The Education Data Specialist Certificate prepares educators to organize, analyze, and interpret a variety of types of educational achievement, attendance, and behavioral data in order to make data-driven decisions about instruction, curriculum, and assessment. The certificate requires completion of a four-course sequence (12 credits) in educational measurement, introductory statistics, data aggregation, and data analysis.

Objectives

• Students will interpret the results from large-scale and local assessments of student achievement for the purpose of communicating with the public, improving instruction, and informing the design of curriculum.
• Students will gain skills in combining longitudinal data and performing analyses to detect changes in student learning, and identify areas in need of instructional remediation.
• Students will become informed consumers of different types of educational data and learn to accurately use that information as part of data-driven decision making.

Recommended Course Sequence:

EDS 520 (Educational Assessment)

EDS 521 (Introduction to Educational Statistics I)

EDS 531 (Data analysis for education data specialists - I)

EDS 532 (Data analysis for education data specialists - II)

Admissions

Interested students must contact the certificate coordinator and complete an application for this specific certificate to the Graduate School. In some years, the certificate may be offered to cohorts only. Students who are currently enrolled in the Graduate School and who wish to pursue this certificate program must inform the Graduate School and the certificate coordinator of their intention to apply for admission to the certificate program before 9 of the required credits are completed. Candidates for this certificate should possess basic math skills and have demonstrated proficiency with commonly used productivity applications (e.g., Microsoft Office).

For more information:

Contact Becky Libby at 581-2444, becky.libby@umit.maine.edu