Marion County Public Schools selected to participate in two national studies
University of Florida Lastinger Center National COVID-19 Study
Marion County Public Schools will participate in a national study conducted by the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning and funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to discover more about student learning during the current pandemic.
The national COVID-19 Education Deep Dive Longitudinal Study collects baseline data from districts across the country including up to 10 in Florida, particularly focusing on those serving Black, Latino, and low-income student populations higher than the state average. The distance-learning study considers students and how they learn, be it in person, online, or a hybrid of both. The core goal is to better understand the unique impacts and challenges these students face as a result of distance learning.
UF and MCPS will share data this spring and continue until the end of the school year through surveys, interviews, student progress monitoring, learning platforms, and other methods. Parents, students, educators, and administrators will all be considered in the study.
Results could help MCPS secure additional grant funding in the future.
Comprehensive Center Network School Spending Data Archive
Marion County Public Schools is one of just 17 entities nationwide selected to participate in a project to better understand how school districts and their schools spend public tax dollars, compared to student learning.
The Comprehensive Center Network (CC Network) chose MCPS to participate in the no-cost project starting in March 2021. The School Spending Data Archive, as it is called, will analyze school funding and expenditures to create visual illustrations comparing costs of programs and resources to student achievement. These charts will illustrate how the district allocates its funds across schools district-wide and how schools spend those funds.
The Archive will enable stakeholders to compare funding distribution on a school-by-school and district basis while allowing administrators to determine what the best Return on Investment is when it comes to spending for students, teachers, and programs.
In April, the pilot project will continue with the CC Network working with the district to interpret the data on a cost-benefit level. In May, the concluding steps will provide communication and protocol trainings to school personnel to share the data publicly.
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires the reporting of spending by every school, but the data can be removed within the same year. This pilot was created to ensure year-over-year data is captured for research and comparisons. The CC Network works with the U.S. Department of Education and Georgetown University on this project.
For more information, contact the MCPS Public Relations Office at 352.671.7555.