About This Website
As the use of data has increased exponentially, there is an opportunity to use data for more than just accounting and tracking implementation. Data, in fact, can and should be used to improve quality of decision-making. Better decision-making both in the short and long term can use data, and there is scope to build on current data systems.
The aim behind this website is to create a usable guide for government officials, policy makers, and researchers for efficient data system design and data use for education, with a focus on improving quality (including implementer performance and learning levels).
This website acts as a framework and guide for designing and operating context specific data systems for education, with the central goal being quality improvement. The primary focus is on “Data to Action”, a section presented in a question answer format covering various aspects of using data to improve education quality, across levels and regions. The emphasis is on how existing data can be used meaningfully to generate insights for access and retention, equity, planning and monitoring, and quality, mirroring the categories in the Annual Work Plan and Budgets used by State governments in India.
Apart from this, the website contains some reference materials and resources such as a guidance note on using data for planning, perspectives on data management, data collection checklists and guidelines, a detailed list of education datasets including what they contain, and principles and best practices for data use.
These can be used by various stakeholders, across levels of government, and by researchers and practitioners.
The website is intended as a dynamic, ongoing project, which will be updated periodically to improve it as a resource. We hope that feedback from users can serve to further improve this output.
Why this website?
We believe these tools can serve various stakeholders - from high level policy makers who frame principles for the education system to teachers working in schools. First, at the highest level, this tool can enable more robust system design and subsequent functioning. The tool will also provide principles to create avenues in the system to reflect and change course, as needed. Further, examples of effective data use can easily be used to remake existing data systems to function more smoothly.
Acknowledgements
This website was developed by a core group formed under a grant by USAID, Mozilla Foundation and Aapti Insitute. You can read more about the grant on Aapti Institute’s blog.
About the Authors
The core group consists of:
- Subir Shukla: A former Educational Quality Advisor to the Government of India, he has been engaging with national and state governments on large-scale implementation of quality improvement efforts across the country for well over three decades.
- Deepti Srivastava: After having worked towards the education of children in the Urban Deprived Residential Hostels run by SSA-Delhi, she now has extensive experience in designing and facilitating large-scale assessments and research in the education sector.
- Gurjot Singh Sidhu: Having worked with international development agencies, NGOs and state departments, he has been supporting the design and development of state data systems and building the capacity of those involved.
- Ritwik Shukla: With several years of extensive research experience on health and education, he has been working with state governments to enable policy and decision makers to use their data better.