Not all  work in education happens in the classroom.  A lot of important work is done behind the scenes.  That work is the focus of an innovation grant awarded to the Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council (ESUCC).

With the $1.6 million grant, the ESUCC is going to incorporate multiple online educational and data collection systems into one statewide, secure, single sign-on portal through the Data-driven Ecosystem Enhancing Teaching and Improving Learning for Students (DE2TAILS) project.

“If we can put all the things in one place and make them easily accessible at the right time and right place it can really enhance efficiency and make the experience easier,” says ESUCC Technical Director Scott Isaacson.

The system would compile data collected by different agencies on different sites in order to share information among the system. The hope is to create a system where all student information can be accessed quickly by educators to help improve teaching and learning.  That means data could be shared not just within a school or district but anywhere the student may go.

“It’s important that we build that data ecosystem and support not just for ESUs or the Nebraska Department of Education but for all 244 school districts across the state, reaching all 315,000 students we have,” says ESUCC Executive Director Dave Ludwig. “You have to have the infrastructure there to support and enhance teaching and learning.”

The grant is helping the ESUCC prepare to serve all of Nebraska’s students better.

“The most exciting part is to look to the future.  More and more indicators and analytics will be available in the future because of what we are putting in place right now,” says Isaacson.

More information about the DE2TAILS project is available at https://www.education.ne.gov/pmo/innovation-grant/ or at esucc.org.