DOE Update

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DOE Update

• Presented by
• Dr. Mike Hall
• Deputy Superintendent for IT

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The mission of the Georgia Department of
Education is to lead the nation in improving
student achievement.
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But why???????
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ChangeChangeChangeChangeChange
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Are we really meeting the needs of our students
nationwide when

• For every 100 students who enter the 9th grade,
• 67 graduate from high school
• 38 of these enter college
• 12 of these dropout their
• first year.
• Only 18 actually graduate
• with either an associate
• or bachelors degree within
• 6 years. Teacher Magazine March 2004

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The latest census numbers estimate that 19-
almost one in 5- of adults age 25-34 fall into
the category of some college, no degree.A
Report by the Education Trust May 2004
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Education is essential in getting a high paying
job. In fact, for all but 1 of the 50 highest
paying occupations, a college degree or higher is
the most significant source of education or
training.
US Dept. of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook
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In 2003 8 of US youths were neither in school or
employed.US Bureau of Labor and Statistics
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Instructional InitiativesGrants

• 12 Model Schools - 500,000 in specialized grant
  money through GLISI
• Wireless Grant almost 2M in Title IID funds.
  Site survey, all equipment, installation, 1
  wireless cart.

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Instructional InitiativesTeaching

• 21st Century Teaching

New GPS Training
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Instructional InitiativesTeacher Resources

• 1 place/all resources
• Complete Re-vamp of GLC site
• Searchable database for new GPS
• ASAS (MLS) Framework
• Understanding by Design Lesson Development

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Instructional InitiativesE-learning

• New Proposed Georgia Virtual High School
• Initiative from Governors office
• We would continue our current e-learning program
  for spring semester. (10 seats per high school)
• Summer School program
• Open in Fall of 05 as a 4th state school
• Used Florida and Michigan models

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Instructional InitiativesSpecial Projects

• Tiger Woods Virtual Learning Center
• 11 Initiative
• Microsoft Partners in Learning Program
• Tech Forums (Kennesaw, Savannah)
• Georgia Read More Program

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DOE Application Development
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Goals

• Improve Customer Perception
• We are dedicated to improvement
• Set expectations for our users
• Develop Standards
• Create and Implement much needed coding standards
• We will be able to develop smarter and faster
• Benchmarking measuring our improvements

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Development Improvements

• FTE
• Upload Times
• Improvements up to 50 for large files
• Improvement up to 25 for small files
• System Uptime
• Reports 90 to 98 uptime
• File upload 99 uptime

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Development Improvements

• Student Record
• FTE improvements will be carried over to Student
  Record
• Increased upload speed
• Increased data validation speed
• Notification by email when reports and processing
  has been completed
• No partitioning of resources

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Development Priorities

• Student Record
• Facilities/COPS
• FTE
• Financial
• QBE
• School Nutrition
• GAYORS

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The Future DOE Portal

• Central Administration
• Creation of users
• Workflow for user approval
• Alerting and News
• Master calendar of yearly events
• Development Framework
• Improved navigation
• Promote reuse of code

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Office of Quality Assurance Information
Technology Georgia Department of Education
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Mission

• It is the mission of the Office of Quality
  Assurance to ensure that software applications
  developed and/or supported by the Department of
  Education function and perform as designed.
• We are committed to improving customer
  productivity and satisfaction by meeting and
  exceeding their expectations.
• This is accomplished by a continuous improvement
  process in software design, testing, and
  implementation operating within a rigorous
  unified framework of the industrys best
  practices.

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Accomplishments

• Applied QA Methodology Based on an iterative
  Rational Unified Process (RUP)
• Built Isolated QA Environment/Regions
• Designed Standard QA Document Templates
• Established Defect Tracking/Management System
  (Rational ClearQuest)
• Created Procedures and Reports For Peer Review,
  Audit, and Inspection
• Implemented Automated Testing Process (Rational
  Robot)
• Evaluated Performance and Stress Testing Tools
• Instituted QA Signoff for Release Process
  (Rational ClearCase)

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What We Are Doing

• Standardizing RUP Process
• Establishing Change Control Process
• Benchmarking Metrics for Process/Project
  Measurement
• Integrating QA Process with Application
  Development Teams
• Establishing QA Test Lab
• Auditing Project Teams and Deliverables
• Assisting with Department-wide Document Templates
• Performing daily industry standard QA functions

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Where We Are Going

• Integrate QA Fully Into New and Legacy Projects
• Improve Coordination, Control, and Oversight of
  Project Goals
• Increase Utilization of Test Automation Tools
• Institute Continuous Process Improvement (Post
  Project Review) Across All Projects
• Implement Continuing Education and Training
  Programs For All Project Teams
• Integrate Activities with Support and
  Development Teams

