• Student Information
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• Student Academic Profile
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• Campus Information

General knowledge about a district, campus, or student is critical for educators because students bring their home life, emotions, academic history and demographics to the classroom.  Before an educator can accurately assess a student they need to have an understanding of their background.  As many districts deal with highly mobile populations having this information travel with students is imperative. At the district level educators can compare across campuses to see trends with special populations and ensure that resources are allocated to schools with the highest need.  Having a system that provides up to date information about the student population helps campus administrators, counselors and department heads understand the dynamics of the population, serve as a basis for making linkages between the student profile and academic and operational metrics and determine what actions are most relevant for specific student populations.  In focus groups with over 2,600 educators across the state of Texas, respondents – particularly teachers and counselors - overwhelmingly identified the need for a basic profile of a student or campus before action was taken on any given performance indicator.  Profile information most often mentioned includes:  contact information, student demographics, program participation, and historical course and assessment performance.  Most educators have access to student or campus data, but this data resides in a number of different places and few educators have the time or resources to track it down.  Having this data in a single place prior to the start of the school year and obtaining regular updates throughout the year ensures teachers genuinely know their students and can prepare the appropriate instructional approaches as well as any other needed supports to ensure success.

Knowing the general demographics of a student will ensure proper context for performance indicators and that interventions are tailored for each student.  In focus groups with 170 educators across Delaware and over 2,600 educators across the state of Texas, educators overwhelmingly identified the need for a basic profile of a student before action was taken on any given performance indicator.  Having this data at the start of the school year and obtaining updates throughout the year ensures that educators – particularly teachers and counselors - genuinely know their students and can prepare the appropriate instructional approaches as well as any other needed supports to ensure success.  The following items were identified by educators as being valuable student information:

• Student, parent, and emergency contact details
• Demographics
• School information, including enrollment data and previous schools attended
• Program participation including English Language Learner (ELL), Special Education, and Career and Technical Education (CTE)
• Special accommodations and 504 Plan details
• Other student information, e.g., Homeless, Immigrant, Migrant, Retained
• Interventions receiving
• Extracurricular activities
• Alerts such as medical needs and information such as "no contact allowed with Father"

Metric Specifications

• Student: Student Information Profile

A student’s academic history is valuable to educators.  Basic academic history such as past courses and grades coupled with historical attendance and discipline data gives educators valuable insight into a student’s strengths and areas where they may have struggled in the past.  In forums with over 2,600 educators across Texas, the following items were identified as being most valuable in a historical academic profile:

• Attendance
• Course and credit performance
• Discipline
• Interventions received and outcomes
• Mobility
• Performance on state and local assessments
• Program participation

At campus level, educators want to understand the basic profile of the school and changes to this profile over time.  Understanding the campus population as a whole and differences between campuses aids campus and district administration in tailoring instructional approaches and other supports to the needs of each campus.  In forums with over 2,600 educators across Texas, the following items were identified as being valuable on a campus information page:

• Demographics
• Feeder school distribution
• Mobility rate
• Program enrollment
• Student enrollment profile
• Students receiving special accommodations and services