April/May 2023 Newsletter

Welcome to Simplicity Education’s very first monthly newsletter! Whether you're a seasoned data analyst or an early career educator who’s just dipping your toes into the big sea of data, we hope you find something in our monthly mailings that excites you. In the sections below, we list some of our favorite education and data articles from the past months, along with information about upcoming data-related events, resources and job opportunities. We are so excited to share our passion for all things data with you.


P.S. If a data enthusiast friend has forwarded you this email and you’d like to to hear from us again, we invite you to sign up for our mailing list here.

How Wisconsin Uses Race and Income to Label Students ‘High Risk’ (Chalkbeat | Apr 27, 2023)

Lack of transparency has led the Dropout Early Warning System to reinforce the gaps it aimed to close.

School Systems Lack Capacity to Support Data Driven Decision Making, National Survey Finds (Getting Smart | Feb 9, 2023) 

Without infrastructure and interoperability, education data only has so much power.

Better Principal Data is Critical to Close Equity Gaps (EdWeek | Mar 30, 2023)

Being able to disaggregate principal data by race and ethnicity is key to successful data-driven strategies.

NYC to Mandate Reading Curriculum for Elementary Schools and High School Algebra (Chalkbeat | Mar 29, 2023)

Will standardizing curriculum yield the instructional outcomes the education department hopes for?

Opinion: Unseal New York City’s ‘Black Box’ of School Curriculum Data (CityLimits | Apr 4, 2023)

Quality curriculum data is hard to come by, making upcoming reforms all the thornier.

What Are KOSA and COPPA and How Do They Impact K–12 Education? (EdTech Magazine | Apr 25, 2023)

Updating legislation to protect teens will have implications for how schools navigate parental consent.

Listening to Students: A Conversation about the Data They Need to Make Post–High School Decisions (Data Quality Campaign | Mar 21, 2023)

Students today must make important decisions about their future without access to their own data.

K-12 teacher and school leader retention rates in the U.S. are at an all-time low, new McKinsey research shows. We loved this graph because it captured the complexity of the why: what drives the educators away from schools and what retains those who remain in their classrooms.

We weren’t surprised that “Meaningful Work” ranks as the top reason why educators stay in the daily grind of teaching and learning. But we were intrigued by the fact that "Leadership" was the only factor more frequently cited by those who left compared to those who were planning to leave.

What does this suggest about the importance of educational leadership? What new challenges do school leaders face today? Have insights you’d like to share? We’d love to hear your thoughts in our K12 Data Professionals Facebook Group!

Have an event that you’d like to be featured in future newsletters? A resource that you think our community would adore? Submit it here!

Resources

Our TPT Store

Not sure which families you’ve spoken to as the school year races to a close? Trying to get your exit tickets organized as you head into the final rounds of assessments? Wondering how to tell stories with your data? We have some resources for you on our TPT store:

Podcasts

Upcoming Events

This Month

Looking Ahead…

Hungry for more? Check out this blog post for additional opportunities!

Simplicity Education is not affiliated with (unless otherwise noted) and inclusion of information about services and opportunities does not constitute endorsement. Simplicity Education also does not assume liability of any kind for the events, resources and opportunities included in our newsletters. This does not change that we think they’re interesting and might be worth checking out!