This year has seen remarkable advancements in educational technology poised to change teaching, learning, and research in education. In this blog post, we gather insights from five leaders at Education Analytics (EA) who have experienced these changes alongside our educational partners. From emerging trends in data use to how educators are making use of data in their classrooms, these leaders share their perspectives on the most influential developments in education. Below, they share key takeaways from the 2023-24 school year.
I'm regularly impressed by how different data and research needs can be from district to district or state to state. It is a continued reminder of the extent to which analysts and researchers need to interact with and be sensitive to the specific challenges with which individual education agencies are engaging.
Collecting and integrating the wide breadth of data from various education systems is challenging work. With our partners, we’ve made huge progress in sustainably integrating data and bringing it into human-centered, accessible products. This saves educators’ time and enables more comprehensive analysis across data types.
We used to ask, ‘How can we get the data to answer these research questions?’ Now we’re asking, ‘What do we do with all this data?’ With interoperable data systems expanding nationwide and educators needing support to interpret this data, we are challenging ourselves to meet this demand. We are investing in real-time data utilization, investigating dynamic methods to monitor student progress and inform interventions, and developing models that generalize across context while allowing for flexibility. It's a super exciting—yet challenging—time as we strive to integrate research and analytics with modern data infrastructure and technology.
Open standards are creating larger platforms for talented people across school districts, state agencies, non-profits, research organizations, and EdTech companies to collaborate and build upon one another’s work in ways that are starting to provide real value.
With increased focus on attracting and retaining teachers in the K-12 space, it is crucial that research insights and technology pair together in novel ways to alleviate stressors and pain points for on-the-ground educators.
The 2023-24 school year was a landmark year in education with the widespread adoption of generative AI tools and the promise of ed tech tools that integrate them. This trend has engaged people throughout the K-12 education ecosystem in critical thinking around the potential and the risks in this next era of educational technology. EA looks forward to the challenge of continuing to serve our partners in this next era by providing the right data, at the right time, so that the right decisions can be made to improve outcomes for all students.