K-12 leaders just ‘beginning to scratch the surface’ on what they can do with data

One of the most pressing issues district technology leaders face today is figuring out what to do with all the data they now can access, says Chad Stevens, K-12 strategy lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

“Schools, states — they have a lot of applications, right? If you think about it, they’re really not ever going to have less data than they have today,” Stevens tells EdScoop TV. “So, making all that data talk and making it to where you can make actionable decisions about it is critical.”

And by “making all that data talk,” Stevens — who served as the chief technology officer for a Houston-area school district before moving to the private sector — means making data interoperable .

When all the data systems out there start working together, he says, machine learning can help make recommendations about students and ultimately improve their learning outcomes.

“Schools can do more than they ever really could,” Stevens says, “… [but] I think we’re just really beginning to scratch the surface in terms of what we can find out from this data.”

Learn more about Stevens’ work in K-12 education, including his experiences helping districts in Oklahoma and Michigan take full advantage of the cloud:

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