A Date with Data

High-quality preschool programs set the foundation for students’ long-term success, and the same can be said for high-quality preschool data. On this episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman digs deeper into the importance of preschool data with state data experts Jody Fields from Arkansas and Heather Dunphy from Arizona. With real-world examples and specific tips for how to better communicate preschool data, the two offer insight into the relevance and role of preschool data in their states’ larger data landscape. Join us to learn more about how two states are using data to turn their big dreams of preschool success into a reality.

Encouraging local data literacy is one of the most effective ways to heighten your state’s data quality, as Sheilah Paitsel, Tonya Rutkowski, and Jonathan Shank from the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) recently discovered. Last September, they helped host the state’s first-ever Special Education Data Summit. Listen in as the WVDE team relives the quick four months of planning, during which they conducted a needs assessment, secured a keynote speaker, and even braved several natural disasters to forge a path to their Summit. Join host Amy Bitterman for an episode full of insights, successes, and tips for building data quality, data literacy, and awareness that you won’t want to miss.

If the mission of A Date with Data is to bring unique state stories to our listeners, few cases fit the bill as perfectly as Puerto Rico. The island boasts more than 100 schools in a unitary system, a higher-than-average number of whose students receive special education services. On this episode, host Amy Bitterman crosses the ocean to join Dr. César M. Gracia García and Irving Feliciano Pulliza, both of the Puerto Rico Department of Education, to talk about building a data system that meets a set of unique, and rich, circumstances.

With the new year comes new promise and an urge toward new and better ways of doing things. And what better time to apply these resolutions than the current SPP/APR season? On our latest episode of A Date with Data, Amy Bitterman is joined by special guests Jeff Phenicie, Executive Director of Data Monitoring and General Supervision with the Virginia Department of Education, and IDC’s own Rachel Wilkinson to discuss some of the ins-and-outs of developing and submitting a successful SPP/APR. You’re invited for some words of wisdom, experiences shared, and an insider’s look at this all-important process. Resolve to join us, won’t you?

Seeing is believing. The proof is in the pudding. Actions speak louder than words. In Missouri, these are more than just stock locutions; they’re practically a matter of state pride. The same goes for IDEA data quality, where a picture is worth well more than a thousand words. On this episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman sits down with Tori Chance, Data Research Analyst with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, to learn all about the state’s efforts toward building LEA capacity to collect, report, analyze, and use high-quality data by building data literacy and engaging with Missouri’s stakeholders. Join us, won’t you? Hearing is believing.

Stakeholder engagement is a requirement of the SPP/APR, but generating authentic partnerships to drive meaningful change takes a bit of ingenuity. Luckily, state staff in Arizona have plenty of that. On this episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman chats with returning guest Heather Dunphy, lead education program specialist from the Arizona Department of Education, to learn all about the Copper State’s creative, multi-part approach to building genuine stakeholder relationships around IDEA data. Join us for some real talk.

Wanted: IDEA Data Center seeks new Part B data managers for long-term, meaningful connections. Are you a newcomer to the world of Part B data? Feeling overwhelmed and looking to learn, grow, and problem solve with your peers? If so, do we have the opportunity for you. On this week’s episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman catches up with our own Kelley Blas and Kristen DeSalvatore to get the scoop about IDC’s New Part B Data Manager Connection, where state staff gather to discuss EDFacts Modernization, DMS 2.0, everything SPP/APR, and so much more. Tune in, won’t you? This is one connection you don’t want to miss.

If the IDEA Data Center is about anything, it’s about tapping into the collective wisdom of the hive mind. Take, for example, our Data Quality Peer Groups, which bring together state staff to share, connect, elaborate, and resolve by sharing what they know and what they’ve learned. On this episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman connects with IDC’s own Tony Ruggiero and Christina MacDonald, who elaborate on the 619 Data Quality Peer Group and its mission to build connections and create innovative responses to complex data challenges. Why not listen in? It’s the wise move, after all.

Picture a number between, oh, let’s say 1 and 10. For the previous 5 episodes of our 1-of-a-kind podcast A Date with Data, we’ve zeroed in on IDC’s Data Quality Peer Groups. Now it’s time for part 6, which is about the Indicator 4, 9, and 10 Peer Group. This 7th Heaven of an episode, featuring 3 of IDC’s finest--host Amy Bitterman and 2 of our number enthusiasts, Miki Imura and Rachel Wilkinson—is an in-depth look at what makes this special collaboration so gr8. Definitely an episode you won’t want to miss. Just our 2 cents.

It’s hard not to appreciate organization, when everything easily fits together into neat piles and categories. There’s also something appealing about putting together a puzzle of seemingly disparate parts into something quite neat. In part five of our special series on IDC’s Data Quality Peer Groups, host Amy Bitterman digs into the puzzle of various state data roles with assistance from Susan Hayes and Mary Watson, facilitators of the center’s Cross-Role Data Quality Peer Group. These periodic convenings gather state special education staff with all sorts of roles and responsibilities to discuss topics of shared interest. Join us or our latest A Date with Data. We’re putting together the pieces.