The ConnectIndy Dashboard provides insightful data about Marion County’s K-12 students that will help instructors and faculty members provide better support and resources based on the students’ interests, challenges, and needs.
Marian University was involved in a collaborative effort to pursue better outcomes for K-12 students in Marion County that has recently been unveiled via the ConnectIndy Dashboard. Working with the City of Indianapolis and Boston College’s Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children, Marian University’s Center for Vibrant Schools has helped to provide the funding necessary to bring the ConnectIndy Dashboard project to fruition.
According to an article on Marian University's website, Kenith Britt, Ph.D., who serves as the chancellor and chief operating officer at Marian University, was quoted as saying of the project, “The goal is to have all students do well in our community. Unfortunately, teachers today are asked to do so much more than teach, and too many students have challenges at home that keep them from thriving. City Connects identifies these challenges and uses additional school personnel to connect all students and families to resources they need. ConnectIndy will shine a light on the great work happening in our schools and provide opportunities for the community to better support students that will give them the support they need to succeed.”
ConnectIndy has collected two years of data about Marion County K-12 students via Indianapolis’ City Connects project. Marian University helped implement City Connects in a dozen schools on the eastside of Indianapolis, which collected data about the students, and has since been integrated into ConnectIndy, an online dashboard that can be viewed to learn information about the students in these schools, such as their needs, interests, and strengths.
For example, the ConnectIndy dashboard shows that the top three needs for eastside students in the 2023-2024 school year were reading, math, and attention and focus. The students’ top three interests were video games, basketball, and art. It also helps to highlight the various barriers students faced, including transportation issues and translation needs for the student or their family. The website states as the goal of the project: “Service providers will get insight into areas of need to better target their support. Philanthropic partners will be able to ensure their investments prioritize what really matters to Indianapolis students, schools, and families.”
Joe Hogsett, the mayor of Indianapolis, was quoted as saying, “The goal of ConnectIndy is to show what matters most to our students, schools and communities. From cooking classes and robotics clubs to reading and math support, our young people have a wide range of interests and needs that can be met through local partnerships with nonprofits and businesses. With the dashboard, these partnerships will be more effective by targeting already-identified needs and interests.”
Bringing City Connects to Indianapolis was a joint effort between Marian University and Boston College in 2021. Since then, Marian University’s Center for Vibrant Schools has supported 55 schools on the project. City Connects itself has shown to improve student achievement and decrease absenteeism and dropout rates.
For more information about Marian University, visit the school’s website.