The entire WINSS Data Analysis Section was rewritten in 2010 to take advantage of new technologies and to move away from techologies that have been deprecated since WINSS was originally launched. Certain enhancements were included as part of the rewrite. Below is a partial list of these enhancements.

1. Resorting of table rows. When "Compare To: Prior Years" is selected, the most current year now appears in the top row rather than at the bottom.
2. More disaggregation by student group. This includes fully disaggregated retention, high school completion, attendance, and dropouts.
3. Deep links/bookmarks. Users can now bookmark or link directly from any outside web page (e.g. a district website) to almost any WINSS graph page. Before the rewrite was complete, deep linking was possible for only a limited number of the possible pages (many thousands exist). This change facilitates the creation of customized state/district/school report cards or the sharing of specific WINSS graphs through the use of new URLs. [more]
4. Inclusion of recently closed and recently opened schools. This change was needed because data are updated on WINSS as updates become available. Timing of updates varies by topic. Users want to see data for all schools open when the most recent data for any given topic were collected, even if the school later closed.
5. More user options. This generally means the addition of active links on certain graph pages to bring them in line with options available on other pages. One example: "Compare To: Current Data Only" now exists on all pages to provide a simpler graph/table option regardless of topic or organization level. More consistency also simplifies use.
6. Scatterplot and similar schools enhancements. WSAS scatterplots and similar schools tools now include tables under all graphs, download links under all tables, and a wider range of user options at the top of all pages. The district spending variable has been updated to reflect increases in district costs.
7. More consistent labeling, titling, and data formats. Labeling has also been updated.
8. County and athletic conference codes in page download files. These codes will facilitate resummarization of WINSS data by WINSS users interested in data for a specific set of counties or a specific athletic conference.

Other important notes:

All New URLs. The new URL for the Data Analysis Section home page is http://data.dpi.state.wi.us/data/ . Use of the old home page URL, http://data.dpi.state.wi.us/data/selschool.asp , will result in an automatic redirect to the new URL, but to prevent future problems, personal bookmarks and links from other websites should be updated soon. If you have bookmarked or are direct linking from your website to WINSS graph pages containing data for a specific topic/school, these bookmarks/links need to be updated now. URL changes were required by the recently completed Data Analysis Section Rewrite.

District/School ESEA Report Cards. Direct ESEA report card links from district websites to WINSS graph pages need to be updated now. Also federally-required content changed in fall 2008. For more information, see a sample ESEA report card and Can I use WINSS to meet District Report Card Requirements under ESEA? .

Copying WINSS Graphs. Some users like to copy WINSS graphs into reports or handouts. WINSS graphs are no longer simple images so, to copy/paste, users should follow these steps: (1) right click on the graph, (2) click on the "Toolbar" option, which will add a row of icons to the top of the graph, (3) click on the second icon from the left in the row, which will copy the graph to the clipboard, and (4) select the first option, "bitmap" and then paste the graph into the desired document. Paint, Word, or other graphics programs can be used to crop images if desired. When using Word, doubleclick on the pasted image then click on the "Crop" option under "Size" on upper right side of the screen.

We welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions about WINSS.
Email: winss@dpi.state.wi.us.