business Impact
- Instructors spend less time reviewing work, using automated approaches instead of manual ones
- Open-ended survey questions can be analyzed faster, allowing districts to obtain information for strategic planning and decisionmaking quickly
- The Data Analysis Service can complete more projects in less time
- Areas of weakness in student performance were identified, allowing instructors to focus instruction
