Alabama leads in data literacy with 1,400 educators trained

Alabama is showing what’s possible when we take #DataLiteracy seriously As highlighted by Eric Mackey in The 74 Media, 1,400+ teachers are now preparing 10,000+ students with critical skills in data, AI, and problem-solving — powered by our partnership with the Alabama State Department of Education. This is just the beginning. 🚀 With data science jobs projected to grow 35% in the next decade, these skills are shaping classrooms and economic opportunity. How is your state preparing the next generation? QuantHub #EdTech #FutureOfWork

Teachers, explore the latest issue of "Statistics Teacher"! Filled with ideas, activities, and resources spanning elementary through undergraduate levels, this issue is packed with guidance. Featured articles include: Graphing with Kids: Teaching the Superpower of Numbers and Data https://lnkd.in/eQFWsdFY  Integrating Data Science Practices into Informal Learning https://lnkd.in/eBbqQJrw  Some Paradoxes: Puzzling or Poorly Presented? https://lnkd.in/eV_VzQws  This issue also includes a set of lesson plans and resources to support you, whether you are teaching elementary students or undergraduates. https://lnkd.in/eRhTTQDH #StatisticsEducation #STEMEducation #DataScience #Teaching

📊 Performance Pattern Analysis — West-End High School I’m excited to share my first post in my Data Analytics journey! 🎉 As part of my studies at Vephla University. I designed and visualized a Microsoft Excel dashboard that explores students' performance patterns at West-End High School. The goal was to understand how different factors — such as ethnicity, gender, nutrition, and parental education — influence students’ academic performance across Math, Reading, and Writing. This project followed the key stages of Data Collection → Data Cleaning → Data Analysis → Data Visualization. 🔎 Key Insights ◾ Group C students consistently outperformed other groups across Math, Reading, and Writing, showing strong overall academic achievement. ◾ Female students demonstrated higher performance averages compared to males, particularly in Reading and Math. ◾ Parental education had a clear influence on scores — students whose parents had some college education recorded the highest performance levels. ◾ Standard nutrition was associated with better academic results across all subjects, compared to students on free/reduced meal plans. ◾ In terms of preparation, Group C again led with the highest level of student readiness and participation. 💡 Conclusion This analysis highlights how data-driven insights can reveal academic trends and guide strategies for improving student learning outcomes. Schools can leverage such findings to personalize learning, track performance effectively, and promote educational equity. Engage with the data here: https://lnkd.in/d3EPvnVS #DataAnalytics #Excel #EducationData #DataVisualization #StudentPerformance #VephlaUniversity #DataDrivenInsights #LearningJourney #FirstDataProject

Data Literacy in Social Studies 📊 Data literacy is a powerful—yet often underutilized—way to help students engage critically with the world around them. While data skills are traditionally emphasized in STEM, social studies teachers are uniquely positioned to show students how to interpret real-world issues through maps, charts, infographics, and statistical trends. With the right professional development, teachers can turn raw numbers into meaningful classroom conversations that build inquiry, empathy, and civic understanding. ✨ Read more on our blog: https://lnkd.in/eVpTSwBN #DataLiteracy #STEMEducators #STEMEducation #Dataspire

For three decades, I've evaluated education programs and witnessed the same pattern: services misaligned with students' academic needs. When the "data-driven decision making" era arrived, I taught countless workshops on using data. The barriers were enormous, and nothing stuck. Here's how bad it still is: Recently, I worked with 11 districts funded to serve students scoring below 22 on ACT math. Not one could identify those students. They had the data (on PDFs!) but no way to generate a list and no one who knew how. They guessed who to serve with this grant-funded program based on class enrollment. When I evaluated the program, over half the students served didn't need it. This isn't an outlier. It's everywhere. The missing piece? Change management. We've treated this massive transformation as if every educator should figure it out themselves. That's never worked. It never will. Think about other fields that embraced data: Baseball teams hired analysts to interpret stats for coaches. Hospitals created informatics positions so doctors could focus on patients. But education? We handed teachers spreadsheets and said "figure it out." I've built a logic model based on three decades of watching what fails—and what might succeed. It's not about training everyone to become data analysts. It's about creating dedicated positions, aligning graduation requirements with post-secondary standards, and using achievement data (not demographics) to match students with services. This is a roadmap for districts ready to stop repeating the same mistakes. View the logic model: https://lnkd.in/ef6WDgvd Read the history of what I've witnessed: https://lnkd.in/ed6UKyin We can do better, but there needs to be a plan. #EducationReform #DataDriven #ChangeManagement #EducationalLeadership

We’re excited to share that The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation has renewed its support for DS4E, helping us continue building momentum for the field of K-12 data and AI education. With this renewed partnership, we’ll be: 1.Expanding our Call-to-Action (CTA) State Summits to reach more communities 2.Bringing our PM Corps program to additional school districts 3.Piloting an open resource platform featuring new AI literacy content for educators and students. These initiatives respond to the growing demand from states and districts eager to help students make sense of and shape the data and AI-driven world around them. Our CTA Summits bring together education leaders, teachers, and policymakers to turn national momentum into local action, while our PM Corps provides hands-on support for districts launching data science courses. And teachers everywhere will have easier access to high-quality, classroom-ready datasets and tools connected to real-world events through the new open resource platform. We’re deeply grateful for Patrick J McGovern Foundation’s continued confidence and support — especially at a time when investments in field-building and educator capacity are more important than ever. See how our CTA Summits have already spurred action in the Northeast: https://hubs.li/Q03PlGkg0

