Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Since 2018, the Utah State Board of Education has partnered with Qualtrics for K-12 innovation.
- They focus on experiential data beyond test scores to improve educational outcomes.
- The initiative aims to reduce teacher attrition and enhance policy decisions with AI tools.
SALT LAKE CITY — Sarah Young began her career in education as an eighth grade science teacher.
After a fellowship with the National Science Foundation learning about education policy and systems, she began working at the Utah State Board of Education, where she now serves as its chief of staff.
It was there that Young got to know the Provo-born tech giant Qualtrics.
At the Qualtrics X4 summit on Wednesday, Young told the story about how the state's office of education and one of its most successful tech companies built a partnership, what they're doing with it, and what they plan for the future.
"Now is the time for innovation in our education system. There is a lot of change that is happening, and that change can feel very unsettling to us, as well, in K-12 education," said Young, who is also a Salt Lake City councilwoman. "But it is also an opportunity to be able to unshackle ourselves from some of the existing constructs of 'What does it mean to be able to define outcomes in schools ... and to take a local approach to what that could look like?'"
To begin answering this, Young talked about what a lot of people think of when it comes to measuring school success.
"It's not just about measures as we traditionally have considered them," Young said, noting the importance of thinking beyond test scores and graduation rates alone.
Instead, she said those metrics should be viewed alongside factors like school climate, teacher engagement and student experiences — experiential data.
"Right now, we only have a very small piece of a comprehensive puzzle," Young said. "We need more in K-12 education. What if those data sets weren't just about a test score, weren't just about attendance (or) graduation? What if, in addition, we started to value the experience of education?"
With that in mind, the state in 2018 struck a partnership with Qualtrics to gather comprehensive, experiential data from teachers, administrators, parents and students alike.
Through careful work and consideration, the state board, in tandem with Qualtrics, designed a top-down survey tool that didn't just add more noise but gave stakeholders at all levels the information they needed to make informed decisions.
"We've eliminated the need for surveys at different levels. We've created an opportunity to have a single tool go out from the trusted local entity (school districts), personalized to meet their needs and still provide information up to the state level to help our policymakers related to concerns that they have," Young said.
But what is the state getting out of this type of data collection?
At the time the conversation around gathering that information began, 50% of Utah teachers were leaving the profession within their first seven years, Young said.
"(Qualtrics) helped us stand up our first survey, both with exit information as well as engagement information. It's not good enough to just diagnose the outcome after they've left; you also want to know what's happening in real time with our educators, in terms of how they're feeling about their current workplace," Young said.
Among other things, the initial survey found that 500 reported not seeing themselves as teachers in the next two years, and 57.6% of teachers who were leaving the profession reported they didn't have the opportunities to be involved in decisions that affected them. Additionally, over 49% of teachers said they didn't feel supported to try innovative things that aligned with their career goals.
Other data points — like teachers not feeling fairly compensated for their work — supported conversations happening at the state level that eventually spurred a statewide increase in teacher salaries.
Efforts to gather data about school climate and experiences from administrators, school resource officers, teachers, parents and students followed and was used to inform "not just local level but state-level policy as well," Young noted.
One culmination of this experiential data gathering was the board's "portrait of a graduate." Established in 2019, the portrait paints the picture of what it looks like for a Utah graduate to exit the K-12 education system and succeed in their next steps.
"Our 'portrait of a graduate' breaks things down into mastery, autonomy and purpose. Looking at some of these aspects of not just focusing on the importance of academic mastery — which is our No. 1 and still the primary focus of what we work towards here in Utah — but also making sure that we're addressing the needs for wellness. And that wellness extends from just our traditional health classes to thinking about how we're preparing our kids in these tumultuous times for all of the different aspects of wellness that they're experiencing," Young said.
Moving forward, Young said the board of education is looking to lean into Qualtrics' AI technology, dashboard and ticketing system and more to integrate structured and unstructured data into comprehensive data sets used to inform the path forward.
"We have the tools in place, so now let's make it a reality. Experiences matter in education, and I leave you with the question: What will change in our system when we can start to value experience?" Young said.
