CAPACITY

Time Fiscal Resources Capacity Advice to Policymakers

One overlooked area of need is the capacity of personnel to perform the necessary tasks to create and use such data systems. Creating such large data systems requires considerable technical expertise that may not be present in state education agencies, teacher preparation programs, or school districts. Thus, such entities may need either to hire personnel or to outsource the tasks to private vendors. Regardless, such decisions require serious fiscal resources.

Even after creating data sets, personnel must be able to access and use the data sets. Unfortunately, not every state education agency, preparation program, or school district has personnel with the knowledge and skills to work with large data sets. Thus, again, entities must make difficult and costly decisions about whether to hire personnel or to outsource the tasks.

Finally, even after the correct data sets have been created through merging and “cleaning” of data sets from different sources, entities must have personnel with the knowledge and skills to analyze data, interpret results, and communicate the analyses to laypersons. Again, entities must decide whether to hire personnel or outsource the tasks.

Last updated: February 6, 2006