FAQ – VDOE LASER Support

1. What is the LASER (Learning Analytics to Support Education and Reporting)?
2. Specifically, what does LASER do, and what doesn’t it do?
3. Is there a cost involved for Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to use the LASER?
4. What student information will be available to educators through LASER?
5. Will LASER replace Local Education Agencies’ student information systems (SIS)?
6. Is LEAs’ adoption of LASER mandatory?
7. Will divisions be able to customize their own metrics/cut scores or will all work be done by VDOE? Can cut scores be set at the school level?
8. What is the timeline for implementation? How far is LASER along in the process?
9. If the school division chooses to not use LASER, will there be new data needs that all divisions have to fulfill? What if the division chooses to use this tool? What new data needs will there be?
10. Where will LASER be housed? VDOE website? SSWS?
11. Since the access to LASER is through SSWS, which is typically not available to teachers currently, it seems that someone needs to be a LASER manager to provide data to teachers in a timely manner in order to develop intervention plans.
12. When users log in to the LASER system, what defines the data that they can see?
13. We already have an analytics solution that is working for us. It is hard to decide about the adoption of LASER if we can’t dig into it and see how it works.
14. How will VDOE decide which divisions have access to LASER first? What is the rollout process?
15. Can data outside of the SIS be included, such as the social-emotional data from another database? Will divisions have the ability to add additional data components specific to that division?
16. Is LASER the VDOE acronym or the name of the software package? What software packages will be used in LASER?
17. Is there a public side to the dashboard?
18. Will school divisions be able to add additional grouping (as filters) inside LASER? For instance, tagging students by “in person” vs “virtual” this year, or students who are in a specific program at a school that do not have corresponding VDOE code.
19. So the LASER will be a tool based on the available data, but won’t be a tool to deliver/create assessments. Is that accurate?
20. Can data be pushed to SIS? Like SOL scores.
21. Will the data pull any SOL strands/deeper data, etc., or just scores for tests from SIS?
22. Will MAP data be pulled in as well? What constitutes Coursework in the ABC (Attendance-Behavior-Coursework) dashboards? Data analytics is only as good as the data used.
23. Is the Virginia Teacher License Number going to become a required part of the Student Data Import in order to link teachers to scores, or will it still be optional?
24. Will users be able to create reports or pull specific data down from LASER?
25. Will the information on the Behavior dashboard be tied to the new SBAR language?
26. Will linking divisions’ SIS cause state reports to be automatically delivered to VDOE?
27. Curious how the message conveyed by LASER visualizations aligns (or doesn't) with a shift AWAY from approaching students with a deficit mindset. The language of “needs intervention” seems to be emphasizing what a student CANNOT do or is not yet doing,
28. As the LASER rolls out, what is the plan for professional development? What will be the structure of the technical help system?