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Episode 38

Release Date: January 11, 2024

Guests: Amy Patterson, data manager with the Kentucky of Department of Education, and Alisa Fewkes, data manager with the Idaho Department of Education

This interactive checklist helps states meet IDEA Section 618 public reporting requirements. The checklist also has an archiving function to document the posting process for later reference.

Episode 37

Release Date: December 14, 2023

Guests: Jessica Brady, Aaron Darling, and Julie Trevino, the Michigan Department of Education

Thoughtful planning and data use go together like a hand in a mitten…or a Mitten State. In this episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman bundles up and heads north to learn more about Michigan’s data use and action plan process with the state Department of Education’s Jessica Brady, Aaron Darling, and Julie Trevino. They discuss the eight-step procedure Michigan designed to help districts reach their own unique data goals. So, put on your mittens and hop on the toboggan; you don’t want to miss our final episode of 2023.

Episode 36

Release Date: November 9, 2023

Guests: Terry Long and Chris Thacker, IDC

Don’t want to go out? No problem. Sometimes you just want a date closer to home. In this cozy episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman is doing just that, welcoming our very own Terry Long and Chris Thacker to learn all about IDC’s edit check tools, an online resource that allows users to visualize and review SEA and LEA EDFacts 618 data files. From Child Count and Educational Environment to Discipline and Personnel data, they’ll cover it all. Join them to get close (to the edit check tools).

States will find our IDEA Assessment Data Display Tool for SPP/APR Indicator 3 a great help as they prepare SEA-level data for submission via EDPass. This resource will help them to see how data may appear in the SPP/APR. States can review their current year's data for Indicators 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D using EDFacts files FS175, FS178, FS185, and FS188. 

Episode 35

Release Date: October 26, 2023

Guests: Jack Brimhall, Interim Associate Director of the state’s Special Education Division, and Kishaun Thorntona, Education Program Consultant

In a state the size of California, implementing systems for change requires a whole lot of teamwork. In this episode of A Date with Data, host Amy Bitterman heads to the left coast to find out how Jack Brimhall, Interim Associate Director of the state’s Special Education Division, and Kishaun Thorntona, Education Program Consultant, team up with local districts to address issues of significant disproportionality with robust data and a model system for monitoring and tracking progress. Tune in to see how these golden state warriors are getting it done.

Episode 34

Release Date: October 10, 2023

Guests: Angela Vaughn, Assistant Director of Monitoring and Compliance, Indiana Department of Education

One thing we appreciate: A good friend who has our back, keeps us on the right track. In the Indiana Department of Education, that’s Angela Vaughn, Assistant Director of Monitoring and Compliance. In that role, Angela helps oversee her state’s annual LEA determination process, and, in her role, host Amy Bitterman is eager to learn more. Join us for this week’s A Date with Data where Angela describes how she and her office help Indiana LEAs use data elements and apply criteria to the determination categories to satisfy this important, and mandatory, process.