Tuesday, August 19, 2025
August 2025: The Dog Days of Data!
Spotlight on Strong Data: WISEsecure Clean-Up, Agency Contacts, & School Directory Data
Announcements
Announcement: Job Opening at DPI
Job Posting for Data Warehouse and Decision Support Team at DPI
Job ID 18583, Data and Reporting Analyst is open! The Data Warehouse and Decision Support Section in the Division of Management Services, Bureau of Information Technology Services, is seeking applicants for a Data and Reporting Analyst position.
Do you want to make a difference in students’ lives by providing quality data to local, state and federal policymakers? Do you excel at creating Business Intelligence reports and dashboards, defining report requirements, testing extract, transfer, and load (ETL) processes and dashboard outputs, and digging into data? Then apply today to become the next IS Data and Reporting Analyst in the Data Warehouse and Decision Support section.
Acting as a business and data analyst for the division, the person hired for this position will work with program area leads and external customers to gather system and data requirements, translate those requirements to technical specifications, and build the reports and dashboards to enable stakeholders to answer their important education questions.
This position will also jointly lead data quality efforts for annual data snapshots.
The deadline for this announcement is 11:59 p.m. on August 26, 2025.
Return to WISE Insights Landing page
Announcement: WISEdash Advisory Group is Seeking Members
Help Shape the Future of WISEdash!
The WISEdash Advisory Group originally started in the 2023-2024 school year and starting in 2025-2026 we are looking for a few new members from school districts or independent charter schools specifically.
Please complete the interest survey if you work for a school district or Independent Charter School and are interested in participating in the WISEdash Advisory Group.
This advisory group explores topics related to WISEdash, a set of dashboard-driven portals that display aggregate and student-level data for educators to improve educational outcomes.
Your role in the advisory group is to
- provide feedback and ideas on tools and dashboards that should be updated or built within WISEdash;
- share ways you have used WISEdash to help your district;
- promote WISEdash use among your peers; and
DPI also shares timely WISEdash information and updates with the advisory group at regularly scheduled virtual meetings.
The WISEdash Advisory Group is a volunteer group of about 20 WISEdash users from varying roles such as assessment coordinators, special education directors, curriculum and instruction directors, principals, data analysts, district administrators, and others across multiple districts of different sizes.
If this sounds like a good fit for you, please complete this please complete this survey, stating your interest in joining the WISEdash Advisory Group if you work for a school district or Independent Charter School and are interested in participating in the WISEdash Advisory Group.
Return to WISE Insights Landing page
Announcement: Back to School Communications
Did you miss our back to school communication for the 2025-26 school year? No worries! You can view these communications and more in the Notifications Portal. They are listed here for your convenience:
Spotlight on Strong Data: WISEsecure Clean-Up, Agency Contacts, & School Directory Data
DPI recently performed a WISEsecure clean-up job, removing access for inactive users. An ‘inactive user’ is defined as a person who had not logged in to WISEhome at all within the past 18 months.
With the new school year starting soon, or already in session for some schools, Partner Support encourages you to complete your annual required School Directory Updates within the School Directory Management Portal. We have handy User Guides for all agencies with School Directory access: public districts and charter schools, private schools, CESAs, county CDEBs, and State agencies.
Part of your School Directory updates include updating your agency contacts. This is your friendly reminder to also update your agency contacts for the 2025-26 school year in WISEdata Portal, WISEstaff, WISEid, and WISEadmin Portal.
App Feature: New and Improved Change Request Processes in WISEid and WISEstaff
Change requests are an important part of working with person data in WISEid and WISEstaff. The Message Center screen in WISEstaff and the Message Center screen in WISEid both process this work.
Change requests are submitted through these WISE applications by local education agencies (LEAs) when demographic identification data needs to be changed for a student or staff member: name changes, as well as correcting typos for birthdates or even race/ethnicity codes.
The step of having other LEAs approve or deny a change request has been eliminated, and LEAs will now have the ability of verifying and approving their own change requests.
There is a new status filter: Pending District Verification. This filter informs LEAs that they are now, “Waiting for the LEA to confirm that they have reviewed the student or staff person's identity documentation and can verify that the requested change is being applied to the correct WISEid.”
WISEid now also displays a system-generated comment on the Change Request Comments tab whenever a change request is created from a match review or WISEdata/WISEid update job. The comment informs you of the source of the change request along with a date/time stamp.
Other changes to the process clarify current steps on multiple types of change requests (e.g., first name, middle name, birthdate).
App Feature: Ed-Fi Credential, Don’t Forget! New Processes, New Annual Credentials!
Make sure you log in to Ed-Fi Credential application to:
- Resubscribe to your vendors
- Locate your new Key and Secret for 2025-26
- Locate your new URLs for 2025-26
- Share these credentials (Key/Secret & URLs) with your vendors
NOTE! You must share with your vendor to ensure data flows from your vended applications to DPI for the 2025-26 school year!
Not sure what we’re talking about? The February edition of WISE Insights published an article detailing the new aspects of the Ed-Fi Credential application. Please re/visit this Ed-Fi Credential, Changes for 2025-26 article for details. Also, consider attending our back to School Kickoff training. Visit the Upcoming Events section below for dates and times.
WISEdash Spotlight: Exploring Student Achievement to Inform Systems and Practices
Understanding student achievement data is essential for school and district leaders striving to create equitable learning opportunities and improve outcomes for all students.
Data tells a story, one that reveals strengths, highlights gaps, and helps identify the next steps for instruction, support, and systems improvement.
