With 16,000-plus students, the Tyler Independent School District is the largest public district in east Texas. Since 1997, the district's assessment and accountability group has measured student performance and evaluated educational programs.
To improve the future of education, the quality of its programs, and future community support, Tyler must measure student learning, track educational progress, and target areas for improvement by:
With PASW Statistics, the district analyzes individual student test scores and other data on its educational programs. Sharing results with key district decision makers helps Tyler better identify where it is weak and where it is strong to improve educational effectiveness. It also increases opportunities for future funding from both public and private sources, and strengthens community support.
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In the business of education, measuring success and failure isn't as simple as looking at profit and loss. It is a complex process that involves evaluating and improving how students learn. When it comes to adopting innovative ways to improve the quality of education, the Tyler Independent School District definitely makes the grade. The largest city in east Texas encourages its educators to take a proactive, data-driven approach to improving student learning.
PASW Statistics has made it easy to get immediate results, and we've only just begun.
Rena McGaughey
Director of Assessment and Accountability
Tyler Independent School District
About two years ago, the district formed its office of assessment and accountability with the goal of measuring, then improving, performance of its students in grades K-12. That's when Rena McGaughey, director of assessment and accountability, began compiling, tracking, and analyzing the test scores of Tyler-area students—all 16,000-plus of them. Each quarter since, McGaughey has gathered test scores and demographic data from several sources—including the state of Texas and college entrance exams. There are data on each individual student, enabling McGaughey to track how particular students have performed through their entire 12 years of public schooling—and even beyond.
When she began, McGaughey analyzed student test scores by hand, consuming hundreds of hours each quarter. Complicating the process, test scores and other data were scattered throughout multiple locations. Compiling and analyzing the data were daunting tasks for someone without professional training in data collection, cleaning, and analysis.
Soon after joining Tyler, McGaughey did a little homework of her own. An in-depth review of analytical products and services led straight to PASW Statistics, not only because it was the most cost-effective solution, but because, "PASW Statistics is extremely user-friendly and contains an incredible depth of analytical capabilities."
McGaughey teamed with SPSS Inc. to consolidate and organize data, conducting her first data audit. This involved assessing the district's data situation, suggesting ways to automate the data collection process, and consolidating the data for analysis into one place—PASW Statistics. The result? A significantly faster, far more efficient analytical and reporting process. Today, McGaughey estimates she spends about half the time she used to and gets more in-depth results. She also has saved her district money, since many districts of comparable size hire multiple program evaluation personnel to do what she alone does with PASW Statistics.
In addition to saving money and increasing efficiency, Tyler is helping its children learn, achieving measurable success in education. Several times a year, McGaughey is inundated with state test results, as well as high school- and grade school-specific tests. By compiling and analyzing the data, McGaughey can quickly see what is working and what is not, so that resources can be allocated more effectively. For example, she may share results with school principals, who in turn use results to define new performance goals. And district decision makers use results to identify where federal and state grants are needed most.
Beyond helping Tyler identify where money is needed, McGaughey expects PASW Statistics will make Tyler more competitive in winning future grants. Each year, Tyler applies for numerous state, federal, and private grants—critical for funding support programs such as remedial instruction and counseling and guidance. Using the detailed, data-driven reports Tyler now produces with PASW Statistics, McGaughey believes her district is better positioned to capture more competitive grants than ever before. And, as Tyler improves accountability for educational programs, more incentive state dollars are made available to Tyler's individual campuses.
With PASW Statistics, McGaughey transforms mountains of student data into digestible charts and tables, painting a clear picture of Tyler's student progress. McGaughey says these graphs make results "simple and meaningful" to the school board and local citizens alike: "A picture is worth a thousand words. With PASW Statistics and a color printer, we can have a great and useful chart in minutes, and send it out to every school on campus." With more reliable information—more than ever before—district credibility improves with schools and the community.
As Tyler continues to investigate ways to improve student learning, McGaughey is eyeing additional SPSS Inc. products to complement her current system. On her wish list: Software that helps incorporate survey results into the analysis and reporting process. This way, she could include area parents' views on curriculum issues—providing invaluable feedback for improving specific programs. She could also use the new software to create a survey, distribute it via e-mail or the Web, and have electronic results back in just a few hours, ready for analysis. McGaughey said she sees this additional data as providing even more insight into learning and ways to improve education.
As a novice user of data analysis software, McGaughey also believes in SPSS Inc.'s continued support through training: "The cost of training was the best dollars spent when you look at what an impact each of the SPSS Inc. courses has. And I know I'll always have someone at the end of the line who responds quickly to any questions I have." She credited the quality of the SPSS Inc. trainers with her ability to produce results almost immediately: "PASW Statistics has made it easy to get immediate results, and we've only just begun."
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