LM Aug.2018

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability push is on as school districts are increasingly called upon to substantiate a compelling story for the return on investment they provide to the communities they serve. In reality, it’s about how you can tell your own district’s success story within your local community in a very powerful way. In order to reach that objective, IASA has partnered with ECRA Group to provide a free dashboard to all IASA member school districts that can be customized with their own district data. The Strategic Dashboard is a powerful tool for superintendents and boards of education to tell their school district’s story and track important indicators and priorities at the aggregate level. IASA Executive Director Dr. Brent Clark says that the evolution of the dashboard came about as a result of planning discussions with IASA’s partner the ECRA Group, that school districts needed a reliable process or procedure to report metrics regarding their district to their community. “Our role is to help school districts be prepared for ESSA and the accountability push that is going to intensify in the future,” said Clark. “We believe the new IASA/ECRA Strategic Dashboard positions districts to be responsive in their community and allows them to share a complete story on their district using both qualitative and quantitative indicators.” Through the dashboard components, school administrators are able to identify metrics they want to report on, keeping the data points very fluid as districts are able to add data, charts, video and other useful digital content to visually tell their story. To learn how to use the Strategic Dashboard, IASA is offering training statewide through August and September. By Mary Schaefer IASA Director of Communications & Marketing IASA/ECRAFree StrategicDashboard Invites School Districts toShareTheirOwnStory #TellYourStory

Dr. John Gatta, Chief Executive Officer of the ECRA Group and designer of the IASA/ECRA Strategic Dashboard, indicates the IASA/ECRA dashboard training will walk superintendents through three phases on the dashboard design including: 1) How to tell your story, 2) Defining Your Success, and 3) Monitoring Your Progress. “For each phase, we will provide guidance and best practices for how to think about your school district story lines,” he says. “We will provide a real example of a school district in your region and provide the time needed for participants to actively work on your own individual dashboard. The objective is for each superintendent to walk out with a completely framed dashboard.” While the ISBE School Report Card has a contained, identical set of criteria and data points by district, the IASA/ ECRA Strategic Dashboard is 100 percent customizable, according to Gatta. The Strategic Dashboard is organized into three main sections: Vision, Indicators and Strategy. 1. The Vision section allows school districts to craft a narrative inclusive of videos and other digital assets to articulate a clear and compelling vision for student success. 2. The Indicators section operationalizes the district’s vision into observable quantitative and qualitative indicators. 3. The Strategy section allows districts to communicate how they intend to accomplish their vision.

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