Data Driven Districts Programme

Pockets of Success

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Data Driven Districts Programme Background

In 2012 the DBE partnered with the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to launch the Data Driven Districts (DDD) Programme. The DDD Programme aims to support improved learner outcomes through the increased quality, availability, analysis and use of education data.

The DDD Programme provides tools, training and processes which helps collate and aggregate school-level data from the South African Schools Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS), through the use of an online dashboard.

The DDD Dashboard is a powerful, easy-to-use management platform that visualises education data from SA-SAMS in an approachable, highly intuitive way. The Dashboard allows education officials to analyse and interpret data on key teaching metrics essential to the improvement of learner outcomes.

The Dashboard empowers education officials with relevant, up-to-date information and reports at their fingertips to ensure decisions and interventions are data-driven.

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DDD Programme National Summary

The DDD Programme is currently active in 73 districts, in over 18 000 schools with more than 9 000 000 learners represented on the DDD Dashboard.

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Principals and HODs use the Dashboard to monitor attendance and performance, and when reporting to the School Management Team and the Circuit Office.

Circuit Managers can use the Dashboard to identitfy schools that require additional support to address problem areas such as learner/educator attendance and subject performance and curriculum coverage.

District Officials can easily identify where interventions are required and engagein data-driven conversations to addressproblem areas.

Provincial and National level education officials use the Dashboard to provide an aggregated view of each province’s performance. With this information, they can identify areas that require support and accurately allocate resources where necessary.

Educator attendance

and qualifications

Learner attendance

and performance

Making Education Data Work for You Dashboard Metrics by Level

The DDD Dashboard is a powerful analysis and reporting tool that provides a range of education metrics for a variety of users. This valuable information is available online and in real-time. The specific Dashboard view depends on the user profile.

The Dashboard contains learner profiles that include their subject performance as well as attendance. The same can be seen for educator attendance and their qualifications. This education data can be aggregated to a school, circuit, district, provincial or at a national level; creating a comprehensive and detailed picture of education data.

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Supporting DBE Objectives

There is a growing body of evidence that the DDD Programme is supporting improved learner outcomes in line with DBE goals, as articulated in the Five-Year Strategic Plan 2015/16 – 2019/20.

In addition, the DDD Programme directly speaks to three of the five prioritised goals from The Action Plan to 2019: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2030 namely:

Learner, educator and performance data are availableonline and in real-time.

Areas of concern are flagged in red allowing for easy tracking.

Monitoring of task coverage.

Numerous reports are available for download to inform decision making.

Perform trend analysis to monitor progress and impact of interventions.

Benefits of the DDD Dashboard:

Goal 16: Improve the professionalism, teaching skills, subject knowledge and computer literacy of teachers throughout their entire careers.

Goal 21: Ensure that the basic annual management processes take place across all schools in the country in a way that contributes towards a functional school environment.

Goal 27: Improve the frequency and quality of the monitoring and support services provided to schools by district offices, partly through better use of e-Education.

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Making Quality Data Available to Data-Driven Users

The DDD Dashboard makes quality data available to a variety of education officials, from DBE to school level officials. The education data submitted from schools through SA-SAMS is validated for quality by software, that among other things, checks for completeness and quality of data.

Quality data alone cannot affect change in the lives of millions of learners. Real change is only possible when committed, passionate and dedicated education officials use accurate data to make decisions to improve learner outcomes.

Without critically thinking education officials, the power of the Dashboard data would not be fully realised.

It is thanks to the many education officials who interact with the DDD Programme that change has been championed in our education system.

Total DDD Dashboard Active Users Across South Africa 2014-2017

*An Active User is an individual that has logged onto the DDD Dashboard at least once during a particular quarter.

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DDD Champion Eastern Cape

THEMBA KOJANASuperintendent General Eastern Cape

Mr Kojana was involved in the DDD Programme from its inception and participated in the development of the DDD Programme to help adapt it to a South African context.

Power in data

Very early on Mr Kojana realised the power of the DDD Dashboard and has championed the scaling of the DDD Programme in the Eastern Cape to cover over 4 000 schools. He also ensured that circuit managers are trained in the Dashboard so that they have access to a tool that gives them greater insight into what is happening in the classroom.

Three strengths of the Dashboard stand out for Mr Kojana; firstly to assist in improving general school administration, secondly to integrate monitoring and reporting on school performance and thirdly the ability to monitor curriculum coverage and task assessment.

