OnTrackCA Gang of Four
Objective: By December 1, complete a plan for the statewide launch of OnTrackCA including a narrative,
timeline, core tasks, and communication plan.
Key tasks
---sharepoint
---project plan (statewide)
---proj plan (egusd)
--------data integration
-rough dev outline/timeline
-greg set up meeting with Kevin v
-mark’s on the imp form
-status upate
Statewide PlanPartners (initial pilots)
Advisory Boards?
Communications
-----CETPA
------NCES (CDE is partner, SARB) – feb
------Online marketing
-------------website
-------------twitter, fb,
Recruitment (new districts)
Implementation
Feedback
EGUSD Imp
Who will use what data and why?
---Internal meeting Kevin McDonald (mark and Martha as well)
------SL outline rough of development rollout and explicit rollout strategy (for alpha and beta)
------Settle on KPIs
------Interventions
------Structures (groups)
------Establish practice baselines
------------KPI data
------------Recording interventions?
Which schools?
------Line up school leaders
Data integration
-----exporting into useable format
-----importing into SL
Internal Communication
Launch
------PD, etc
OnTrackCA
OnTrackCA is envisioned as a collaborative partnership among California school districts committed to
helping students stay in school and on track. The core service of OnTrackCA is an online software
application, www.ontrackca.k12.ca.us. This service is a free groupware system designed to help school
identify at risk students and to increase the effectiveness of the interventions designed to support them.
Vision Statement
We envision a world in which all students have the chance to reach their potential thanks to their own
efforts and the collective efforts of the people, systems and institutions organized to support them. If
we can get the right supports to the right students at the right time, we can pave the way to a bright
future.
Organization
OnTrackCA is a partnership of California school districts organized to help kids stay in school and on
track. Elk Grove Unified School District, a large semi-urban district of 60,000 students serving a diverse
community in south-eastern Sacramento, is the founding partner. Through a $1MM EETT ARRA
Competitive Grant, Elk Grove is funding the development and their partner CSIS will lead the statewide
implementation , and the software company School Loop will build the EDD .
OnTrackCA is search of a few district partners to help launch the statewide rollout. Partner districts will
be selected based on the alignment of their missions with the partnership’s vision, their excellence in
practices and outcomes, and their history of success in using teachers with technology to solve hard
problems.
The collaborative is reaching out to stakeholders throughout the state to help inform choices on
indicators and the effective use of data to address problems like attendance, academics, and behavior.
The goals of the collaborative are to expand membership to include 200 districts by the start of its third
year, and 1000 districts by the start of its fifth year. Not only do participating districts get the benefits of
the groupware service at no charge, but they can share their data and practices with each other,
building a statewide community of informed, effective partners.
Pilots
Given this, the first task is to determine criteria for co-founding districts, and to recruit them. Re
criteria, a draft list includes:
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Has problem with graduation rate/drop out and a commitment by
the superintendent to address the issue
The problem has an owner with the authority and funding to
address the issue
organizational structures in place to address problem
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District/schools make effective use of data in decision making
District/schools mature data management practices in place
District/schools have a systematic approach to invention and
support programs
District/schools has a skilled IT staff and a quality data and
networking infrastructure in place
District has history of successful, large-scale data integration
projects
District has history of success in implementing new technologies
District uses School Loop currently
Define size criteria/distribution
District is considered an exemplar of best practices
Willing to participate in the OnTrack partnership (define what
that means)
Re criteria and recruiting, Martha said this in her email:
“Here is the start of our criteria matrix. This activity is a work in progress. We may revise these
criteria as we learn more about the implementation process at Elk Grove. This ranking will assist
us in breaking down the LEA pool into manageable segments. CSIS would identify potential
LEAs who fit in Group 1 by starting with 50 to 100 districts . We would further narrow/rank
which LEAs satisfy the key attributes until we find the best of the best. We plan to use a survey
with some targeted LEAs to obtain some of the info to help us further inform our criteria rating.
We would repeat this work for Group II and Group III at a later time. Let me know what you
think.”
TODOs
Refine/Finish list of criteria
Decide how we use this list in relation to recruitment. Do we try to develop a profile of many districts,
or focus on a more selective group? Provide an application for districts to complete?
CSIS had taken this one step further, defining Tiers. Should we continue this refinement now or wait?
Re potential districts, Greg has already has two in the Sacramento area that are interested, and we have
three that have signed up for pilots. We should discuss how we want to recruit the rest. Given the small
number of slots initially, there’s a case that we review this list and then figure out who we know and
reach out to them. The downside of a closed process is that districts might feel excluded or that this is
an exclusive club. Not sure.
TODOs
Decide on recruitment method, how open, etc.
Contracting with pilots (we need to figure out who they are contracting with and how)
On task that this group has is to define success for the initial program. It’s possible we develop a
research project with a UC as well, but we also should have a set of other criteria, so we can report out
on progress.
TODOs
Do we agree that the group of founders define success?
Do we start looking for research partner?
Marketing
We agreed to build successes prior to major marketing. In the near-term, the goal is to recruit ten
pilots. We can do that through our relationships and organizations (like CETPA). It’s important that the
existence of the project be marketed to state level organizations/power centers, but at this stage we’re
not looking for them to do anything. We should commit recourses to a website for the partnership, to
updating that website, and to publishing a (quarterly?) update on progress. To that end, building a
mailing list makes sense, and possibly retaining a PR firm (small retainer).
TODOs
Decide on recruitment marketing as a function of decisions re pilots
Define state level organizations/power centers that we want to market to
Decide on goals/budget for website and communication/pr program
Beyond that, in the near-term, there is not much need for marketing. That being said, a secondary task
is to start to consider Phase II, and the sort of events we’d like to speak at, as the deadline for proposals
are early.
TODOs
Build Phase I and Phase II marketing timeline
Identify events, dates of events and deadlines for proposals and plot on timeline
Indicators
We agreed that to start, the free system will include the library of indicators defined by EGUSD, with
some (all?) of them as required as common. The system will also allow districts to define some local
indicators, but we should anticipate that some districts may have a strong opinion about those
indicators and how they are to be used, and that may have an impact overall.
Also, given the requirement that this system ultimately be a true statewide system, and that the support
of state-level organizations and power centers matters, we should at least vet those indicators and be
ready to deal with concerns/questions. What would be bad is if influential groups publicly criticize the
system because of the choice of indicators. That being said, given the requirement to have actual
software out the door, we have to start somewhere.
Pilot Implementation
TODO
This is topic for next meeting