As school districts dive into local and state data, including platforms like WISEdash for Districts, the goal is not just to observe trends but to ask the right questions, engage in collaborative inquiry, and use the information to drive action. The process begins with thoughtful reflection and analysis, and it must include multiple measures to give a fuller, more accurate picture of student learning and growth.
Relying solely on one type of assessment, such as statewide tests, may offer only a limited snapshot. Integrating multiple sources, such as formative assessments, classroom based data, local benchmarks, and student voice, strengthens the process and leads to better informed decisions that reflect the complexity of student achievement.
A Process to Get Into Your Data
Part 1: Evaluate and Frame the Purpose of Your Data Review
Before diving into charts and numbers, it's important to pause and ground your data review in purpose. What is your team hoping to learn, and why? Clarifying your intent helps focus your efforts, engage the right people in the process, and connect the data to your district’s broader goals.
WISEdash for Districts offers multiple entry points for data exploration, so a clear purpose will guide how and where you begin. Without framing, teams may rush to conclusions, focus on surface-level outcomes, or miss opportunities to connect data to district continuous improvement goals and plans.
Guiding questions may include:
- What do we hope to learn or accomplish by reviewing this data and why?
- How does it connect to our goals for students?
- Do we have thoughtful inquiry questions to provide context and guide our investigation?
Part 2: Analyze Patterns and Gaps
Once your purpose is clear, the next step is to explore the data with curiosity. What patterns emerge across content areas, grade levels, schools, or student groups?
WISEdash for Districts allows users to disaggregate data by student group, assessment, and year, providing a powerful tool to investigate both progress and persistent challenges. This analysis should not be limited to a single test score or moment in time. Multiple measures, both quantitative and qualitative, enrich your understanding and help ensure decisions support each student’s success.
Guiding questions may include:
- What trends are emerging across grade levels, content areas, or student groups?
- What strengths and needs are clearly visible in the data?
- What additional measures (e.g., classroom data, attendance, engagement) could deepen our understanding?
- How are different student populations performing?
Part 3: Success for Each and Every Student
Data analysis is incomplete without considering the outcomes of each and every student. It’s not just about what the outcomes are. It’s also about who they affect and why. Districts can use WISEdash for Districts to examine disparities across race, socioeconomic status, disability, and other student characteristics.
This work requires more than identifying gaps. It calls for examining the systems and structures that shape student experiences. Educators can use this lens to identify and respond to barriers that prevent success for each and every student. Cross-referencing academic outcomes with other measures, like school climate, discipline data, or access to rigorous coursework, can highlight patterns and inform responsive action.
Guiding questions may include:
- Which student groups are not yet meeting expectations?
- What might be contributing to these outcomes?
- Are there barriers in our systems (i.e., curriculum, access, or adult practices) that we need to address?
Part 4: Plan Action and Monitor Progress
Good data analysis leads to better decisions but only when it results in action. In this phase, teams identify priorities, strategies, and how they will monitor progress throughout the year.
With WISEdash’s dynamic tools, such as historical data views, crosstabs and cohort tracking, districts can revisit and refine their strategies over time. Progress monitoring also benefits from multiple measures. Consider how classroom assessments, student work samples, and student voice can offer real-time feedback alongside state-level trends.
The key is to move beyond data review and into data use that makes a meaningful difference for students.
Guiding questions may include:
- What strategies or supports can we implement to address the gaps we see?
- What additional voices (e.g., students, families) should inform our planning?
- How will we track our progress and use multiple sources of evidence?
- How will we revisit this data throughout the year?
Resources to Guide and Support:
WISEdash for Districts, especially the Forward, PreACT Secure, ACT and WIDA ACCESS Statewide dashboards, About the Data webpages for:
- Forward
- PreACT Secure
- ACT Statewide
- ACCESS
- DLM
- WISExplore: Student Data Inquiry
Need Support?
Every CESA in Wisconsin has highly qualified data specialists available to support your district’s data work. Whether you need help locating or navigating WISEdash, interpreting results, planning programming, or using data to drive improvement, your CESA Data
Specialist can provide:
- Coaching tailored to your district’s needs
- Professional learning for individuals or teams
- Customized district support to turn insights into action
Connect with your CESA to learn how a Data Specialist can partner with you to make meaningful, data informed decisions for your students.
Learn more about WISExplore on the Coaching and Additional Support webpage.
Upcoming Events
Back to School Training:
- WISE Back to School, New User Training
- Tuesday, August 19; 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- WISE Back to School Kickoff Training
- Thursday, August 21; 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
- WISEdash for Beginners Training
- Tuesday, August 26; 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
- WISEdash for Intermediate Users Training
- Thursday, August 28; 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Recurring Training:
- Return to WEEKLY WISE User Group Call: EVERY Tuesday
- 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
- WISEdata New User Training: First Wednesday of the Month
- Wednesday, September 3, 2025: 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Upcoming WISEdata Events
3/10/26
3/10/26
Return to WISE Insights Landing page
Data Milestones
School Year Close-Out Tasks
DPI recommends completing school year close-out tasks before collecting data for the new school year.
Review the Annual Tasks Checklist webpage, School Year Close-Out section for greater detail.
December Student Snapshot
DPI will take the December Student Snapshot on Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at 9:00 a.m.. The orange "Queue Import & Validation" button in the WISEdata Portal is disabled, preventing LEAs from manually triggering the validation processes. Other aspects of WISEdata Portal, as well as other applications, may be "locked" during the morning of snapshot to prevent errors in the system.