“I would like to recommend to every official of the (Eastern Cape) Department, at various levels, to use the Dashboard. It is a valuable tool that will really empower you into correct decision making processes about what is it that needs to be done to change the education system for the better.” – SG. Themba Kojana

Total DDD Dashboard Active Users Across South Africa 2014-2017

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DDD Champion Mpumalanga

AMOS DLAMINIActing Deputy Chief Education SpecialistBohlabela District

Amos makes use of the DDD Dashboard to monitor curriculum coverage, analyse performance and evaluate trends to ensure schools are on track to reach targets set by the province.

Improved trend and performance analysis

Before the DDD Programme was implemented in the Bohlabela District submissions would generally be late, which made performance analysis difficult. With the support of the District Director, the Dashboard was introduced and now schools have to submit data by a certain date, making timeous data analysis possible. Through the Dashboard, Amos is able to compare curriculum coverage and school performance, which facilitates tracking of set targets. Combined with frequent monitoring, more specific interventions can be delivered faster.

“Data is able to assist us to check periodically where do we have problems in terms of performance and we are then able to send colleagues from that particular circuit to check what happened at a particular time so that we can come up with the necessary interventions.” – Amos Dlamini

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DDD Champion North West

TSEPHO KOMANESA-SAMS AdministratorRamotshere Moiloa Municipality

Tsepho was first introduced to the DDD Programme in April 2016 and soon became responsible for training fellow department officials in using the Dashboard.

Reducing workload

Shortly after completing training in Dashboard use, Tsepho realised that the Dashboard could decrease his workload and help him work more efficiently. By using the reports available on the Dashboard, he could avoid unnecessary duplication of work when preparing Annual School Surveys.

Making life easier

Through training various department officials; including subject specialists, curriculum co-ordinators and area and circuit managers, Tsepho has helped many levels of department officials access the data in the Dashboard and has shown them how to use the data for their needs.

“With good quality data at the school, we have good quality information for the nation.” – Tsepho Komane

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DDD Champion Gauteng

ELBE ERASMUSChief Education Specialist: Curriculum Information Analyst DISMSedibeng West

As a former Subject Education Specialist, Chief Examiner and Internal Moderator in Gauteng, Elbe saw the benefits of the DDD Dashboard to inform her Subject Meetings.

Informing subject performance discussions

Elbe is passionate about empowering fellow curriculum officials with the Dashboard tool. She finds the data from the Dashboard helpful in motivating curriculum officials and educators based on subject achievement, and where support is necessary uses the data to inform interventions.

Informing school visits

Elbe advocates the use of the Dashboard when planning school visits and monitoring subject performance. For example, she uses the Dashboard to select specific learners when visiting a school to assess learners’ books.

“Using the Dashboard I could follow and track performance and hold the teachers accountable. My pass percentage went from 28% to 99%, a huge success for DDD and what the use of the Dashboard adds up to.” – Elbe Erasmus

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DJ VAN WYKCircuit Manager: Lejweleputswa

For DJ the DDD Dashboard is a new way of looking at information in a broader way. He uses the Dashboard to identify where interventions are needed and for tracking the progress of interventions. As a circuit manager he finds the Dashboard helps him work more efficiently and effectively as he can choose what information to access. The Dashboard also saves him time in being able to access information online which he would normally only see during a school visit.

MICHELLE TEBEILADirector of Management, Information and TechnologyMpumalanga Province

Michelle oversees the collection of data, ensuring the information is accessible to the DBE. For Michelle the Dashboard has been a powerful tool because it provides data that is up-to-date, validated for quality and easily accessible. The DDD Dashboard provides validated data through the Valistractor software that can identify when submitted data is of a poor quality or incomplete. For Michelle this gives her the assurance that data uploaded to the system is of the highest quality.

DDD Champions Free State & Mpumalanga

Improved Learner Outcomes

Do you want to champion data driven decision making? Make sure education data is working for you!

Whether you’re an active DDD Dashboard user, new to the Dashboard or want an introduction to the power of quality data available on the Dashboard.

We are here to help you get the most out of education data.

Log on to www.dbedashboard.co.za or visit www.datadrivendistricts.co.zaFor more information, login details or to recover a forgotten password email

help@dbedashboard.co.za

Powerful Data

+ + +Active Users

Critical Thinking

Data-Driven Decisions

Interventions with impact

which leads to