Infinite Campus For the past two years, Paterson has been utilizing Infinite Campus as its main student information database system. Infinite Campus houses all student and teacher data, from schedules and attendance to grades and report cards. Infinite Campus is a web-based system designed to improve access to student data and facilitate communication between faculty, parents, and students. The goal for the past two years has been to consolidate multiple antiquated systems into this single web-based system in order to improve the flow and transfer of information. Before Infinite Campus, district-level student information was handled by a number of different departments as well as multiple school staff due to turnover. Therefore, a new, modern, more updated system was needed to keep track of the issues that the team encountered. As the 5 new system was being adopted, the team found multiple students with the same ID number or the same student with multiple ID numbers. In other words, the data were dirty. Upon implementation, the district was able to resolve some of the underlying issues for which there had never been clear evidence. Students were identified properly and placed in the proper locations. At the school level, an improved governance policy was viewed as an absolute necessity. Paterson administrators have the autonomy to run their schools as they see fit. This autonomy has potentially negative implications for data integrity and the communication between systems, however. For example, schools create and monitor their own schedules. Some have 40-minute periods, while others have 90-minute blocks. Some assign full classes of students to all teachers and some assign individual students to individual teaching staff. A centralized system has brought some order, but there is much more to do to eliminate chaos across autonomous school units. Within the last two years, different stakeholders have had different levels of training to use Infinite Campus. As of June 17, 2016, survey data show that 84% of staff felt a level of comfort with the system, and administrators overwhelmingly said they want more training for their staff, with 77% stating its relevance. Performance Matters Performance Matters is a data management system that uses Patersons state assessment results and benchmark assessments to create easy to interpret color-coded reports. These reports will enable the staff to see the exact strengths and weaknesses of the district, teachers, classes, subgroups, and individual students. Although Performance Matters provides statistical data in a timely fashion, the manpower needed to input the information and ensure the accuracy of teacher input is monumental. Paterson administration needs to ensure that the local assistant 6 superintendents hold principals accountable for using Performance Matters to manage data for instructional improvements and that principals hold teachers accountable for using it in the classrooms. A monitoring process has been implemented to ensure implementation with fidelity and follow through. Again, because schools and their administrators have the autonomy to run their buildings as they see fit, there are some data accuracy issues. Schools create processes based on their particular needs and the staffing resources required to input and monitor data entry into Performance Matters. According to survey data, 77% of staff use the system monthly, less, or not at all. Moreover, the system is seen as not user friendly by 42% of users. This perception decreases accountability for data usage. Data Mentorship Each of the schools within Paterson Public Schools is placed into one of three separate categories based on assessment results: priority, focus, and non-categorized (i.e., higher performing schools that do not fit the criteria of the other two categories). This categorization allows for additional Title I funding to target the needs of data usage assistance through data mentors. A priority school is among the lowest-performing 5% of Title I schools in the state. These five schools in Paterson have an overall three-year proficiency rate of 31.6% or lower. Focus schools have room for improvement in areas that are specific to the school. As part of the process, focus schools receive targeted and tailored solutions to meet their unique needs. There are three types of focus schools: Low graduation rate schools are high schools with a graduation rate lower than 75%. 7 Largest within-school gap schools have the largest gap (43.5% or higher) between the proficiency of the highest-performing subgroup in the school and the combined proficiency of the two lowest-performing subgroups. Lowest subgroup performance schools have an overall proficiency rate for the lowest-performing subgroups of 29.2% or loweramong the lowest combined proficiency rates in the state. Paterson budgets 30% of its Title I funding for priority and focus schools. With this funding, these schools receive a staff member hired as the data mentor teacher. This teachers primary role is to provide and analyze data for the schools administration based on the goals set in their school improvement plan, as well as work with teachers to analyze student achievement data that drives daily instruction. The data mentors job description includes the following: ? Focus on implementing a system for leadership and staff to develop and utilize common assessment data as well as formative assessment data for improving and differentiating instruction. ? Collaborate with staff to collect and analyze data for professional development needs in the school. ? Build the capacity of the leadership and staff to collect and analyze data for improving instruction and the skills necessary to develop a system for increasing teacher ownership of data analysis for improving instruction. ? Assist the building administration with data necessary to conduct needs assessments based on the school improvement plan. ? Collaborate with the administration on the collection and analysis of performance data and the identification of instructional priorities. 8 ? Complete in a timely fashion all reports and data requested by the principal. ? Attend required staff meetings and serve, as appropriate, on staff committees. ? Protect confidentiality of records and information gained as part of professional duties and use discretion in sharing such information within legal confines. Currently, there are two full-time two data mentors in the two School Improvement Grant schools in Paterson. The other six mentors are split between 18 schools, serving three schools each with a six-day rotating schedule. The data mentors show teachers how to use data systems, such as Performance Matters and Infinite Campus, run and maintained by the Assessment and Information Management Departments, respectively. Data Use in Paterson Data mentors do not report to any one department. Rather, they are given directives from their principals based on the individual needs and requirements of the school. This process directly connects to the teachers evaluation rubric. The Paterson rubric adopted the Focal Point rubric, which sets a specific standard for the use of data to drive instruction. Sections 2a2c of the rubric is included below in Figures 13. 9 Figure 1. Paterson Public Schools performance standard 2a: Focus on improving instruction using data. Figure 2. Paterson Public Schools performance standard 2b: Use a variety of assessment methods when designing classroom assessments.