Data literacy is no longer optional. It's foundational for success in school and future careers and informed citizenship. We are excited to announce the launch of From Pathways to Progressions (P2P), a new initiative funded by the National Science Foundation. P2P will design and implement practical, scalable pathways for teaching data science in K-12 settings. Our approach ensures students build skills cumulatively, integrating foundational data concepts into existing computational thinking (CT) pathways and core academic subjects like math, science, social studies, and ELA. This work is a collaboration between Digital Promise, Looking Glass Ventures, and Data Science 4 Everyone, alongside four pioneering school districts: • Broward County Public Schools (FL) • Indian Prairie School District 204 (IL)  • Iowa City Community School District (IA) • Talladega County Schools (AL) Congrats to PI Quinn Burke and Co-PIs Dr. Shuchi Grover, Sharin Jacob, PhD, Zarek Drozda, and Dr. Lisa Milenkovic. Over the next 2.5 years, P2P will impact over 415,000 students, creating a national model for systemic data science integration. Follow our progress as we work to prepare the next generation for an AI-driven world. https://lnkd.in/gHhvhjAx #DataScienceEducation #K12Leadership #NSFGrant #EducationalInnovation #ComputationalThinking

In an AI-driven world, data science isn’t just a skill. It’s the foundation for understanding how technologies such as machine learning and automation shape our daily lives. Learning data science not only helps students use AI responsibly, but equips them with the knowledge necessary to create and innovate with AI. I’m excited to share that our team has been awarded an NSF grant for From Pathways to Progressions (P2P)—a national initiative to design and scale K-12 data science pathways. Led by PI Quinn Burke and Co-PIs Dr. Shuchi Grover, Sharin Jacob, PhD (🎉), Zarek Drozda, and Dr. Lisa Milenkovic, this collaboration between Digital Promise, Looking Glass Ventures, and Data Science 4 Everyone partners with four innovative districts: Broward County (FL), Indian Prairie (IL), Iowa City (IA), and Talladega County (AL). Our goal is to build practical, scalable models for integrating data science into core subjects and existing computational thinking pathways. We’re eager to connect with others who share the vision of empowering every student to think critically with data, understand the foundations of AI, and participate meaningfully in an AI-driven world.

🔍 A sobering new analysis shows U.S. students’ reading and math scores have plunged to historic lows, threatening not just individual futures but our collective capacity to compete and adapt. At CDX Data, we see this decline not just as a statistic—but as a call to action. Over the last several years, we’ve partnered with mission-driven nonprofits in the education space to invest in data modernization, help build robust analytic systems, and surface actionable insights that drive smarter decision-making in classrooms, districts, and communities. This article reinforces three truths we’ve lived through: Data gaps cripple progress. Without reliable, timely data, organizations can’t measure what’s working — much less scale impact. Equity demands precision. The steepest losses are concentrated among students already marginalized by circumstance—those who need better tools, not less attention. Modernization is not optional. Legacy systems, fragmented silos, and outdated processes are actively holding back the potential of educators and learners alike. We believe deeply that to reverse these trends, education funders and practitioners must double down on the infrastructure behind the numbers: interoperable systems, real-time dashboards, and predictive analytics anchored in equity. If your organization is wrestling with how to get from raw data to real impact—especially in underserved communities—let’s connect. Together, we can help build an education ecosystem where every learner is seen, understood, and supported. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/giCN6yMa

If 32% of K–12 students are testing below grade level, why do we keep pretending every 10-year-old should be in the same math lesson just because they’re 10? We can’t continue to sort kids by age and hope for the best. Every measure we have – from MAP testing to the Nation’s Report Card – shows that’s not working, and it hasn’t been for a long time. Only 29% of eighth graders are proficient in math, and reading scores have fallen to their lowest levels in more than 30 years. That means nearly three out of four kids are falling behind and millions of parents are frustrated and overwhelmed, unsure how to help their children succeed. Refusing to acknowledge the data and accept that a change needs to happen means we’re collectively failing millions of children. The future of this country depends on making a change now. So what does effective change in our school system look like? At Alpha, our answer is that we’ve thrown age-based learning out the window. Instead, every student gets a customized learning plan that puts them exactly where they need to be in each subject. Here’s what that looks like in real life: → A student might be working on 5th grade math, 9th grade reading, and 7th grade science — all at the same time. → The student sitting right next to them? On a completely different journey. → Both are moving at their own pace, not trapped in the middle. That’s what personalized, mastery-based learning really means: no child is held back out of boredom and no child is left behind in frustration. We owe it to kids to try something different and give them an education made for them and not for the “average kid”, because most kids aren’t average. And here’s where AI matters: it’s the tool that makes this possible. Using AI tools allows educators to pinpoint each student’s exact strengths and gaps, deliver the next right lesson until mastery, and keep them with same-aged peers at the same time. School shouldn’t be about keeping children “at grade level” just for the sake of it or because that’s how we’ve always done it. The point is to help them grow and prepare them for life. Let’s make the change – for them.