Partner Spotlight: Hoonuit’s approach to data and analytics fosters student-centered learning

At this year’s ISTE conference in Philadelphia, we proudly featured several of our partners in the Microsoft Education booth. These are organizations that share our mission of working to empower every student on the planet to achieve more. Throughout the summer and into the fall, we’ll be highlighting some of those collaborations here.

The Santa Clara County Office of Education has partnered with Hoonuit, a data management and analytics solution, over the past few years to successfully increase graduation and AP course-taking rates and decrease inequitable disciplinary procedures.

“Schools simply can’t tackle the hard work of creating a more just and equitable education system without good data,” says Marcy Lauck, director of data governance for the county office of education.

Hoonuit’s data solutions are delivered through the Cloud with Microsoft Azure, and Hoonuit embeds Microsoft Power BI within the platform to help with ad hoc reporting needs. “We’re better together,” Shayne Kendall, Education Solutions Engineer for Hoonuit, said describing the Microsoft-Hoonuit partnership, announced last year.

Kendall was previously the director of information systems for schools for Albuquerque Public Schools, where he used Hoonuit to drive improvements by creating a more organized, comprehensive and user-friendly way of collecting, organizing and analyzing key data. “Most districts are very data rich yet information poor, and this helps them translate their data into actionable information,” he explained.

Hoonuit also embeds professional development experiences into the solution. So, for example, if you’re analyzing attendance data through Hoonuit, there will be professional-learning opportunities related to attendance embedded right into the dashboards.

In Kentucky’s Fayette County Public Schools, all district employees have at least some of their data in Hoonuit. Access is limited based on each staff member’s role, but everyone is given a stake in ensuring the district delivers the best educational experience possible.

“You can’t gain efficiencies or gain effectiveness if you have no visibility into what works, no ability to determine why it works, and no way of sharing that information—that story—in a way that helps your staff and community really understand what it is you’re spending their resources on,” says Billy Buchanan, who oversees data and accountability for the district.

Hoonuit’s innovation and expertise contribute to the strength of the Microsoft partnership community and drive student-centered learning and student-centered decision making in schools. For a closer look at Hoonuit, check out the video above in which Hoonuit’s Andrea Gronberg walks visitors at ISTE through some key Hoonuit’s features.

You can learn more about our partnerships here.

For more on Fayette’s experience with Hoonuit, check out this case study. The Santa Clara experience is detailed here.