Forecast5 Analytics - FGSC Corporate Partner Profile
This month, as part of our Fast Growth School Coalition platinum corporate partner profile series, we’re turning our attention to the work and support of Forecast5 Analytics.
Forecast5 Analytics, a Frontline Education Company, empowers education leaders to harness the power of their data for more effective decision-making. More than 2,100 public sector clients across the country are using Forecast5 tools to make more strategic, effective decisions related to financial planning and budget management; student performance, learning gap mitigation, and equity; resource placement and boundary evaluation; and other critical considerations—and enabling them to communicate more transparently with their stakeholders.
FGSC’s Dr. Greg Smith asked Jeff Carew, Director of Business Development for Forecast5 Analytics, what he sees as some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing fast growth districts, as well as the work his organization undertakes in fast growth districts across our state.
Dr. Smith: How important is it for Forecast5 Analytics to stay connected with fast-growth school districts?
Carew: It’s important for Forecast5 to connect with fast-growth school districts because our analytics tools enable districts to get the critical insights they need from the volumes of data they’re collecting to make more informed decisions on behalf of their students and communities.
Dr. Smith: Forecast5 works across our state. From your vantage point in the business and public education community, what do you consider to be the biggest challenges facing public education and especially fast growth school districts today?
Carew: Growing districts face many challenges, from tracking where students are coming from, to if they are staffing appropriately for their growth. Forecast5 can help districts plan for future growth with multi-year budget projections, track current year budgets to see if they have appropriate resources assigned within the year, see where students are coming from while developing on-the-fly boundary projections, track students’ success, and see the historical data of the district to help project future growth. Using data analytics tools paired with expert advisors to help growing districts make the best decisions in their current data sets to move the district forward as they grow.
The biggest challenges for schools are moving students forward while still navigating the compliance environment that Districts are held accountable to. We believe that we can help move students forward using our decision support tools to meet compliance but excel campus change. We can help reinforce professional learning communities with on-demand student data, help build capacity in campus leaders around opportunity gaps, and help see that data can drive campus problems of practice and inspire future professional learning.
Dr. Smith: We know businesses have many opportunities to market, sponsor, and support public education associations and groups, why does Forecast5 choose to support the Fast Growth School Coalition?
Carew: Forecast5 recognizes the significant challenges faced by districts experiencing rapid growth and supports the mission FGSC has in advocating on behalf of these districts and also directly supporting districts to successfully manage this growth.
Dr. Smith: I asked the team at Forecast5 Analytics to share some of their recent work and most relevant case studies to give our members a better sense of how they help support the many challenges and opportunities facing our member districts.
Take a look at these recent case studies and highlights of their work, as well as timely resources related to the ongoing Covid pandemic:
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A Fast Growth Texas District Conducts Staffing Audit to Adjust Payroll Costs Effectively: This Texas district used data analytics to drill into staffing ratios and benchmark against peers in order to adjust payroll expenses.
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Accurately Understanding Current Impacts of COVID-19 on Future Financials: Learn how Northwest ISD, located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area of Texas, used 5Cast Plus to better understand COVID-19’s impact on his district’s finances, so that they could develop accurate scenarios to inform their decision making and communicate effectively with their school board.
