As the school year begins, we all naturally turn our minds to education. Today, teachers have a lot on their plates – from English language learners, inclusion and special education as well as the introduction of the common core and new assessments like PARCC. With all of those considerations in mind, schools and teachers are always striving to improve outcomes for each individual student. Education data provides a piece of the solution to meet the needs of each student.
Some local examples include: The Mass Tech Collaborative and the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) held the EduData Challenge, a six week data challenge aimed at acquiring unique insights from a comprehensive cache of Massachusetts education data. And last school year, Boston Public Schools released Where’s My School Bus? Making real-time bus information available online for parents and guardians.
At the third in the series of conversations on Civic Tech, we plan to address the following questions:
- What are we currently doing with education data?
- Where does the data live?
- How can school systems, administrators and teachers use data to inform and drive outcomes for students?
- How can we engage with data sets in a scalable and impactful way?
We are bringing together people from various parts of the public and private communities to spark the conversation and then invite the attendees to engage in the discussion. Invited panelists include:
- Christopher Scranton, Senior Manager for Big Data and Technology Initiatives, Mass Tech Collaborative
- Mark Racine, Chief Information Officer, Boston Public Schools
- Helen Haste, Visiting Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Chris Quirk, CTO Achievement Network
- Moderator: Aimee Sprung, Civic Engagement Manager, Microsoft
In coordination with the Venture Café Foundation, the Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center will convene a conversation on Civic Tech on October 1, 2014, 5:30PM – 7:30PM at Microsoft New England Research & Development.
Register today http://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-conversation-on-civic-technology-tickets-12825384069.
About Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center New England
The Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center aims for Microsoft to be “of” the community, not just exist within it. Through the Innovation and Policy Center we are extending beyond the tech community to:
- Connect stakeholders from tech to the broader business, academic and government communities;
- Catalyze important technology and public policy discussions, and;
- Contribute more directly with the health and vitality of greater New England.
About Venture Café Foundation
The Venture Café Foundation (VCF) provides resources for the entrepreneurial and innovation communities that enable conversations and collaborations. The Venture Café Foundation presently runs four resource programs: Venture Café, District Hall, Mass Bay Innovation Alliance (MBIA), and Captains of Innovation Program. The Venture Café Foundation is a not-for-profit, public-purpose sister organization of the Cambridge Innovation Center. VCF is incorporated as a Massachusetts Not-for-Profit Corporation.
