Current Challenges to Staying Compliant
The concept of ‘Compliance’ often sends a bit of a tingle down the spine of the administrative educators responsible for making sure everything is running as it should. After all, as one of the most heavily regulated industries whose financing can depend almost solely on district- and school-level data, there’s a lot riding on it. And because those financing agencies; be they federal, state, or community; need data to make those financial decisions, the burden is on the district to provide it in a timely, accurate, and digestible format. From student compliance such as IEP management and vaccinations, to personnel compliance and workers’ rights, there’s always that pit-of-your-stomach feeling that you might have missed something. Or worse, not even be able to produce accurate data around the requirements riding on your shoulders.
But how can you do that well if you’re still trying to wrangle your data internally? It’s akin to a visit from your mother-in-law bringing her white glove cleaning test, but she shows up a day early while you’re still in the middle of dusting!
It’s a challenge, for sure, and we believe it goes back to our old friend – your data. Your data has to be accessible without jumping through six hurdles to get to it, then having to rope and wrangle it to resemble the report you need. Your data also has to be clean. Just like the mother-in-law white glove test, you never want to be caught still dusting off that data warehouse shelf when company comes to inspect. And finally, data has to be complete. While you never want to be in a position where you have to defend your district or staff’s reputation, should that happen you want to be prepared – completely. You want to have communication records and transcripts in place to avoid any “he said, she said”, you want to have up to date academic and behavioral data available, and you want to have full insight into any medical or special needs regarding the individual child. Having your house clean will help you sleep easier at night simply knowing you’re prepared for whatever tomorrow might bring – even if it’s the white glove test.
