Tuesday, March 18, 2025
March 2025: What a Successful WISEdata Conference!
Spotlight on Strong Data: What a Great 10th Annual WISEdata Conference!
The 10th annual WISEdata Conference was a phenomenal success! We hosted just over 524 guests in 62 sessions over three amazing days! Our first ever Pre-Conference was fully attended, and the raffle bins of WISE-O Cards and donation slips was so full that it was surely tricky picking the lucky winners of our prize giveaways.
Congratulations to:
Winner of the Chula Vista Weekend Getaway #1:
- Renee Mahal from Stanley-Boyd School District was the winner of the Chula Vista Weekend Getaway #1.
- Beth Fitzgerald from Greenfield School District was the winner of the Chula Vista Weekend Getaway #2.
- Rachel Hoffman from Phillips School District was the winner of the SEEDS for Schools Gift Basket #1.
- Melanie Strom from Muskego-Norway School District won the SEEDS for Schools Gift Basket #2.
We worked hard to make the conference everything it could be, and we’re so grateful for you. We also have one more ask: If you attended, please provide us with your WISEdata Conference feedback. Your feedback shapes the look, feel, and logistics of each annual conference. Let us know what you think!
Data Quality Tip: WISEstaff Final Certification Deadline is TODAY, March 18, 2025
Today is the last day to complete and certify your WISEstaff submission, verifying it’s free of errors and warnings! The final snapshot is today, March 18, 2025.
Ensure you load assignments and contracts for all staff whom you are required to report. No corrections to assignment and contract data can be made after today's deadline, March 18, 2025.
It is your agency’s responsibility to ensure that all professional staff members have a valid license for their assignment(s) as required by law. School boards specifically are required under Wis. Stat. §121.02 to ensure appropriately licensed professional staff and under Wis. Stat. §118.21 to ensure staff are appropriately licensed for their teaching contract. The WISEstaff collection and resulting license audit helps your agency meet your obligations under law.
If you need additional guidance, please reach out to us by submitting a Help Desk Ticket. We are here to support you in submitting the most accurate data possible. If you have a licensing-related question, please contact Educator Licensing.
Data Quality Tip: May Demographics Snapshot Prep
The May Demographics Snapshot occurs on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. Our DPI May Demographics Snapshot section of the Snapshot Preparation Guidance webpage has been recently updated to provide you with better guidance for snapshot data submission. The Customer Services Team is also providing in-person, one-on-one support for the May Demographics Snapshot training across the state. Registration is now open!
- April 1 - Milwaukee Area – CESA 1 (Pewaukee)
- April 22 – Virtual Session – Hosted via Microsoft Teams
- April 25 – Eau Claire Area – CESA 10 (Chippewa Falls)
App Feature, WISEdata Portal: Data Quality Alerts & Economically Disadvantaged Data
To help schools prepare for the May Demographics Snapshot, Data Quality Alerts are posted in WISEdata Portal. Data Quality Alerts can be acknowledged by users listed as primary or secondary agency contacts for WISEdata. For the May Demographics Snapshot:
- only one alert event is generated,
- the alerts are usually run three weeks prior to the snapshot, and
- there will usually be three alert types for both public and Choice schools.
Alert generation practices are reviewed continuously so that they provide the most benefit to our schools and districts. If you have feedback on how we can improve the Data Quality Alerts mini tutorial, please use the purple ‘Submit Feedback’ button located on any WISE landing page. To provide us with feedback on the Data Quality Alerts screen within WISEdata Portal, use the feedback button within the WISEdata Portal application.
One very important collection of data is economically disadvantaged data. This is collected from both public school districts and Choice schools. Please review our “How to Audit for: Economically Disadvantaged Data” Snapshot Data Quality Auditing webpage. This webpage is an in-depth tutorial, including details like screenshots, which WISEdata Portal Export to download, and which columns within that Export to view. These data quality auditing webpages also include the impact this data has on your school report card. You can also take advantage of our Understanding Economically Disadvantaged Data Reporting eLearning!
WISEdash Dashboard Feature: Cohort 'Group by' Filter
In case you missed it at the WISEdata Conference earlier this month, Mary Ann Hudziak from CESA 6 gave an engaging presentation on “Unlocking the Power of Cohorts in WISEdash for Districts.” She showed us how to use the Cohort Trends Dashboard in WISEdash for Districts and how to create cohorts.
Put quite simply, a student cohort is a single set of students. A school cohort is a set of schools. WISEdash for Districts has several pre-defined cohorts for both students and schools, but you can also make your own custom cohorts. Basically, this is a similar functionality to group management that you may have in your SIS. This is an incredibly valuable tool that allows one to create groups of students or schools to follow longitudinally, to gather trends, and to analyze data over time. Nice!
Once you have your cohort/s defined them, it’s actually pretty simple to apply the filter. Using the blue ‘Filter Data’ button, look for either the Student Cohort or School Cohort (I know, I didn’t realize the School Cohort was there either!). From the student or school cohort level, you simply pick your cohort from the extended menu.
If you have created any custom cohorts, they will be in the list as well (the example custom cohort is named, “Rising Stars Student Cohort”).
With your cohort filter selected, the dashboard will only display data for that cohort. If you want to compare those students to a larger group, select the ‘Group by’ option and choose ‘Student Cohort’.
The dashboard will then be grouped by students in the cohort and students not in the cohort.
We have a wonderful How-To: Cohorts tutorial webpage detailing how to create and use custom cohorts. Please refer to our WISEdash for Districts training page cohorts tutorial section.
WISEdash Public Release
Earlier this month, WISEdash Public was also refreshed with 2023-24 year end data (2024-25 enrollment, high school graduation, attendance/ absenteeism, discipline, etc.) which was collected on the December 10, 2024 December Student Snapshot. See the full list of topics in the recent EdLeaders Dispatch article. For questions about the WISEdash Public Portal, please open a Help Ticket. These About the Data and FAQ pages are also a great way to learn more about data in WISEdash.
Upcoming Events
View the WISE Events Calendar
Recurring Training:
- Every Tuesday, through March 25, 2025: WISEstaff User Group Call, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- The final certification deadline is March 18, 2025. Once the certification deadline passes, this user group call is only hosted every other week, starting April 1, 2025.
- Every other Tuesday, now through May: WISE User Group Call, 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
- First Tuesday of the Month: New User Training, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Upcoming WISEdata Events
3/10/26
3/10/26
Return to WISE Insights Landing page
Data Milestones
Civil Rights Data Collection Closes SOON:
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The CRDC collection cycle closes on March 7, 2025.
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NOTE: The final step is to click the “Certify” button on the Certification Dashboard. Your data is not certified until you click the “Certify” button!
WISEstaff Certification, Final Reporting Deadline Approaching
- TODAY!!! March 18, 2025: Final reporting deadline.
- You can make corrections to your WISEstaff data up until the final certification deadline.
- No corrections to assignment and contract data can be made after the final certification deadline on March 18, 2025.
Plan for May Demographics Snapshot
- The May Demographics Snapshot is May 13, 2025.
- Review the Snapshot Preparation Guidance webpage to get ready for that snapshot.
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 details.