Accountability is the goal, but empowerment is the byproduct of the Choice Ready framework in North Dakota. Choice Ready ensures that students “have the essential skills to be successful for whichever path they choose” whether that be post-secondary, workforce, or the military. High schools are tasked with preparing Choice Ready graduates and, as a part of their school accountability measures, are charged with demonstrating annual growth in those efforts.
Collecting and managing student data for district-wide reports has its challenges. While there is a data reporting portal where annual data can be entered, the accumulation and data management requires significant resources in time, knowledge, and people in every school/district. When Andy Dahlen, SEEC Choice Ready Manager, served as a principal for Fargo Public Schools (FPS), he was responsible for managing this data for hundreds of students, manually entering information into a large spreadsheet, in an effort to track it. In addition to recognizing the inefficiency of the system, Dahlen understood the need to make Choice Ready progress more transparent for student use. “We have to get [Choice Ready progress data] back in the hands of students,” Dahlen proclaimed. This realization led to Dahlen partnering with Steven Durow, a former FPS math teacher, to begin developing a dashboard for Fargo Public Schools. The Fargo dashboard built upon the concept of an Excel spreadsheet filled with student names and Choice Ready indicators and introduced more automated data management features.
The first iteration of a Choice Ready Dashboard began generating interest with other school districts as they learned of the FPS project, but the need to scale up the project across districts required additional resources. The Choice Ready Data Dashboard Project officially began in 2022 in collaboration with 7 ND School Districts (12 high schools), Leidholm Technologies, and the South East Education Cooperative (SEEC). Leaders committed time and Choice Ready grant dollars from the ND Department of Public Instruction to collaboratively plan, test, and revise the development of the Choice Ready Module in the EduCal software platform. The module allows schools to bring Choice Ready indicator data from multiple sources together in one place for all students in grades 9-12. Implementation support plans were also developed to support schools in set-up, onboarding, communication, professional development, reporting, and technical assistance. Initial implementation with the cohort 1 schools began in spring 2023.
Cohort 1: Wahpeton HS, West Fargo – WFHS, Sheyenne, Horace, Jamestown HS, Valley City HS, Grand Forks – Red River, Central HS, Mandan HS, Fargo* Davies, South, North HS (lead partner*), Devils Lake** (entered in Fall 2023)
The benefits of the dashboard are clear for school administrators; many datapoints are automatically pulled from PowerSchool reducing time and manual effort spent on data collection. Doug Margerum, Northern Cass High School principal, described the dashboard as a “gamechanger.” Margerum explained that they used to track student Choice Ready data in “endless spreadsheets,” but that the dashboard has “brought it all together under one roof.” The dashboard also opens the door to collaboration. Dahlen explained that for districts with more than one high school, like Fargo Public Schools, the dashboard allows administrators to compare results for other schools within the district. For example, if one high school has low attendance and sees that another school in the district has high attendance, the principals can connect to share strategies working together to move the district forward. The ability to see other school results remains within districts at the moment, but Dahlen hopes to grow the dashboard to include more state-wide collaboration.
The benefits for students also shine through especially as the Choice Ready system was recently linked to requirements for the North Dakota Scholarship. Denise Jonas, Director of Career & Technical Education for West Fargo Public Schools, praised the connection of Choice Ready and the dashboard for its effects on Career and Technical Education (CTE). In the past, Jonas noticed that there were low numbers of students applying for CTE scholarships, in part because they were unaware of the requirement for a coordinated plan of study which involves early planning. Jonas stated that, “there was a lot of [scholarship] money left on the table because students didn’t know how to get there or see themselves getting there.” Choice Ready monitoring begins in ninth grade, and with the accessibility of the dashboard, students are now able to continually monitor their own progress throughout their high school career. This enhanced visibility is helping prevent students from starting scholarship requirements, like coordinated plans, too late. Fargo Public School’s early, focused dashboard work in their district is an example of the type of student empowerment that the dashboard enables. The increase in number of qualified scholarship students grew the potential scholarship award fund total to $1.5 million.
In the fall of 2024, the opportunity to expand access to more ND high schools allowed additional schools to apply and leverage a grant from ND Information Technology (NDIT) for the initial 2-year installation and implementation of the Choice Ready Dashboard Expansion Project.
The Choice Ready Data Dashboard Expansion Project Grant was designed to increase the number of schools who have access to the Choice Ready Data Dashboard that efficiently accumulates, monitors, and reports students’ progress toward and successful completion of Choice Ready indicators throughout high school to graduation. Funding from the 2023 legislative session in the amount of $300,000 was available to ND high schools through an application process through ND Information Technology. Richland Public Schools joined the second cohort in adopting this platform. Joni Becker is a counselor at the school and has seen an increase in student independence with the adoption of this software. “I feel like it's [placed] a lot of independence on the student, and I think that's really helpful for them, especially in this stage of life, going from high school to college or post-secondary, just kind of wherever they're going. I feel like it really has helped us give the students more independence.” Becker shared a story of a student who took a Certified Nursing Assistant class for CTE credit through NDSCS and is now pursuing a career in the nursing profession. “She said that class really inspired her,” but that it also showed her that “college is not a joke.” Both Richland and Northern Cass were in the second cohort of the dashboard adopters, so they’re looking for ways to increase that independent student engagement with their own progress. Northern Cass introduced students to the platform during registration night this year. Margerum hopes to increase touchpoints with students to remind them that they have access to their progress information to ultimately help them be more accountable for their own learning. He also highlighted that this can be a tool for parents too. “Here’s another opportunity for families to engage, so they can understand opportunities and progress for their student.”
In total, 27 high schools in 23 additional districts applied and were awarded grants to cover fees for: set-up, onboarding, student licenses, and ongoing support & technical assistance. To date, all cohort 2 schools have completed the set-up and onboarding and are working with SEEC Choice Ready Manager, Andy Dahlen, to collect student data for current 2025 graduating seniors.
At SEEC, we value relationships, collaboration, problem-solving, innovation, flexibility, and have a passion to serve our member schools. This project demonstrates the power of these values, the ability to go upstream to create solutions, and serves as an example of what can be done with committed leaders who are willing to roll up their sleeves and dig into the work! With great appreciation - thank you to Andy Dahlen, Denise Jonas, Steven Durow, Tyler Leidholm, Del Vogel, Ned Clooten, Vince Williams, Pam Cronin, Ryan Salisbury, Rachel Bachmeier, Catherine Gilliach, Eric Ripley, Kris Arneson, Jon Strandell, Joe Hegland, Adam Gehlar, Kristi Brandt, Jeff Fastnacht, Mark Andresen, Chris Thompson, and Kyle Davison.
Additional project data collection will monitor the ongoing benefits of the Choice Ready Dashboard, such as:
Automate data pull from multiple sources for career ready indicators
Provide an interface for engaging parents/families/students
Show student/cohort progress toward Choice Ready status through grades 9-12
Allow data managers/principals to use data to identify strengths, trends, and opportunities for improvement
Standardize the data definitions for individual indicators and promote comparative data analysis
Demonstrate a reduction in the amount of school/district time spent accumulating, organizing, and reporting data
Show potential to increase engagement of students/families in understanding and meeting Choice Ready status
Provide efficient and effective onboarding and support for utilization and reporting
Compile end of year report for upload/submission to NDDPI (automated/streamlined/save time)
Allow for input of customized data fields directly by students