Orlando, Fla. February 29, 2024 — Midtown Consulting Group (MCG) and the Central Florida Educational Ecosystem Database (CFEED) presented an online seminar entitled, “How Advanced Analytics Impacts Student Success in Florida” from 3:30 PM to 4:25 PM on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at Microsoft’s Edu Days, a private event for Microsoft customers.
Michael Holt, MCG Managing Director, and Diana Pienaar, CFEED Director, and Ashton Terry, Sr., CFEED Manager, discussed how MCG has helped CFEED use data estate concepts to enhance collaborative data-sharing and create advanced analytics to enhance student success in central Florida.
MCG has developed an AI-powered data solution on the Microsoft Azure platform, based on MCG’s reference architecture model. This advanced, cloud-based system combines and analyzes data sourced from each of CFEED’s partner organizations to deliver valuable predictive insights and recommended actions from across the student journey. The solution reveals new ways to measure student readiness and student needs.
CFEED is a unique data-sharing collaborative made up of two central Florida public school districts (Osceola and Orange), along with Valencia College, and the University of Central Florida (UCF). The model MCG created for CFEED can be used to analyze data and identify students for interventions from kindergarten through higher education. The partnership includes a top-tier research team, an extensive research portfolio, and established governance teams who evaluate the research and implement complex student success interventions.
MCG’s efforts led to the development and operational use of the CFEED platform. The CFEED research team has curated more than 700 variables related to student success, outcomes, and opportunities garnered from more than 15 years of data from student transcripts in Central Florida. CFEED is a powerful tool for change that is unique to both Florida and the United States. Using its advanced data analytics tools and machine learning expertise, CFEED provides insights from data that administrators can use to identify students for interventions from preschool through higher education. By helping educators create meaning from data – to inform decisions and improve interventions – CFEED’s work aligns with Florida’s SAIL to 60 Initiative, which aims to ensure that 60% of Florida’s high school graduates earn a post-secondary credential by 2030.
The Florida State legislature created the Sail to 60 Initiative in 2019 to strengthen the state’s talent pool. The initiative aims to increase the percentage of working-age Floridians with a high-value postsecondary certificate, degree, or training experience to 60% by 2030. SAIL stands for “Strengthening Alignment between Industry and Learning.” Currently, 49% of Floridians hold such credentials or training. Aimed at enhancing student success from preschool through higher education, Sail to 60’s target exceeds current achievement levels of 52.5%-degree attainment rates.
For more information, contact Michael Holt, Chief Innovation Officer at mholt@midtowncg.com or visit midtowncg.com or www.cfeedhome.com.
About CFEED
The CFEED partnership includes Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), School District of Osceola County (SDOC), University of Central Florida (UCF), Valencia College and Midtown Consulting Group. With support from Helios Education Foundation, CFEED partners are engaged in a Collaborative Design Phase to grow organizational capacity and develop hypotheses on student readiness, through an innovative project intended to support student success all along the pre-kindergarten to postsecondary continuum. The Central Florida Education Eco System Database (CFEED) brings together four large-scale education institutions under one collaborative initiative, funded by Helios Education Foundation, to share information, identify opportunities to enhance learning, and propel the educational attainment of all Central Florida students.
About MCG
Founded in 2004, Midtown Consulting Group (MCG) is a management consulting firm headquartered in Atlanta, GA with clients across the United States. Our diverse team of experts are committed to delivering modern end-to-end data and AI solutions that extend, predict, and prescribe organizations’ potential. We believe that Generative AI, including ChatGPT, will impact every aspect of business, learning, and human interactions. Organizations who adopt sustainable data and AI platforms will improve how they run, grow, and optimize their organizations’ productivity. Our experts are the backbone of our company; they innovate using technology to continually create optimal solutions for our clients. For more information, visit www.midtowncg.com
