How can schools use data to make strategic improvements for students at all levels, from special education programming to high-level performance?
For Bettendorf Community School District, data revealed new opportunities and insights into engagement and achievement.
Read all the stories in this series to find out how schools across Iowa are using the SAS® Education Visualization and Analytics Solution (EVAAS) to achieve these goals.
Bettendorf Community School District in Iowa serves students from preschool through high school, with five elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. Like many districts, Bettendorf is navigating challenges such as changes in enrollment, shifting post-secondary expectations and the lasting impact of COVID-19 on attendance and engagement.
Jayme Olson, Bettendorf’s Executive Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, and Rhonda Nelson, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Coordinator, shared insights into their work and their use of SAS EVAAS to help tackle issues. Olson, a Bettendorf graduate and longtime educator, emphasized her commitment to “ensuring that our decisions are data-driven and driving our instruction.”
Meet the school district
- Bettendorf’s schools serve 4,246 students, but enrollment has declined, which poses budget and planning challenges.
- Attendance and student engagement continue to be areas of focus in the aftermath of COVID-19, as educators work to support students with differing and evolving needs.
- Leaders realized they needed a stronger analytical approach to identify opportunities across grade levels to ensure all students were on track for success after high school.
How SAS EVAAS helped
- SAS EVAAS provided the district with a clearer picture of student growth over time, breaking down results by key groups such as students on Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), students from low-income backgrounds, English Language Learners and racial/ethnic groups.
- By engaging instructional leaders and coaches first, Bettendorf built the data literacy needed to lead more meaningful, supportive conversations with teachers.
- The tool made it easier to see how elementary-level performance trends affect middle and high school outcomes, helping leaders frame challenges as systemic rather than isolated to one building.
What happened next
- SAS EVAAS confirmed that students on IEPs were not only struggling to close gaps but, in some cases, not maintaining their entering achievement levels – an insight to help guide future interventions and supports.
- The district discovered that while overall scores appeared strong, few students were achieving in the top growth categories, prompting leaders to rethink assumptions about high-level performance and consider opportunities to provide more challenging coursework.
- By uncovering hidden gaps in targeted groups, Bettendorf shifted its focus toward more learning opportunities for all, such as preparing students from diverse backgrounds to succeed in advanced and AP courses.
Getting a deeper understanding of student growth
Through SAS EVAAS, Bettendorf Community School District has moved from surface-level test results to a deeper understanding of academic growth, differentiated intervention effectiveness and long-term student success. Olson explained that the goal is to equip instructional leaders with confidence and insight: “Not to have all the answers, but to be able to have those probing questions and to push back. That is what moves things forward.”
With these tools in place, the district is better positioned to ensure every student is prepared for the future.
How EVAAS helps educators, families and policymakers
The Education Visualization and Analytics Solution (EVAAS) from SAS provides educators with powerful and ready-to-use insights that transform educational decision-making at every level:
- For educators: EVAAS delivers comprehensive reporting tools that empower teachers to evaluate and improve academic growth trends, personalize learning pathways and optimize curriculum design to help students meet goals.
- For principals: EVAAS helps school leaders evaluate academic program effectiveness, identify trends across student groups, support professional development planning, and make data-driven student scheduling and placement decisions.
- For policymakers: Decision makers use EVAAS analytics to measure the impact of educational initiatives, allocate resources effectively and implement data-driven policies and programs that benefit students, schools and communities.
