The District-wide EPSS/Data Coordinator is charged with several tasks among which are the development of the district’s EPSS goals and documentation and submission of district data to the NMPED’s Student Teacher Accountability Reporting System or STARS.

EPSS (Educational Plan for Student Success) is required by NMPED for all schools in need of improvement.  This plan outlines the goals the district has decided need to be addressed in order to promote improvement for AYP.  ZPSD has three goals: 1) improve student scores in mathematics, 2) improve student reading ability and comprehension, and 3) improve parent involvement.  Each school site develops an individual plan which is then incorporated in to the district plan.

Also part of the coordinator’s job is the submission of data required by NMPED such as staffing, course offerings, and individual student data.  Twenty three files are currently submitted four times each school year to provide a standard data set on each student served by ZPSD.  Each student in New Mexico is given a unique identification number which is designed to help track student movement and performance Pre-K to 20 (post-college level).  This information is also used for AYP to identify sub-groups and for funding formats which in turn determine how much money each district will receive for Title programs, Special Education, Bilingual, etc.

In conjunction with the submission of data, the coordinator looks at the testing data received from all testing (NMELPA, NMSBA, NWEA, DIBELS, etc.) and then charts improvement by student, staff, and school sites.  That information is then disseminated to the school principals and/or staff so that schools can use the information to develop individual student learning goals for improvement.  The data correlation is also used as documentation for the EPSS goals showing improvement toward the AMO’s (annual measurable objectives) according to NCLB (No Child Left Behind).

The collecting of data is supported by STI (Software Technology, Inc.).  All student information is posted into the program and reports to NMPED are generated from that program.  The coordinator is responsible for the making sure the data input is correct and complete.  Training to support individuals responsible for data input at each school site is provided by the coordinator based on need.  The coordinator also makes sure that individuals at the school sites have the training necessary to use the short-cycle assessment tool (NWEA-MAP) and the district database housed at Alpine Achievement.  All new staff are provided training on the various data components at the beginning of each school year with support training as necessary and/or requested.  The coordinator also does troubleshooting on STIDistrict Workstation, STIOffice, and STIClassroom to ensure a streamlined process district-wide.  Once the district is able to incorporate a web-based platform for STIClassroom, the coordinator will also work to provide training to the community so that parents and teachers can access information about their students’ success.