The ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence is a partnership between Arizona State University and Helios Education Foundation. Started in 2018, Decision Center is a way to bring together the resources of two of the state’s most well-respected institutions, ASU & Helios, towards the goal of improving the state’s education system for all Arizonans. Our charge is to build the infrastructure for a modern, data-based system of decision-making that improves outcomes for students directly and immediately. We do this through our collection of Tools & Visualizations and our Impact Projects.
A Portfolio of Tools & Visualizations
 | Identify the problem: Our goal of visualizing the entire education system of Arizona doesn’t have a map to get there, but our strategy works in a series of steps to get there. We start by analyzing our strategy from previous visualizations to inspire the next focus area. With a specific subset in mind, we then seek to identify the scope of the problem that educators are facing, and how a visualization will be part of identifying and implementing solutions to that problem.
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 | Gather data: As we develop a holistic picture of what is important to educators, and what information is important to the broader field, we collaborate with our partners to pull together our data sources for a new visualization. Our tools must be reliable and dependable for users, so we shape new data sharing agreements and form partnerships with relevant groups & organizations to make sure we can give as complete context as is possible to the final product. To learn more about our data sources, check out our FAQs here. |
 | Pilot & revise with stakeholders: Our Center seeks to be a partner with educators and stakeholders across the state. We invite a group of early users who represent communities and systems across Arizona to see early versions of a new tool or visualization. We invite their rigorous feedback to ensure our tools are useful to the field. With their feedback we revise and improve our initial versions. |
 | Learn from the field: Learn from the field: With the scope of a visualization identified, we then focus on developing our expertise in the topic. We speak to educators and stakeholders here in Arizona, as well as consulting experts, research and literature from across the country to inform our understanding of the issue and the development of our tools.
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 | Develop visualization prototype: Our tools and visualizations are designed for use in a Decision Theater setting. Our role is to create tools that facilitate understanding and decision-making by users. We believe data is an important part of understanding education, but ultimately education is a person-to-person endeavor. Our visualizations have a narrative structure so they are compelling, informative and useful. For example, our Postsecondary Feedback Report allows users to follow the story of their students’ success after graduating high school. |
 | Launch tool publicly: Once we reach a stable version of a new tool or visualization, we plan for a public release. We train our team internally on the facilitation of a new tool, and then we start scheduling initial sessions in the Decision Theater with groups that have expressed early interest in a tool. Simultaneously, we advertise to our user base that a new tool is available, and we can incorporate it into our portfolio for regular use across the state. |
Application through Impact Projects
 | Collaboration:Our Impact Projects rely on collaboration with partner organizations. We seek to demonstrate effective partnerships that are driven by improved outcomes for students, while also providing benefits to all partner organizations involved. |
 | Illustration: Our Impact Projects serve as models for how to embed data-analysis into decision making. We aim to demonstrate how to marry data analytics into projects that respect the professionalism of educators at all levels. |
 | Impact: Ultimately our Impact Projects must be making meaningful differences in the educational outcomes of students who are part of them. Learn more about one of our Impact Projects here. |
Meet the Decision Center Team
Joe O'Reilly, PhD, Director
Joe came to the Center after 30 years of directing research, assessment and accountability in Arizona's largest school district. He is past vice-president of the American Education Research Association and has been extensively involved in Arizona education issues for many years.
Dawn Foley, PhD, Research Project Manager and K12 Product Developer/Liaison
Dawn is helping to shape the Decision Center's impact projects and Decision Theater sessions to best serve our partners, especially K-12 schools. With an extensive background in curriculum & instruction as well as in school administration and leadership, Dawn is excited to help Arizona's K12 schools use Decision Center projects and tools to make measurable impacts for students.
Cristi Guevara, PhD, Senior Data Scientist
Cristi is an interdisciplinary applied mathematics researcher with a strong analytical mindset and demonstrated history of successful problem solving, collaborative research, modeling, algorithm developing and machine learning. She currently works on our education & workforce visualization, as well as our CTE research projects.
Rebecca McKay, Senior Data Scientist
Rebecca McKay serves as a Senior Data Scientist at the ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence, where she leads projects focused on leveraging data to drive systemic improvements in Arizona’s education landscape. With over 25 years of experience in applied analytics, educational research, and strategic data use, Rebecca plays a pivotal role in transforming complex educational data into actionable insights for policymakers, school leaders, and community stakeholders.
Chris Ozuna, PhD, Strategic Data Project Fellow
Chris is currently a Fellow in the Strategic Data Project at Harvard that is assigned to the Center. He is overseeing the ASU Impact Corps, a group of mentor teachers whose students go on to high rates of success in their disciplines at the state's universities. He is also working on the Postsecondary Feedback Reports, the impacts of COVID, and data visualizations. Earlier in his career Chris was a classroom teacher.
Momoko Rai, Senior Data Scientist
Momoko has over twenty years experience conducting research and creating innovative projects. She has a background in both public policy and data analytics. Momoko has been embedded at the Arizona Department of Education and is well versed in PK-12 data. She has been involved in studies of rigorous course taking, longitudinal course taking, personalized admissions, and prototyping various visualizations and initiatives.
Camila Tompkins, PhD, Data Scientist
Camila is an interdisciplinary social scientist with over 10 years of education experience at the high school and university level. She has a background in conducting quantitative and qualitative data analysis, presenting findings, and facilitating cross-sector collaboration. She is excited to bring these skills to support projects that advance educational equity and student success, transforming complex data into actionable insights for Arizona’s schools and communities.
Mary Zhu, Full Stack Developer
Mary joined the Decision Center in 2023 as a Full Stack Developer. She works closely with data scientists to design and develop interactive data visualization tools that support strategic decision-making. With over 25 years experience in web and database application development, web design, and graphic design, she is excited about applying her technical expertise to help the Decision Center’s mission of improving educational outcomes for Arizona students.