Our New Name

If you haven’t noticed, our blog looks slightly different.  So do our logo, our website, and our Twitter account.  It’s because we’ve changed our name– we’re happy to re-brand as the South Jersey Data Leaders Partnership.  So naturally, you probably ask, “Why?”

When we began as the South Jersey Data Specialists Partnership, our mission was to create a space for folks in the data specialist position.  Most of us had titles like “Data Specialist,” “Director of Planning and Assessment,” or “Chief Performance Officer.”  Many of us were curriculum people by title, but were the primary data specialist in the district.  So it made sense for our name to reflect who we ourselves were.

As we’ve worked and grown, a new and more-important purpose emerged.  We began to realize that if we were going to change schools for the better and improve the lives of our students, we would need all educators– in every role– to be confident data users and leaders.  To succeed, students need their teachers, counselors, CTS team members, assistant principals, principals, supervisors, directors, and superintendents– and everyone else– to be data-confident and data-reflexive.  This is the SJDLP’s real work.