Across the 50 states, career and technical education (CTE) programs at the K-12 and postsecondary levels have seen enormous policy action - 2013 alone saw at least 78 substantive policy changes via legislation, state board rules and executive orders specific to CTE and workforce development. What are the drivers behind this sudden policymaker…

This paper examines the qualities and limitations of information utilization in special education program planning and improvement; discusses the results of a federally funded transition follow-along and follow-up research and demonstration project in Minnesota; and describes methods for organizing, managing, and reporting follow-along and…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

Describes school-level K-12 revenue and expenditure data collection in California, Texas, Florida, and Minnesota. Neither California nor Minnesota collects school-site fiscal data. Florida's highly advanced district and school-level data collection system has inconsistently reported standardized test scores. Texas has developed a good database to…

This summary of a recent evaluation of the Minnesota Management Information System (MIS) focuses on problems encountered during its evolution and on options available to solve those problems. A delineation between state and district information needs is provided, with an emphasis on statewide standards for reporting educational needs. (MER)

In an effort to shed light on the questions surrounding the use and impact of computer-based information systems, the Special Projects Division of the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium undertook a field-based study of a computer-based information system that can process and produce information dealing with students, curriculum, personnel,…

Stresses the need for having financial and staff data available at the school level and relates Minnesota's state department of education's experience with school-level data collection. Schools need to develop unit record data collection and integrated, relational databases. School-level data can provide answers to major questions concerning…

Everyone on your campus needs information, and if your institution is like most schools, you have plenty of it to share. But which types of data warehousing and business intelligence systems you choose, and how accessible, usable, and meaningful those tools make all of that information, remain the big questions for many technologists and…

The evaluation of Minnesota's State Department of Education Information System (SDE-IS) analyzes existing problems of this administrative data processing system and offers recommendations for improving data processing support and reducing the reporting burden on school districts. SDE-IS includes all data processing systems that serve the…

Explores the development of the systems architecture designed to meet problems identified by an evaluation of management information systems in Minnesota elementary, secondary, and vocational (ESV) education. Now a component of the long-range state plan for ESV information systems, the architecture integrates hardware, application systems, and…

This document is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: an examination of investors' understanding of auditing reports; the development and implementation of a communication audit related to selected systems concepts; the…

The development of a computer-based instructional management system for the Duluth, Minnesota school system is described. The project is designed to relate observed or measured student learning in cognitive and affective areas to the costs of instructional services. Individual student data are used for the cost-effectiveness analyses supported by…

School districts in southwest and west central Minnesota have historically led the state in cooperative efforts. The Educational Cooperative Service Unit (ECSU), an intermediary agency that is an extension of the member schools, is responsive to school district needs and is controlled by the member schools themselves. In 1979-80 membership in the…