In 2015, in partnership with the Department of Technology at San Francisco Unified School District, Educuity (now part of Certica Solutions), Ed-Fi Alliance and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Edutelligentsia helped develop an Education Data Maturity Model.

This model was developed to help better understand the natural maturation cycle that our SEA and LEA partners were going through in developing their data infrastructure/ecosystem.

More simply put, our partners wanted to know how they were doing relative to their peers AND what the natural next step is in order for them to improve their data use/infrastructure/ecosystem to better empower educators, students, and families.

The quiz at the link above is a fun way to apply the maturity model to your organization and get a quick, preliminary assessment of what level your organization is currently operating.

Edutelligentsia and its partners are also offering a free 1-hour consult based on your results to help you get some customized recommendations on next steps to advance your data maturity.

What you can expect from us here is a place where what looks promising–but not quite proven–in education is celebrated. Our goal is to always keep this work and these posts forward-thinking and looking. There are enough debates–sometimes unproductive– happening in education right now and there is, on occasion, a lot of noise; we don’t want to contribute to that.

At times, you may find us challenging what is trending because we’re not seeing how it is moving the sector forward for students and families. That said, we are always open to hearing from you on angles we’re missing, ideas that you’re seeing, and new ways to understand and promote aspects of and work in the sector that we’re not (yet) talking about.

When I talked about founding Edutelligentsia with others I know, respect, and admire, it was always with a strong belief that our “collective intelligence”

“…a form of universally distributed intelligence, constantly enhanced, coordinated in real time, and resulting in the effective mobilization of skills…The basis and goal of collective intelligence is mutual recognition and enrichment of individuals rather than the cult of fetishized or hypostatized communities” –Pierre Lévy

—if cultivated, curated, and harnessed in a way that was created by and accessible to many—will result in building a stronger education ecosystem. The work you do everyday, the work we get to do with you, and the results/lessons of that work makes up that collective education intelligence (a.k.a. the “edutelligentsia”). We’re excited to start cultivating and curating trends with you!

What is “proven” can be defined in a million different ways depending on who you are talking to and what standard of proof or research they abide by. At this point, I’m reluctant to set a bar since we’re really not seeking to be a research institution or think tank; there are already a lot of really great organizations serving that role in education.

However, there are a few standards articulated out there that I think are logical, reasonable, and clear enough for most folks to get behind and understand; one of the best examples is RAND Corporation’s:

RAND Corporation’s Standards for High Quality Research

• The problem should be well formulated, and the purpose of the study should be clear.
• The study approach should be well designed and executed.
• The study should demonstrate understanding of related studies.
• The data and information should be the best available.
• Assumptions should be explicit and justified.
• The findings should advance knowledge and bear on important policy issues.
• The implications and recommendations should be logical,warranted by the findings, and explained thoroughly, with appropriate caveats.
• The documentation should be accurate, understandable, clearly structured, and temperate in tone.
• The study should be compelling, useful, and relevant to stakeholders and decision-makers.
• The study should be objective, independent, and balanced.

This standard should give you a good sense of what we are looking for when we are cultivating and curating “proven” practices for you; we are looking for those that are consistently supported by reliable research.

As I wrote in the first post for trends, when I talked about founding Edutelligentsia with others I know, respect, and admire, it was always with a strong belief that our “collective intelligence”

“…a form of universally distributed intelligence, constantly enhanced, coordinated in real time, and resulting in the effective mobilization of skills…The basis and goal of collective intelligence is mutual recognition and enrichment of individuals rather than the cult of fetishized or hypostatized communities” –Pierre Lévy

—if cultivated, curated, and harnessed in a way that was created by and accessible to many—will result in building a stronger education ecosystem. The work you do everyday, the work we get to do with you, and the results/lessons of that work makes up that collective education intelligence (a.k.a. the “edutelligentsia”). We’re excited to start cultivating and curating practices with you and we hope that you’ll help us highlight and celebrate those truly outstanding practices here.