There is a particular need for basic data to be recorded in a consistent fashion over time and made available for use both inside and outside the District. The District Data Profile is a source of basic longitudinal data intended to meet this need.
While it is desirable to make school and district information public, confidentiality must be maintained to protect the rights of individual students, staff and families. Some data are not reported because confidentiality might be compromised for the very small numbers of students involved.
Decisions and judgments should be made on the basis of a variety of sources and types of information. No single piece of data should be taken in isolation as representative of a program, a school or the District. Similarly, schools should not be compared on the basis of single pieces of data and concluded to be "better" or "worse" than others. The educational enterprise is extremely complex with many factors interacting in any given setting. The personalities, characteristics, and events within any school create a unique setting which cannot simply and easily be compared and contrasted with any other.
Data displayed include districtwide student enrollment, achievement, suspension, expulsion, retention rate, dropout, attendance, mobility, post-high school plans and graduation rate. Some data are captured at a single point in time (e.g. enrollment), while others are cumulative across a full academic year (e.g. attendance, mobility). Wherever possible, data for at least three years are presented. Trends or patterns over time are more informative and reliable than data from one point in time.
Updated: September 12, 2005
Author: Joshua Roy jroy@madison.k12.wi.us
Webmaster: Webmaster webmaster@madison.k12.wi.us
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