Project on Data Acquisition, Management, and Exchange (DAME Project)

This proposal was submitted in response to the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board RFP "Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants: XML data Transfer Project," dated June 23,2003. This RFP was issued as a component of a larger EPSB Title II Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant (TQEG) initiative. The RFP states that project funds from the Title II TQ grant which will be used to fund this proposal are intended to "develop and bring into full operation the collecting and reporting of teacher performance data statewide at all institutions that prepare teachers, particularly as the data affects student learning and program accountability." In addition, the funds available for this project will be used to develop an automated collection and delivery system for data to and from the MAX data system. " There are four major goals for this project. Goal 1: Establish a Center for Teacher Education Program Data Acquisition, Management, and Exchange at the University of Kentucky (UKJTEP-DAME). Goal 2: Develop a web portal system for the UK TEP-DAME center, which will allow the linking of data from three data systems at UK. Goal 3: Develop the capability to exchange XML documents between TEP-DAME and the EPSB (MAX data system); in 2003-2004 focusing on the interchange of TEP admission and completers data. Goal 4: Explore the conceptual base underlying the UK/TEP.DAME Center as the unit linking distributed databases in a teacher education program data system, and prepare documentation that will be helpful to development teams in other institutions. Over the long term, the UK/TEP-DAME center will seek to better understand the relationship of teacher preparation programs to teachers' actual success in the classroom. It will model the development of a web portal data system that can be used to access and relate data that is stored in specialized database and information systems located throughout the teacher preparation unit, and beyond its boundaries. The approach chosen for the project will be to develop a web portal system analogous to the Kentucky EPSB MAX portal system. In addition, techniques will be developed, in collaboration with the EPSB and with the other institutions that have been awarded XML transfer project funds, to transfer data between institutions and agencies using XML technology. This system ofXML docunient transfer will greatly expand the sets of data available for use by teacher preparation units. The project as it is envisioned in this proposal, will be establish a center (UK/TEP-DAME) whose task it will be to assemble the necessary technical tools to create a web portal system for accessing databases within the UK environment. Existing database and information system teams operating in the College of Education will be organized to collaborate on the development ofthe web portal system. An important part of the UK/TEP-DAME system will be to create ColdFusion-based web forms that can be used to acquire, manage, report, and exchange data related to teacher education programs at the UK College of Education. As a model project, an important role for the center development team will be to prepare documents and presentations that can be used to show how the UK/TEP-DAME center operates and how its products can be an important component of accountability efforts in the institution. Center team members will work collaborative1y with teams at other Kentucky institutions and with the EPSB Title II TQ data team to establish models and practices that will have the greatest utility for the teacher preparation community.