Expanding Their Range: Nevada Scales Up Data Processes

>> For the IDC Data Center, I'm Amy Bitterman, and this is A Date with Data. Every month, I sit down with data quality influencers from around the country to share their stories about special education data and the work they do to improve outcomes for children with disabilities. 

>> For the IDC Data Center, I'm Amy Bitterman, and this is A Date with Data. Every month, I sit down with data quality influencers from around the country to share their stories about special education data and the work they do to improve outcomes for children with disabilities. 

>> Welcome to A Date with Data. I am your host, Amy Bitterman, and today we're joined by Katherine Fusilier, Kathryn Butler, and Sheri Haggerty from the Nevada Department of Education. They will be sharing with us their experience using the IDC Data Processes Toolkit—why they chose to use it, what the process looked like, and some of the benefits they gained from using it. 

>> So glad to have all of you on. Could you each maybe say a little bit about yourself and your role at the department? And Katherine, do you want to go first?

 >> Sure, I'll start. My name is Katherine. I'm the IDEA Part B Data Manager for the State of Nevada. I have been with the Department of Education for ten years now. Yeah, so I'm happy to be here.

>> Thanks, Katherine.

>> Hi, I'm Kathryn Butler. I am the EDFacts Coordinator within the Office of Assessment Data and Accountability Management for the Department of Education. I've been here what seems like a long two years. 

>> Thanks. And Sheri? 

>> Hi, my name is Sheri Haggerty. I am a business process analyst. I also work in the ADAM team, but I work on the data system management side of it. I work on a help desk that is primarily a statewide help desk for districts to gain access and get help with Infinite Campus and other applications. Pardon me. 

>> Okay, great. Thank you. 

>> All right, so let's start out. If you could talk a little bit about what motivated Nevada initially to engage with IDC and use the Data Processes Toolkit. 

>> Sure. So I'll start This is Katherine. Through our monitoring visit by the Office of Special Education, and their DMS processes, we were gathering our information about our data systems, our collection, and ensuring valid and reliable data that is submitted annually to the department. We had our pieces, and through our discussions with them, it was strongly encouraged that we write all the processes down because, you know, we could all win the lottery and do something different. 

>> So, through that, we had initially tried to start this work earlier and it wasn't able to continue, but after that visit, we felt that it was appropriate timing. There were also some changes within the department staff, primarily in the ADAM team, and I'll let Kathryn and Sheri talk about that. But it was a good time to start documenting these processes and work through this together. 

>> Okay. What does ADAM stand for? 

>> The Office of Assessment Data and Accountability Management. 

>> Okay, thank you. So anything to add, Katherine or Sheri, about the motivation to engage in this process? 

>> Well, from my perspective, coming into this position relatively new, there hadn't been a lot of documentation as far as producing these files for submission into the EDFacts system. And so I had started to begin my own process documentation just so that I would know what to expect each year. 

>> It flowed very nicely into learning more about what Catherine is doing behind the scenes with the IDEA data before it even comes into EDFacts processing. We could kind of link those two processes together in a way that was beneficial for both of us.

>> And I got involved in this whole process through Kathryn. Kathryn and I have worked together since almost the beginning of when I started here almost four years ago, working to improve and manage the Infinite Campus side of the SPED module and data collections. 

>> So naturally, I would absolutely join something like this with her to go through and talk about each of the processes and documentation. I do a lot of documentation for our group, so on my side of the house, yeah. 

>> Gotcha. So it seems like all of you were kind of starting to do your own documentation, and then it just made sense to come together and do it as a team so you could see from start to finish and understand the full process. 

>> Certainly. It was very helpful and very timely to work with IDC to do this work. 

>> Great. So can you talk about what the process has been like working through the toolkit? 

>> Well, of course, I reached out to our IDC state lead and asked for help. We said we’d like to work through this process, and of course they said yes and jumped all in. 

>> I met with the director of the ADAM department and asked that team to be involved because I only know my side of the story. We’re learning that the data starts with the student record at the school and district level, flows all over the place, and eventually comes back to the department in our state performance and local annual reports. 

>> The director agreed to have staff involved. From that point, we preplanned dates that worked for everyone, spacing it out so it didn’t feel overwhelming. We started with data systems, did IDEA child count, then IDEA exit, and tagged indicators based on child count—five, six, nine, and ten—and indicators one and two off of exit. 

>> This spring we completed assessment documentation and indicator three. 

>> We brought in subject matter experts, like the assessment director and accountability team members, and our IT data teams. It’s been very collaborative, as it should be. 

>> Yeah, that's great. 

>> Well, I try to attend as many sessions as possible. It’s important to know how the data is formed and where it comes from. When I receive errors in EDFacts, I now understand what they mean and can talk through them with Catherine. 

>> I also learned that the data continues to be processed after submission. In my world, it ends when I click submit, but there’s more that happens afterward. 

>> My colleagues in the accountability team also attended to fill gaps in my understanding. It was great to get everyone together. 

>> I also really enjoyed the format. Having a structured agenda and facilitators helped guide everything. If something came up that wasn’t immediately relevant, we could park it for later discussion.  >> It was a great and helpful process. 

>> Good, that’s great. 

>> What are some of the benefits you’ve seen from working through the toolkit so far? 

>> Cross-office collaboration has been huge. Understanding that it’s not just special education data—it’s a Department of Education dataset—is important. 

>> Having written documentation is a major benefit, as is understanding who does what and when. We’ve also realized timing issues, like when processes could start earlier. 

>> I’m looking forward to documenting everything and eventually handing it off. 

>> That’s the goal, right? 

>> Exactly. When I started eight years ago, nothing was documented. 

>> I really like knowing who to go to when I have questions now. Before, I just received a file, submitted it, and that was it. Now I better understand the process and where to investigate issues. 

>> It also helps connect people and improves communication with districts. 

>> Right. It also helps us provide better answers to districts and give clearer direction. 

>> We also have “parking lot” ideas—ways to improve processes—that have come up during discussions. We’ll tackle those eventually. 

>> Yeah, that’s common. Even though the goal is documentation, improvements naturally come up. 

>> What lessons have you learned that other states should consider? 

>> Take the leap—just do it. We thought we understood our processes, but this brought everything together more clearly. 

>> It builds relationships and helps everyone understand not only what we do but why we do it. 

>> Documentation is crucial. Even if you think you’ve documented everything, there’s always more when you look at the full process. 

>> And invite more people than you think you need. There are always additional steps and handoffs you may not realize. 

>> Exactly. having more perspectives is always helpful. 

>> Well, thank you all so much for sharing your insights. It sounds like a very successful process. 

>> Is your goal to go through all indicators and files? 

>> Yes, we’ll keep going. Discipline is next, which is a bit daunting, but necessary. 

>> It’s also helping emphasize documentation and collaboration across all teams. 

>> And once we finish, we’ll go back through again to keep everything current. 

>> Right. It’s a cycle. 

>> I think this process should apply to all data collections. Everything should be documented. 

>> We’re also thinking about how to take this to the district level, since districts are where the data originates. 

>> Turnover at the district level is high, and staff wear multiple hats, so documentation there will be critical. 

>> That’s great to hear. 

>> Well, thank you all so much for your time. We really appreciate it. 

>> Thank you for having us. 

>> Yes, thank you—this was a great conversation.  

> And thank you, Kathryn and Sheri, for joining me on this journey, and Amy for having us share our story. 

>> A Date with Data is produced by the IDEA Data Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education.  Have a story about special education data you'd like to share? We'd love to hear from you. Reach out to us ideadata.org