It’s no secret that we live in a data-driven world. Increasingly, it’s almost impossible to make decisions without data, but it’s not always clear HOW to do that. This is true for nearly every industry, and Catholic schools are no exception. Data can help you identify areas of improvement, tailor interventions to student needs, track progress over time, and determine where additional efforts need to be made in areas like enrollment and student performance. You can use data to determine how to allocate limited resources in a way that will make the most amount of impact in the least amount of time, understand why people are giving money to your schools, or why parents have stopped engaging. And so much more.
The truth is, there is no shortage of data in the world, and numbers fly at you regularly that could be used to help you make decisions, but often they’re too general, out of context, or even obsolete. And the resources to help you know what to DO with the data are not obvious or available.
NCEA wants to be part of changing this narrative by fostering an environment of trust and collaboration around data and data-sharing. We hope to help leaders and decision-makers in Catholic schools leverage data to improve student outcomes, optimize resource allocation, and drive evidence-based interventions. We believe that a trusting, transparent data-sharing culture is crucial and can be used to empower leaders to enhance the overall quality of the education they offer. Data has stories to tell, and we want to help you find and share those stories more easily.
We are committed to deep listening, collecting new data to respond to your needs and sharing data that we collect. We’re also going to help you to use the data with resources and content. We’ll not only provide you with applications and action steps that may come out of findings but share ways to get to action with your own data, and how to collaborate with data within our community in an impactful and safe way. We want to foster a deeply trusting, transparent data-sharing culture so that we can help you use your data in more meaningful ways and build connections with others who are doing the same.
Here are just some of the ways you will see that we’re opening communication and making collaborative processes that will be key to the success of a trusting data and research culture.
Engage in Transparent Communication. We will start by engaging in transparent and open communication to determine collective research goals and share how the data will be used to improve your schools. We will address any concerns you may have about data privacy and security.
Identify Shared Objectives. We will identify and align our collective research objectives with your goals for your Catholic schools. We will demonstrate how data-sharing can contribute to your success, whether it’s improving academic performance, student well-being, resource allocation, or other relevant aspects.
Highlight Success Stories. We will share success stories and case studies from places where research projects and datasharing has led to positive outcomes. We want you to see the tangible benefits and celebrate things that are working well.
Establish Clear Data Sharing and Privacy Protocols. We will work together with you to develop clear data-sharing protocols and agreements that outline the scope of data to be shared, how it will be used, who will have access, and the measures in place to protect sensitive information. We value data privacy and security, and we know you do, too. We will outline the ways your data will be handled, ensuring the utmost care and in compliance with relevant regulations.
Provide Regular Updates. We will keep you informed about the progress and findings of research we conduct that is relevant to your daily life. We will regularly share updates and insights to maintain engagement and demonstrate the value of data-sharing.
Research Collaboration. We will collaborate with you throughout the research process. When relevant, we will ask you to help define research questions, interpret findings, and shape actionable recommendations. We want you to feel ownership and investment in research outcomes since we will conduct research that directly impacts you—ideally making your job better.
We are committed to deep listening, collecting new data to respond to your needs and sharing data that we collect.
Develop Resources and Content. We will use data that we have and collect as well as our in-house expertise to create relevant content and resources that will give you action steps and insights that matter for your day-to-day. We also want to help you learn how you can use data in your own context in more efficient and effective ways.
Continuous Improvement. We will use feedback from you to continuously improve our data-sharing practices. It’s important that we adjust our approach based on your needs and preferences.
Our hope is that we will all work together to share, learn from, and use data to tell important stories, make better decisions, and ultimately impact the students we serve in the best possible ways. We know that the data we collect and share can be used to help you do your jobs better and make your lives easier, so we’re committed to doing just that.
Megan Bissellmegan@ncea.org