Most educators and policymakers know that data-driven decisions are key to supporting underserved students, but many have insufficient resources to gather and analyze data sets themselves. This puts education decision-makers, and the students they serve, at a disadvantage.

To help with this problem, MGT created Bento, our free education data visualization tool. Of course, for Bento to help our target audience, we first had to make them aware of Bento. As we worked over the last two years to get Bento into the hands of the people who can use it, we learned a few lessons on how best to reach our target users (those who benefit most from improved access to education data through easy-to-use data tools). 

Lesson #1: The volume of data in a tool can be overwhelming to new users. Make it manageable by highlighting key data of interest and providing real examples of how they can use the data.

As we publicized Bento, we found that users are more likely to be interested in Bento (and sign up for a Bento account) if they can immediately see the utility of the data within their work.  As a result, we identified a few ways to help users quickly see how they can make best use of Bento. 

First, we learned that testimonials from early adopters make it easy for similar users to understand how Bento could be useful for them. Before launching Bento, we talked to our pilot users and gathered real life use cases, which we then included in our outreach. For example, our interviews revealed that state education agency (SEA) staff were interested in reviewing teachers’ professional development experiences to inform upcoming trainings. As a result, we shared this use case in outreach to SEA staff moving forward.

Second, we learned that identifying and highlighting one to two data topics of interest before reaching out to potential users helps them more quickly see Bento’s value. New users can be overwhelmed by the volume and variety of data in Bento, which can discourage them from using the tool. When we tailor our outreach to specific groups of potential users by including example data and analysis of interest to them, they are more likely to sign up for a Bento account. For example, many of our education non-profit users are interested in examining instructional material use by teachers in their state and the country to measure the impact of initiatives encouraging the use of high-quality materials. Thus, outreach highlighting RAND’s American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) has led to many new users from these organizations.

We recently applied this lesson by expanding Bento’s capabilities to allow users to see their own data on Bento, since the data most relevant to their work is often data their organization is collecting! In response to consistent user feedback, we introduced a new service that allows users to visualize their own survey data in Bento for a small fee. This allows users to view their own data in easy-to-understand visualizations and benchmark their data against RAND’s nationally representative teacher and principal surveys available to everyone with a Bento account. To ensure users are aware of the full possibilities of data visualization in Bento, we now feature this functionality in the majority of our outreach.

Lesson #2: Education leaders will make the effort to learn about a new tool when it is recommended by those they trust.

After launching Bento, we tested a variety of cold outreach (to individuals and organizations we had no prior relationship to) and warm outreach (to individuals with some level of connection to MGT). This included sharing Bento broadly on social media and in education newsletter features, and personally reaching out to contacts of MGT and Bento partners.

Through this process, we learned that recommendations for tools from trusted organizations or networks are not only more effective than those from cold outreach, but that for our scale of potential users, cold outreach has a low enough rate of return that we ultimately moved away from it all together. Our cold outreach efforts such as conference sponsorship and social media ads led to only a handful of accounts and even fewer engaged users. Instead, we identified the following strategies that leverage trusted networks to bring new users to Bento.

First, we found that a helpful way to spread the word about Bento within an organization was to identify a contact at the organization, provide them with a live Bento demo, and follow up with resources for them to share the tool with colleagues. Once that first person at the organization understands Bento’s value and how to apply it to make their work easier/more effective, they can help pass that understanding along to their colleagues. We have used this strategy multiple times to turn a contact with one person into over a dozen new accounts from that person's organization. 

Second, we found that newsletters and listservs are an effective way to share Bento. For example, features in newsletters from trusted organizations such as the Gates Foundation and the Center for Reinventing Public Education have consistently resulted in new accounts. We also found education graduate school listservs to be a useful way to spread the word about Bento among mission-aligned individuals.

Lesson #3: Make it a priority to invite the data’s subject populations to use and benefit from the data. 

Bento includes survey data from teachers and principals across the country. Too often, these teachers, principals, and the students they support are left out of conversations about research that is conducted about them. As an organization, MGT firmly believes in a “nothing about us without us” approach that involves target populations in every step of data planning, gathering, analysis, and use. This approach results in a more equitable and effective research process, as studied communities hold crucial knowledge that may be lost by researchers. As we publicized Bento, we considered how to share Bento’s data with survey respondents and students, teachers, and principals more generally. To do so, we prioritized sharing Bento with students through a targeted training program and with educators by leveraging a trusted network, two inclusive approaches that also led to user growth.

Students: As a part of the Bento project, MGT created the Diversity in Data Analytics and Leadership Program, a cohort-based training initiative on data analysis, strategy, and leadership for undergraduates of all backgrounds, with an emphasis on those that have been traditionally underrepresented in data-related fields. Participants were trained on how to use Bento to explore, analyze, and make recommendations based on high-quality education data. We learned that for students with limited data experience, a structured training program using Bento was a helpful gateway into data analysis. The majority of the students said they were somewhat likely, likely, or extremely likely to use Bento after the program. Even more importantly, students were able to use Bento to examine data relevant to them and/or their peers, such as educators’ perspectives on the supports available to students with disabilities and the extent to which social and emotional learning initiatives are implemented in their schools. 

Teachers and Principals: We found that the most effective strategy for reaching teachers and principals (in particular those who possibly responded to the surveys in Bento) was also leveraging a trusted network.  After unsuccessfully trying cold outreach strategies such as tagging teacher interest groups on Twitter, we realized we needed a different approach. We piloted including a link to Bento in RAND’s American Educator Panel (AEP) “Welcome Back” email, which is sent to all teachers and principals who are invited to participate in AEP surveys, the results of which are also on Bento. RAND’s communication resulted in a spike in teacher and principal accounts on Bento. This reiterated both the value of a trusted network and the importance of engaging those whose experience is directly reflected in the data. 

Learn More

We also hope that these lessons will be useful for others who are creating and sharing education data tools. If you are interested in learning more or have any questions, reach out to Bento@mgt.us