Original post from Insights Success Magazine
BrightBytes: Using Data to Improve the Way the World Learns
Schools have no shortage of data. The hard part is deriving relevant and meaningful information from extremely large data sets gathered from various sources. With a mission to improve the way the world learns through the use of data, BrightBytes, a learning analytics company, gathers research from the best experts in the world and creates evidence-based frameworks that analyze data from schools. Across BrightBytes’ decision support platform, Clarity, educators can access the tools to better understand data and improve student learning outcomes.
In an industry overwhelmed by DRIP syndrome (data rich, information poor), BrightBytes helps educators across schools, districts, and at the state level, by providing personalized and research-driven insights, resources, and support material at each data point. Educators not only see the data in an educative and engaging format, but they also know what actions to take to address any gaps or challenges within their personalized results. With seven core modules, and personalization capabilities, the Clarity platform offers research-based and actionable solutions for every area that impacts student learning.
Clarity Humanizes Big Data and Personalizes Solutions
Big data has made great contributions to areas like marketing and science over the past few years, but its recent arrival in the education industry has been both exciting and challenging. Big data opens a universe of unexplored information to educators, but without the right lens to understand data, the right tools to execute findings, and the right method to communicate results, the access to abundant data may hinder progress. Increasingly, educators are turning to data to make informed decisions, but various challenges make those efforts unachievable. Many organizations suffer from DRIP (data rich, information poor) conditions, and educators struggle to see solutions behind the numbers. The BrightBytes Clarity platform takes the abundance of data, and humanizes the numbers to provide insight to action. Clarity incorporates the essential elements of a successful data analysis platform that allow educational leaders to realize the infinite power of actionable data to drive learning outcomes and better leverage data to inform critical decisions.
Many companies offer dashboards of educational data, but those products fail to transform that information into decisions. The Clarity platform provides educators with research frameworks that select only the data linked to improved student outcomes. It then maps an education organization’s data to these frameworks, identifies strengths and gaps, and offers insights into how to improve, using specific examples from real schools. This combination of data analysis, research, and action plans set the platform apart from every other offering.
Proven Expertise
Key to the company’s success is its dedicated team of educators, researchers, statisticians, and designers. The BrightBytes team has decades of experience in the K-12 space and routinely partners with education researchers and experts including McREL International, Mazin™ Education, and iKeepSafe.™ Due to the depth of knowledge around education, individuals across BrightBytes are very familiar with the common challenges that many educators face. However, the team also recognizes that no two organizations
have identical needs. In addition to the seven core modules on the Clarity platform (that address common areas like graduation rates, financial transparency, the impact of technology on learning, leadership, and digital privacy), BrightBytes has the unique capacity to personalize research-based data solutions to meet specific needs.
The critical components, such as research-based frameworks, engaging data visualizations, collaborative workflow management, data democratization, role-specific views, and data-driven connections are already embedded into all of the core modules. However, these elements are also personalizable to assemble for specific solutions. Clarity’s flexible modular system enables BrightBytes’ team to personalize solutions tailored to address individual organization’s diverse needs. By focusing on the key elements of a successful data analytics platform, BrightBytes can assemble education solutions quickly for each organization.
A Team Built for Success and Guided by Visionaries
The team behind the Clarity platform is comprised of experts who combine qualitative research and quantitative methods with a proprietary framework specifically designed to link educational factors to learning outcomes. The team is led by Traci Burgess and Hisham Anwar. Traci Burgess, the CEO of BrightBytes, has spent her career entirely in education. Her early love for mathematics led her to pursue a career as a math educator. After deciding she wanted to help students on a larger scale, she made the move to the edtech industry, holding leadership positions in companies including, Thomson Learning, Blackboard, Catapult Learning, and Think Through Learning. Hisham Anwar is a BrightBytes co-founder and the company’s Chief Technology Officer. Hisham has spent the last 12 years building and managing global technology strategies and new product portfolios. The son of an educator, he has held technology leadership positions at Moody’s, Royal Dutch/NWA, Mamapedia, and most recently Zynga. Hishamm has an MBA from MIT. As the company grows, they plan to continue their process of creating solutions that address issues that arise in the K-12 educational sector. The organization is set to expand product lines and sales teams, across the US and internationally.
