Keeping its focus on being the top producer of successful students in the nation, Orange County Public Schools is enthusiastic about the inception of the Central Florida Education Ecosystem Database. It is designed to increase the number of students graduating from high school and earning a post-secondary credential.
In a joint venture with Osceola County Public Schools, Valencia College, and the University of Central Florida, CFEED is a first-of-its-kind collaboration intended to assist the 389,000 students who attend public pre-K to postsecondary schools in Orange and Osceola counties. Valencia College will lead the project and work directly with the Helios Educational Foundation, the project funder.
“We want to make sure we are following up with our key education partners to ensure that the things we are doing to support students actually work and to figure out how we can do better,” said Dr. Brandon McKelvey, Associate Superintendent of Research, Accountability and Grants.
The data collection itself is not new. Each educational institution annually submits the information to the Florida Department of Education. However, no one has ever combined all of the data—from kindergarten through college—into one database and analyzed it to guide large-scale educational insights and improve student outcomes. For example, do course progressions help impact student learning and provide long-term benefits.
This groundbreaking project will lead to data that districts can use to implement improvements in as little as two years. The results are intended to help create gains in student completion and graduation, produce better candidates for employment and ultimately grow the Central Florida economy.
The data being shared within the CFEED partnership will be for research purposes only. It will not be used for marketing or advertising purposes, nor will any data be shared with outside organizations.
“All educational partners commit to using the data to help ensure students receive the supports they need to be successful. We have committed to stringent security protocols and a firm agreement to not use information for commercial marketing or advertising,” said Dr. McKelvey.
Safeguarding student privacy is of the utmost importance to CFEED’s partnering institutions. As such, the CFEED database is fully compliant with federal and State of Florida student privacy laws. In addition, data security protocols have been put in place to protect the security of the data from unauthorized or unlawful use.
The HELIOS Foundation, a non-profit whose focus it is to enrich the lives of individuals in Arizona and Florida by creating opportunities for success in postsecondary education, is generously funding this educational research endeavor.