Blog
Learning never stops.
The UPD team is constantly looking for ways to learn more about our industry and, by extension, improve the results we achieve for our clients. Our blog is where we share our latest thinking.
Freshman On Track Success at Chicago Public Schools
This makes sense. It is not revolutionary. It is not complicated, but it has been effective at helping to improve a problem that has had many failed attempts. The problem is the graduation rate at…
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Early Adopters and Journey Mapping: A Guide to the User Experience
Early adopters can teach us a lot about the usability of a new technology system. We can collect detailed feedback on user experience (UX) by utilizing Design Thinking techniques — in particular Journey Mapping —…
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Lessons From A Consultant
As a consultant in the education space, it is especially valuable to think about how we add value for clients. I had the opportunity to work on a number of projects over the course of the…
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Resolving Our Resolutions
It’s that time of year again: a fresh new year and a fresh approach. Everything will be different this year. Except one thing, absolutely nothing changes from December 31st to January 1st except the calendar. So what…
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UPD’s Theory of Performance Management
Performance Management seems to be one of the new buzz words in the market place. A lot of this has been driven by the US Department of Education leveraging “Performance Management” as a means for…
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Leveraging LEA Wisdom + Effective SEA Communication = Increased Likelihood of Implementation Success
Over the past three years, UPD has helped two state education agencies (SEAs) develop and implement their Local Education Agency’s (LEA) performance management processes to support effective implementation of their Race to the Top initiatives….
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SLOs: When the O stands for Opportunity Some Advice for LEA/SEA Leaders
Student Learning Objectives (also known as SLOs, Student Growth Targets, and other aliases) are gaining momentum nationally as one measure being implemented by states and districts within their new educator evaluation systems. Briefly, SLOs are…
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Taking a Closer Look at Value Added
Last month I joined a team of UPD-ers and traveled around the state of Oklahoma training district-level trainers on Value-Added. During one of the sessions, a participant raised his hand and asked our team how…
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Teacher Evaluation and the Burden of Evidence
Over the last several years, school districts across the country have been rolling out more rigorous and detailed evaluation rubrics along with systems to help administrators and teachers collaborate, collect evidence, and share performance ratings….
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inBloom, Train Wrecks, and Ed-Fi
As I sat down to write this entry, my day was interrupted most unusually. Doug texted me the picture to the left. The caption said simply, “Say hello to 26th street and the railroad track.”…
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