ABSTRACT
The help system is a crucial tool for making data work for educators. Ideally, a data system should be intuitive enough that users rarely have to turn to the help system for guidance. Thus a help system should contain tech lessons that help educator's complete tasks within the data system. Think of these lessons as a virtual tech coach or trainer who can assist educators in using the system when a live person who can help is not present. A help system should contain lessons that help educators analyze data in the reporting environment. These are the types of lessons most frequently missing from data systems, but they are also the lessons most likely to improve the accuracy of educators' data analyses. Even more so than for the technical lessons, the data analysis lessons in a help system should be written by a reporting expert such as who is well-versed in region-specific data use.
