Nine school districts in Kern County, Calif., are participating in a pilot project designed to keep kids on the path to success, from kindergarten to career. 

The Kern Integrated Data System will securely gather existing data streams, analyze that data and present it in dashboards to help educators and administrators ensure all students reach their full potential. 

The first phase of the nine-district pilot rolled out in June, with three more phases coming by year’s end. The districts in the pilot range from Kern High School District’s 40,000 students to Buttonwillow Union School District’s 300 students.

“To ensure the pilot project represented districts of varying size and student demographics, we were intentional about which districts were invited to participate in the pilot, because it needed to be representative of schools throughout the county,” says Christian Shannon, administrator of support services for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. 

The data collected falls into four categories: “Essentials” covers the data required to meet accountability requirements set by local, state and federal authorities; “Early Warning” uses predictive analytics to identify students at risk and help them get the interventions they need to stay on course; “Student Success” uses machine learning techniques to help students persist and reach their full potential; and “Operations” helps school districts manage finances, staff operations and reporting.

The security of student data is paramount, says KCSOS Executive Director of Technology Anthony Davis. While KCSOS KIDS staff will deal primarily with aggregated data, individual districts will have the same access they are accustomed to with their student information systems, and they’ll be able to sign in to the platform using their existing user authentication systems, which differ from district to district.

KIDS has been a unifying force for the school districts of Kern County. “Districts have felt a lot of frustration with being isolated,” says Roger Sanchez, director of research and planning for Kern High School District. “We’re almost becoming a virtual unified district in the county. There’s so much excitement behind it.”

MORE FROM EDTECH: Check out how K–12 schools can make the most of their data analytics programs.

EDTECH: Where did the idea for this initiative come from?

Shannon: In January of 2018, Dr. Mary Barlow, Kern’s superintendent, shared her vision for countywide data warehouse/analytics solutions that would help districts close the achievement gap by informing current instructional practices, implementing targeted instructional strategies, provide warning signals where student interventions might be needed, illuminate bright spots that might be investigated and replicated, and activate professional development needs for teachers, administrators and other instructional support staff across Kern County.

EDTECH: You rolled out the pilot across nine of your 47 school districts in June. What does the team look like?

Shannon: KCSOS has a nine-member KIDS Support Team composed of staff from IT and Instructional Services. They have been responsible for driving the KIDS initiative within KCSOS and in support of the pilot districts.