KiDS Corner

How KiDS saves time and effort and improves educator data use

“Interoperability is the seamless, secure and controlled exchange of data between different applications and technologies.” (Project Unicorn)

For many educators, diving into student data to inform educational initiatives and instruction is a daunting task that involves searching through multiple sources with multiple logins and very different paradigms for formatting and visualizing the data. A user may need to access one website for longitudinal assessment data, another for local assessments, a different one for behavior data, and yet another for demographic and attendance data. The Data Quality Campaign posits this is a major barrier to effective data use by educators at all levels. Access to data across disparate domains can be difficult to find, especially for smaller districts with limited in-house technical expertise (1, 2, 3).

KiDS answers this call for interoperability by bringing a district’s data from multiple sources all together in one place. Our skilled IT professionals and data analysts do all the work necessary to upload, clean and validate your data into one platform making it possible to access real-time, holistic student data at varying levels of aggregation in dashboards and metrics accessible to all educators from the boardroom to the classroom. The fact that we are based locally at KCSOS means we are able to be responsive to the immediate needs of each of our districts and open and eager to meet their needs as we make improvements to the KiDS platform.

EARLY WARNING AND INTERVENTION SYSTEM

Using the power of consolidated real time data, the Early Warning and Intervention System (EWIS) evaluates thirty key student indicators to provide educators a clear picture of student Academic, Engagement and Social factors.

Built off of the multiple pieces of data already available in the Essentials Module, EWIS gives MTSS teams, student study teams, counselors, social workers, administrators, and teachers the ability to see a holistic view of ALL student data. Combined with the Student Profile, EWIS provides the data needed to make timely decisions on how to best support individual student needs.

In addition to individual student summaries, EWIS data can be disaggregated by district, school, and student group to identify the greatest areas of need for groups of students. District and school site leaders can use this data to inform the appropriate allocation of resources, the impact of MTSS, and evaluate student response to intervention.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS DATA??

In addition to providing nighty evaluations, the EWIS module provides a comprehensive intervention platform to support the monitoring of student outcomes. Using the interventions feature, districts can add students to intervention groups, apply goals, monitor engagement, and evaluate outcomes, by student, by intervention, and across schools.

When the student transfers between Kern County districts, this data will follow them through the Digital Cume File. Students no longer have to start from scratch when they move districts, and districts can eliminate the time spent determining a student's needs and keep supports in place from day one.

EWIS is now available for use, however, we highly recommend you schedule your FREE training with our Professional Learning team so you can learn how to unlock the power of the Early Warning and Intervention Module!

Congratulations to our Cohort 1 districts who onboarded into KiDS over the 2020-21 school year. With the addition of these 19 districts, we are now up to 31 onboarded districts and 160,000 students represented.

We are now in the process of onboarding our Cohort 2 districts! With the continued support and dedication of the districts onboarding teams, we will be launching more districts into the live platform over the next few weeks with a goal of having 45 districts fully onboarded by this summer!

The professional learning team is currently taking requests for training. Don't delay in reserving a spot to have your staff fully prepared for accessing their data needs for the upcoming year. Contact Jennifer Anzalone, Coordinator of Professional Learning to discuss options and to take advantage of your district's 20 hours of Professional Learning included in onboarding with KiDS. You have the flexibility to schedule a full district implementation plan or start with one school or grade level.

The KiDS team works closely with our districts to ensure we are meeting the needs of our users. Based on your feedback, we have been developing new metrics to make your district data easily accessible and valuable. We hope you take the opportunity to log-in and check out a few of our new dashboards:

• Independent Study Enrollment and Attendance
• English Language Learner monitoring
• STAR window comparison
• Absentee rate by month
• iReady assessment reports
• Dibels/Acadience reports

The KiDS platform is built to support our Kern County districts. Please keep your ideas coming!