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Help Desk Mission

• To establish a quality, cost effective, customer
  support desk by
• Providing our customers with the highest quality
  support and making them happy they called
• Taking personal ownership of every issue
• Solving every problem once
• Establishing industry recognized best practices

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Help Desk

• ETTC Regional Support Analysts
• Albany State Kenya Strong
• Armstrong Atlantic Jennifer Poole
• Columbus State Nikita Harris
• First District RESA Glenn Josey
• Floyd College Tracey Younce
• Heart of Georgia RESA Glenn Josey
• National Science Center Peggy Bruce
• Pioneer RESA Gloria Suggs
• Valdosta State Beverly Porter

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Help Desk

• Direct first tier support for systems in these
  ETTCs
• Contact
• Email dticket_at_doe.k12.ga.us
• Phone [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Web http//techservices.doe.k12.ga.us/admin/suppo
  rt/support.htm
• Web http//www.ga-edtech.org/center.html

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Superintendents Pulse Check Focus Groups

• North GA and NWGA RESA (6)
• Metro and WGA RESA (8)
• CSRA and Oconee RESA (6)
• First District and Okefenokee RESA (8)
• Middle GA and Griffin RESA (3)
• Heart of GA and Chattahoochee-Flint RESA (6)
• SWGA and Coastal Plains RESA (8)

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What areas does the DOE need to continue to
improve?

• Communications and Planning
• Georgia Performance Standards
• Technology
• Finance and Budget
• Facilities
• NCLB/AYP
• Early Intervention Program

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Technology

• Extending deadlines is a problem (i.e.costs
  systems money).
• DOE IT Help Desk is not helpful
• response time too slow
• Support and advice lacking or inadequate/smaller
  systems need support staff
• There are too many data elements collected.

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Technology(contd)

• Mid-year changes in data elements are time and
  resource exhaustive.
• DOE repository not updated which causes errors
• Delays in transmitting data are problematic
• DOE website and LOTUS notes are not user-friendly

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NCLB/AYP

• Systems want as much flexibility under NCLB as
  possible . Is the GA plan granting the maximum
  flexibility?
• AYP needs to be revisited as it relates to
  Special education and attendance
• AYP report should be on percentage basis with
  total number of indicators met/total number of
  indicators

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NCLB/AYP (contd)

• Systems unable to get feedback on AYP appeal
  status. (calls and emails not returned)
• Systems need assistance in addressing needs of
  sub-groups. There is a desire to get it right,
  but its a complete change of paradigm.

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Student Record Changes

• New upload application and process
• Tuned database queries
• Multiple file upload
• Bulk database load
• Email to let know processing has completed
• Summary report to include students with errors
• Principal access to school-level reports

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Student Record Questions

• Error processing and Summary Reports
• Cap errors at nnn?
• Do not process summary reports till date?
• Do not process until ltnn errors?
• Compression
• Middle to large systems zip file?

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Student Record Goals

• Stable environment
• Faster upload and validation
• No rationing of system resources
• Correct data at source

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AYP for 2004

• o Principal Access, Review, and Certification
• o Drill Through / Download of Student Data
• o Redesigned web site
• o Regional Support Teams
• o New flexibility for Participation Average,
  Medical Emergencies, and LEP Students
• o District choice of Second Indicators
• o State provided Pre-ID Labels

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Considerations for 2005

• o Graduation Rate calculation to address
• o Graduates during summer school
• o Double counting Drop Outs
• o 5th Year Seniors
• o Full Academic Year calculation
• o More flexibility for Students with Disabilities
• o Available to users prior to Test Windows
• o Enhanced Drill Through / Download
• o Elimination of 1 day data Refresh Lag

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GeorgiasStatewide Student Information Project
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Status Update

• Project is moving forward and on schedule
• December 31, 2005 Go Live
• Ramping up communications to ensure timely
  dissemination of project information to school
  systems
• This project will not replace the local SIS

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High Level Schedule
Q3 04
Q4 04
Q1 05
Q2 05
Q4 05
Q3 05
D
Milestone
A
S
O
N
D
J
M
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
J
F
A
Project Initiation
Needs Assessment
Detailed Requirements
Detailed Design
Build Unit Test
System Testing Phase
UAT Testing Phase
Go Live
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What Can We Do Now?

• Data Quality
• If data are collected in the Student Information
  System as a by-product of a districts day-to-day
  operations, that data becomes reliable,
  reproducible, raw and not redundant, thereby
  reducing the state reporting burden.
• Begin working toward data quality now
• When the data is required is too late