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Montana To Build Statewide Data Warehouse to Connect K-12, Postsecondary Student Data
The Montana Office of Public Instruction
has partnered with IBM and
ConnectEDU to develop a statewide data
warehouse that will store electronic student transcripts for K-12 students and
connect them with postsecondary data for Montana high school students who go on
to postsecondary education in the state.
The system integrates
IBM's Data
Warehouse and Reporting tools and
ConnectEDU's Connect platform. The OPI will use the system to collect high
school transcript data through a web portal. From there, the data will move to
ConnectEDU's transcript management system, which will handle student transcript
requests from Montana universities and colleges. According to information from
ConnectEDU, the OPI will use the data "to inform policy decisions at the state
level, support college and career planning, as well as facilitate the transition
for K-12 students to college."
Participation in the program is optional for school districts, but the OPI
is looking for all districts to participate because it will let Montana high school
students submit their transcripts to the state's postsecondary schools at no
cost to the requestor or school district. "This program will help make the
college application process easier for students and families," said Madalyn
Quinlan, chief of staff for the OPI, in a prepared statement.
In addition to handling student transcript requests, the system is intended
to help educators and school administrators make informed policy decisions,
track student success and provide personalized instruction, according to
information from ConnectEDU.
"Today's challenge is to make sense of the vast amount of data that surrounds
the education industry; to be successful we must harness its insights through
analytics for better decision making by educators and ultimately better
performance for students," said Michael King, vice president of Global Education
Industry at IBM in a prepared statement.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at leilameyer@gmail.com.