“Data will be visualized in a single dashboard that empowers school leaders, policymakers and the general public to examine current conditions in their own communities — as well as compare against other areas — to adapt to changing environments and make data-driven teaching and learning decisions as they continue to navigate the 2020-21 school year,” the group wrote in a recent press release announcing the project.
What this means specifically is that users can go to one place — this dashboard — to find a visualization that allows them to examine the conditions in their communities in order to make data-driven decisions about teaching and learning.
The dashboard was created by the software company Qualtrics, with input from a broad partnership that includes the School Superintendents Association, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and Brown University Professor of Economics Emily Oster.
Information on the dashboard is available at the state level, and it includes fields such as school type, average staff infection rate, average student infection rate, as well as whether the school is conducting in-person classes and more. Developers say that the dashboard will be updated as more school districts across the country join the effort and share data. They may also add more information from participating districts on areas such as case count, learning model and others.
