Planning and User-Centered Design
Role in DISC
Sara Kock is the Senior Manager, Client Facing Data Initiatives at WestEd. As a member of DISC, Sara supports states and other entities with their integrated data projects. She brings a broad knowledge of the educational field, from the classroom to the state agency. Sara is passionate about helping others use and understand data. Sara has a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
State Experience
Sara’s professional career started in schools. She managed a 21st Century Community Learning Center in Madison, Wisc., before moving into the classroom, teaching 4th and 5th grade, on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Sara’s capstone project proposed alternative methods of allocating child welfare dollars for the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. During graduate school, she was an intern at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction assisting with charter schools, the voucher program, and the teacher evaluation system. Sara worked for the South Dakota Department of Education on their PK-12 SLDS for 12 years before joining WestEd. She earned a graduate certificate in State Government Leadership from the University of South Dakota.
Experience with Integrated Data Systems
Sara served as administrator for the South Dakota PK-12 longitudinal data system. She oversaw the creation, maintenance, and support of the data warehouse, including the development of the CEDS data warehouse. With collaboration from partners, Sara worked on key initiatives that assisted with business needs and analysis for federal reporting, state programs, and school district initiatives. She has experience with leading data governance and exploring research agendas as well as formulating short- and long-term goals for data and getting them accomplished within limited resources.
Planning and User-Centered Design
As the administrator for South Dakota’s PK-12 SLDS, Sara helped build the system that focused on meeting many use cases, especially educators who need access to data on students they teach or serve. She promoted a training plan that taught educators how to both use the reports in the SLDS and build their data use skills in general. As the South Dakota SLDS shifted from federal grant funds to state and program dollars, Sara engaged in thoughtful planning and transparent communication, which were essential to reduce costs while meeting the needs of partners.
Privacy
Sara’s work with South Dakota’s SLDS involved protecting the privacy of students while also assisting with the appropriate use of data to inform policies and practices. This required her to navigate data sharing agreements with partner agencies, compile appropriate data for research partners, and advocate for data governance practices and policies.
