Managing Data: From Old-School Data Crunching Way to the Pulse Way

Compass Pulse is transforming the way schools manage and utilise data. 

By providing a user-friendly, dynamic, and efficient solution, it empowers school leaders and teachers to make informed decisions and create a more supportive learning environment for all students.

There is now significantly more student data being created, compared and analysed in all schools.  But how can schools make sense of and take advantage of this wealth of student data in an efficient way?

Many schools are grappling with that issue.  

Understandably, school leaders and teachers are navigating an evolving landscape of data management amongst the plethora of other priorities.  Including student data being interrogated to measure school performance and targets being set for planning and managing change.

Whilst challenging, schools are entering a new era of education whereby leaders and teachers are gradually changing how they relate to student data.   With more frequent referencing to data patterns, resulting in more regular fine tuning of programs aimed at improving outcomes for students. 

I’m observing this new era beginning to unfold when I meet with more and more school leaders who are leading their schools to noticeably move from traditional to proactive data informed approaches and modelling this with their teams.  

These leaders are shifting to a data-informed culture of their schools by investing into more integrated modules within their Compass portal to record richer student information related to attendance, well-being, behaviour and learning management.

As part of this shift to a data-informed culture, leaders have worked with their teams to question the effectiveness of their traditional or typical data analysis process.  This includes exporting data files, collating information, creating graphs, identifying trends, gaps, achievement of targets and generating reports for different audiences.

This traditional process is often:

• Time-consuming: Hours can be spent on manual data entry and manipulation.
• Static: Data can quickly become outdated, hindering real-time decision-making.
• Limited: Access to data might be restricted, and generating comprehensive reports can be cumbersome.

There had to be a better way to more efficiently analyse and report data.  

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Enter Compass Pulse: A Game-Changer

The Compass Pulse module offers a dynamic and efficient solution to those challenges of traditional data analysis.  Actually, school leaders have described Pulse as an extra resource on their team and designed as a data analysis engine with no need to import or export data ever again. 

In fact, schools using Pulse to its full potential praise the positive impact with their colleagues at other schools. As one school leader in the northern suburbs of Perth described it; 

“I can’t imagine how our Student Services operated without Pulse.  It’s like we have an additional resource analysing our data which is saving us so much time.  Every time we’ve completed training, we have added value each time to our dashboards which is helping with our efficiency”.

So, what does Pulse provide:

• Customisable Dashboards: School leaders and teachers can create personalized dashboards to track the metrics that matter most to them. Whether it’s whole-school attendance, year group behavior trends, or individual student wellbeing, Compass Pulse allows for tailored views.
• Live Data: Access real-time data to identify emerging issues and intervene promptly. No more waiting for static reports; Compass Pulse provides up-to-the-minute information, helping to make accurate decisions.
• Simplified Reporting: Easily generate reports or widgets for presentations or updates, making data accessible to all stakeholders.

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How Educators Use Compass Pulse

Here are some practical examples of how school leaders and teachers can use Compass Pulse:

School Leaders:

Whole School Issues: School leaders can select and configure one or more dashboards that just focus on the most critical attendance, well-being and academic factors, providing them with an overview of their school.

Data-Driven Whole School Analysis: As part of a data informed culture, Principals are leading their staff to strategically monitor Pulse reporting on a daily basis.  Leaders are empowering their staff to be more informed by data accessed via Pulse reports.  Pulse has really changed how schools are regularly monitoring trends and gaps and adjusting resources, purely because the data is more visually available.

Attendance Monitoring: Student Services Teams can track school-wide attendance trends, identify patterns, and address chronic absenteeism. Instead of maintaining attendance records, they can access a live dashboard showing attendance rates for different year groups.

Wellbeing Analysis: Year Level Leaders can monitor student wellbeing indicators, such as behavior incidents or support requests. They can create a dashboard to visualize trends and identify students who may need additional support, allowing for proactive intervention.

Teachers:

Classroom Management: Teachers can use Pulse to easily track individual student attendance, behavior and well-being issues. They can identify patterns, such as recurring absences or behavioural issues that have occurred in the playground, and address them promptly with proactive intervention.

Data-Driven Instruction: Teachers can analyze student wellbeing data for their class to understand the factors affecting their students’ learning. They can then use this information to adjust their teaching strategies or provide additional support as needed.

As another school leader in regional WA described; 

“Pulse is such a time saving module. We can trust it’s working away in the background analysing our data, doing the work that school leaders had to do when they could find the time.  Pulse provides us with the important reports we need, allowing us as leaders to be more strategic in our thinking instead of reactionary.”

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The Compass Pulse Advantage

Essentially, compared to traditional methods and combined with schools shifting to a data-informed approach, Compass Pulse offers several key advantages:

• Efficiency: Automates data collection and analysis, freeing up educators’ time.
• Accessibility: Provides easy access to data for all authorized users.
• Insights: Enables data-driven decision-making by providing clear visualizations and reports.
• Collaboration: Facilitates communication and collaboration among staff by providing a shared platform for data.

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Conclusion

Ultimately, Compass Pulse is transforming the way schools manage and utilise data. By providing a user-friendly, dynamic, and efficient solution, it empowers school leaders and teachers to make informed decisions and contribute to a more supportive learning environment for all students.

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