Education Week - November 13, 2013 - 16

$890-1.2 Trillion
INDUSTRY & INNOVATION > Tracking business trends and emerging models in K-12
www.edweek.org/ii
Potential Rewards Emerge
From School Data Flow
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
tute, and a co-author of the study,
said in an interview. The institute is
the business and economics research
arm of the consulting company. "Not
only can this data be used to create
transparency or accountability," Mr.
Chui said, "but also to create economic
value."
The authors define open data as
information provided by government
or private-sector sources that
is accessible, able to be processed
automatically through technology or
other means, and available for free or
minimal cost, with few limitations on
its reuse for different purposes.
It is not limited to "big data"-the
term typically used in education
and other fields to refer to collections
of massive, complex amounts
of information so large that they
can be difficult to process-but also
includes smaller data sets that are
open and accessible, the authors say.
Along with education, the report
examines six other sectors that
can benefit from a more transparent
data flow: consumer products,
consumer finance, electrical systems,
health care, oil and gas, and
transportation. Combined, opening
data in those areas could produce
$3 trillion in yearly, global economic
growth, the authors say.
Some of the largest potential gains,
roughly $1 trillion, would come in
K-12 and postsecondary education,
with $400 billion of that payoff being
realized in the United States, Mr.
Chui explained.
Whether policymakers and the
education community have the appetite
for a rapid expansion of open
data is unclear. Critics have raised
concerns about efforts to collect data
on students' academic performance
and backgrounds, questioning
schools' commitment to protecting
that information. And others say
that policymakers are not doing
enough to demand that educational
technology companies doing business
with schools protect confidential
student information and prevent
it from being turned over to
commercial businesses.
James P. Steyer, the CEO of Common
Sense Media, said that increasing
the sharing of data about school
purchasing is smart policy and could
drive down costs. Mr. Steyer's organization,
based in San Francisco, provides
parents and the public with reviews
and information on media and
technology, and advocates for protecting
students' and families' privacy,
But as the availability of data across
education rises, commercial vendors
will press for access to that information,
and policymakers need to be vigilant
in protecting it, Mr. Steyer said.
"I'm sure there are opportunities
to monetize the use of student data,"
Mr. Steyer said. "But that's not the
[role of education]. ...The focus should
be on improving students' lives and
their educational opportunities."
Comparing Costs
Efforts to increase the flow of public
data are playing out on an international
scale. More than 40 countries
have championed attempts to create
more open data, with the goal of
sparking economic growth and innovation,
the McKinsey authors say.
Those nations include the United
States, where President Barack
Obama in 2009 signed an administrative
order requiring the release of
government information that did not
pose risks to privacy or national security.
The administration also backed
OPEN DATA IN EDUCATION: THE PAYOFF
A study identifies five "levers" in education that can deliver $900 billion to
$1.2 trillion in annual economic value through increasing transparency and the
sharing of information.
$310-370
$230-290
$190-240
$90-190
$70-100
Improved
Instruction
Efficient System
Administration
Transparent
Education
Financing
the creation of a website, data.gov,
which contains more than 75,000
data sets, including more than 1,100
connected to education.
In education, the largest potential
gains from increasing the openness
of data, up to $370 billion worldwide,
come from data's ability to contribute
to improved instruction by making it
easier to provide learning tailored to
meet students' strengths and weaknesses,
the authors argue. Open data
can also be applied to helping teachers
by using information on performance
to match them with the right
professional development, mentors,
and coaching, according to the institute.
(In addition to the institute, two
other organizations affiliated with
the company, the McKinsey Center
for Government and the McKinsey
Business Technology Office, coauthored
the report.)
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16 | EDUCATION WEEK | November 13, 2013 | www.edweek.org
Matching Students
to Employment
POTENTIAL SAVINGS IN BILLIONS
Savings Breakdown by Sectors
Matching Students
to Schools and
Colleges
But efforts to collect large amounts
of student data across districts and
states have met resistance from parents
and policymakers, as McKinsey
notes. And teachers have questioned
what they see as the crude application
of data to their professional evaluations.
The angry response from teachers
to the Los Angeles' Times' 2010
stories that made public information
on individual educators' performance
underscored that disdain.
Away from the classroom, the au-
thors also see potentially big savings,
up to $290 billion, in business operations,
by increasing the flow of information
among districts that may be
paying very different prices for similar
goods and services. Many districts
report what they're spending to their
school boards, but not in a comprehensive
way that lends itself to cost comparisons,
the report concludes.
When districts are able to glean
that information, they can reap significant
benefits, the authors argue,
reducing the price they pay for services
such as broadband technology-a
major need in districts today.
Many school technology advocates are
urging the Federal Communications
Commission to increase the public
availability of pricing information for
the E-rate program, which supports
schools' and libraries' broadband initiatives,
a push that some telecommunications
providers are fighting. (See
Education Week, Oct. 9, 2013.)
Lost in Translation
Martin Carnoy, a professor of education
and an economist at Stanford
University, agreed that making price
information transparent could drive
down costs. But he said the authors'
projections of economic gains linked
to increased student performance
amounted to a "leap," because they
put too much weight on student test
scores as a proxy for future success.
"What does the test score mean
in terms of productivity?" Mr. Carnoy
asked.
}
TOTAL
SOURCE: McKinsey & Co.
In many districts, the challenge fac-
ing schools is not the lack of data, but
administrators' and teachers' inability
to make sense of it to improve instruction,
given time constraints and other
pressures, he maintained.
Too often, "people in education are
not in this loop," Mr. Carnoy said, and
little time is devoted to "explaining
what this data means."
Other barriers to educators' use of
data remain. A report released earlier
this year by the State Educational
Technology Directors Association
noted that schools are inundated with
data from different sources, but they
lack the ability to use it because the
systems for collecting and analyzing
that information are "disconnected"
and don't work with each other.
Mr. Chui acknowledged that many
obstacles stand in the way of increasing
the use of transparent data
in education. The report says administrators
need to take steps to gain
the support of parents, teachers,
and others, in deciding what data is
culled and how it is used.
McKinsey says policymakers should
adopt policies to protect student privacy,
while also encouraging "sufficient
granularity" in data collection
to make the information useful. They
should also enforce existing laws, such
as the federal Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA.
There needs to be "thoughtful dialogue
about privacy, confidentiality,
and security in how to use data," Mr.
Chui said, but also a pledge to "protect
it effectively."
Coverage of the education industry and
K-12 innovation is supported in part by
a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation. Education Week retains sole
editorial control over the content of this
coverage.
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Education Week - November 13, 2013

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