{"683526":{"#nid":"683526","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Bridging the Gap: Georgia Tech and Fulton County Schools Collaborate to Transform K-12 Education","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhat happens when 30 of Georgia Tech\u2019s brightest minds team up with Fulton County Schools to tackle real-world challenges in public education? You get innovative solutions that have the potential to transform K-12 student outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis spring, 30 graduate students from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/news\/celebrating-decade-data-georgia-techs-msa-program-and-its-role-shaping-future-data-analytics\u0022\u003EMaster of Science in Analytics (MSA)\u003C\/a\u003E program chose to collaborate with the Fulton County Schools IT Division for their capstone practicum experience. This\u0026nbsp;semester-long project allowed students to apply their data science training to real-world challenges faced by the school district.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMSA students worked with Fulton County Schools IT staff; the 4th largest school district in Georgia, the 35th largest school district in the United States, and the largest non-contiguous school district in the nation. The district\u2019s size and geography offer additional data interoperability challenges.\u0026nbsp;These challenges include fragmented data systems, difficulty obtaining real-time insights, and equitable access to reliable data.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor several months during the spring semester, these talented teams worked closely with the school district\u2019s IT division to develop tools designed to gain insights intended to improve how the district serves its over 86,000 students. Some of their impressive works include:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBuilding Microsoft-based dashboards:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003EThese dashboards help educators take actionable steps aligned with Georgia Department of Education metrics, providing a clearer picture of student performance and areas needing attention.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EImplementing an AI-powered Virtual Counselor chatbot\u003C\/strong\u003E: This innovative tool supports students in meeting graduation requirements by offering personalized guidance and resources.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECreating a recommendation engine\u003C\/strong\u003E: This engine matches students with personalized learning resources, ensuring that each student receives the support they need to succeed.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDesigning models to forecast budget needs\u003C\/strong\u003E: By using historical trends and enrollment projections, these models help the district plan and allocate resources more effectively.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech students submitted a total of 13 projects focused on continuous improvement in the school district.We extend our heartfelt thanks for their creativity, commitment, and belief that data and technology can drive meaningful changes in education. Their work not only showcases the power of collaboration but also sets a precedent for future partnerships aimed at improving student outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo shed light on student reflections, Alejandra Sevilla, an MSA student, recently commented, \u201cIt\u2019s been incredibly rewarding to use data to support K-12 education and create something that could actually help real students and educators.\u201d\u0026nbsp; Another student, Hariprasad Ramamoorthy, explained that \u201cworking with FCS has been a valuable and insightful experience, and I truly appreciate the collaboration and support throughout.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents were encouraged to submit a project that could be implemented in Fulton County\u2019s current established Microsoft ecosystem.\u0026nbsp;MSA students and Fulton staff met regularly to discuss the various MSFT tools available to Georgia Tech students in weekly meetings and how to implement their solutions.\u0026nbsp;These collaborative meetings also offered students a chance to learn about FERPA compliance, student data requests, legal issues surrounding cameras in classrooms, handling outliers and duplicate records, technical challenges in data scraping, data modelling, and data governance.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech alum Heather Trotter Clark\u0026nbsp;(MSA 21)\u0026nbsp;says the collaboration goes beyond analyzing data and test scores. It\u2019s providing students with meaningful, actionable support on their path to success.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe tool is there for them to use in a safe, secure environment, completely customized to their academic environment, their academic experience, in real time,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;Trotter Clark, who serves as Director of Data Management for Fulton County Schools and is a former schoolteacher. \u201cStudents and their parents have something tailored to them specifically to say, \u2018OK I can do this because everything I need, I see it, I have it right here in front of me.\u2019\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis initiative exemplifies a successful collaboration between higher education institutions and public-school systems to work together to address real-world challenges that ultimately benefit students and educators alike.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAuthor: Heather Trotter Clark - Data Management Director, Fulton County Schools\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Graduate students apply data science to real-world challenges, creating innovative tools that support Fulton County Schools\u2019 86,000 students."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) students partnered with Fulton County Schools (FCS) to tackle real-world challenges in K-12 education through their spring capstone projects. Working with the district\u2019s IT division, students developed 13 innovative tools and models to improve student outcomes and streamline data use for the nation\u2019s largest non-contiguous school district. The collaboration not only provided valuable solutions for FCS, which serves over 86,000 students, but also gave graduate students hands-on experience with data governance, compliance, and education-focused applications of analytics.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech MSA students partnered with Fulton County Schools to develop data-driven tools, ranging from dashboards to AI-powered support, that improve student outcomes and streamline district decision-making."}],"uid":"36736","created_gmt":"2025-08-05 14:44:13","changed_gmt":"2025-08-05 21:25:13","author":"ebrown386","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-08-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-08-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677566":{"id":"677566","type":"image","title":"IMG_8535.JPG","body":null,"created":"1754405066","gmt_created":"2025-08-05 14:44:26","changed":"1754405066","gmt_changed":"2025-08-05 14:44:26","alt":"Fulton County Schools","file":{"fid":"261479","name":"IMG_8535.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/05\/IMG_8535.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/05\/IMG_8535.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":94179,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/08\/05\/IMG_8535.JPG?itok=3pTcuPkH"}}},"media_ids":["677566"],"groups":[{"id":"660346","name":"Master of Science in Analytics"},{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4551","name":"k12"},{"id":"117311","name":"MSA"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}