In a recent blog post, I discussed how excited I was to tour Mooresville Graded School District (MGSD). After that tour, I remembered a Youtube video that I saw at an education conference that shows how bored students are, because they have to power down at school. I was thinking, they definitely don’t do that at MGSD. Then, I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have a video that shows the opposite: how technology can be used successfully to keep students engaged and learning.

Since we have a great team of video producers here at SAS, I talked to several colleagues about this idea. My initial concept was just a short 5-7 minute YouTube video on successfully using technology in the classroom. However, this initial idea quickly blossomed into so much more.

When talking to MGSD’s CTO Dr. Scott Smith, he suggested we hold a video contest so that classes in grades 4 -12 could themselves show how technology has changed the way they learn. Then, since we were already going to be filming, I thought it would be great to interview MGSD’s administrative staff on their data-driven culture as well, so other administrators and educators could learn from the success that MGSD is experiencing. You see, in addition to incorporating technology into their culture, MGSD administrators and educators consistently use data to make informed decisions about their schools, students, classes, curriculum, etc.

So, my short video idea resulted in 15 videos submitted from the classroom video contest! From those submissions, we chose three winners and two honorable mentions. We also interviewed nine district administrators about their best practices for creating a data driven culture. In addition, we also asked them about their use of SAS Curriculum Pathways and SAS EVAAS and how each has impacted learning in their district.

Today, I am excited to share the first video interviews from this project, featuring Superintendent Dr. Mark Edwards and CTO Dr. Scott Smith talking about the importance of their data-driven culture. You’ll hear how their data use has improved the quality of education and contributed to dropout rate reductions, increases in attendance and so much more. Hear about some their results in the video below, or watch all of the videos to learn more about the school district's use of data.

Obviously, there are many more videos to come. So, check back frequently for more posts as they become available.