Seriously Data-Driven Decision Making: Searching for Solutions to Operational Challenges, Big City Districts Found Answers for Each Other

With the economy still stuck in low gear and states approaching the funding cliff  that marks the end of federal stimulus help for education, almost all school districts will be feeling even more financial pain than they're experiencing now. The nation's largest urban school districts typically feel this pain more acutely than most, squeezed between their commitment to higher achievement and the disproportionate effect of unemployment on high-density areas. But there's good news amid the bad: Contrary to the stale stereotype of big city districts having bloated budgets, some of these school systems are showing schools nationwide a way to save money by working together. In 2004, years before the economy went south, chief financial officers of the nation's largest districts proactively set a stiff challenge for themselves under the aegis of the Council of the Great City Schools: To save their schools serious money, they would build a data system that would be the envy of any cutting-edge corporation. The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) system now allows each of the nation's largest urban school districts to compare, at high levels of detail, the performance of business operations, finance, human resources, and information technology across all 65 of the largest urban school districts in the nation. District leaders can calibrate comparisons based on geography, cost of living, union status, and hundreds of other variables, and use dynamic data modeling to instantly calculate the effect of potential changes to the bottom line. The idea was to make themselves as highly accountable financially as their districts had become academically. In much the same way that student data systems have helped foster responsiveness in teaching and learning, the Key Performance Indicator system uses sophisticated data modeling to help districts cut costs, improve efficiency, and serve student populations more effectively. Using Six Sigma methodologies for defining, quantifying, and aggregating data, participating districts share and compare information on more than 3,000 data points. Dynamic data modeling allows leaders to analyze the effect of a variety of what if scenarios on their district's bottom line and has been key to creating the benchmarks that have saved participating districts millions of dollars. In many districts, the extensive data analysis and modeling afforded by KPI has led to surprising solutions to financial woes. In Florida, for example, Orange County Public Schools sold 271 of its buses after comparing its transportation metrics with comparable districts--an unexpected $1.9-million boon for the district. In New Mexico, Albuquerque Public Schools used the system's metrics as leverage in negotiations with its Internet service provider, ultimately saving the district $200,000 a year. Comparing operations with similar districts has also helped school officials eliminate bottlenecks. For example, Seattle Public Schools used data from the system to revamp its requisition process for textbooks, computers, desks, and other essentials, shifting the brunt of those requests online. In Ohio, Cincinnati Public Schools tapped KPI to revamp staffing and supply practices in food and custodial services, and increased maintenance training. …