Case Study: Cleveland Metropolitan School District achieves early identification of at-risk students with Microsoft Azure

A better chance: school district identifies early predictors of student performance

Cleveland Metropolitan School District, which serves 40,000 K–12 students across 96 campuses, faced high dropout risk driven by poverty and late identification of at‑risk students—particularly those who miss the third‑grade reading benchmark that predicts long‑term outcomes. District data lived in many systems and formats, reporting was slow and fragmented, and limited funding made it hard to deliver timely, actionable insights to teachers and principals.

Working with Neal Analytics and Microsoft, CMSD deployed Power BI and Azure Machine Learning in proof‑of‑concepts to build a School Performance and Planning Framework and an Early Warning Indicator. Role‑based dashboards (district, school, classroom) provide near‑real‑time visualizations and predictive alerts, backed by improved data governance. The result: faster, more accurate identification of students who need help, earlier interventions, better resource allocation, and stronger prospects for meeting key milestones like third‑grade reading and graduation.

Cleveland Metropolitan School District

Blessing Nwaozuzu

Executive Director for Enterprise Applications