Transcript Using Data to Improve Schools

Using Data to
Improve Schools
One child at a time………..
The Educator’s Role
Pamela M. Kastner
National Board Certified Teacher
DATA
• As an educator, when you see or hear the
word data, what are your first thoughts?
• Think-Pair-Share
DATA
 Data drives strategy design,
delivery/implementation of the strategy, and
the professional development necessary to
make the strategy effective.
 How does this translate into our
classrooms?
Where the rubber meets the
road… the classroom.
I have found the following steps have helped me
know how to interpret and use data to make
informed decisions in my classroom to impact
student achievement.
Step One
Gather evidence of student learning from
assessment results and record the data.
- Record information on a data sheet under
appropriate objectives/standards.This should be
done for individual students in a class as well as
for the entire class.
Data does not fix problems
 “Disaggregating data is not a problem-
fixing strategy. Rather it’s a problemfinding strategy.”
Lezotte 1999
Step One- continued
 For each objective, the teacher should
record where a child is currently on the
continuum: advanced, proficient, basic, or
below basic.
 After all the results have been recorded, the
teacher should go back an decide if the
objective/standard is a high, medium, or
low priority for their students.
Step One- continued
 Once results are recorded for each
individual student, a plan of action can be
determined for the class and for individual
students.
Step Two- Look at the impact of
the data on classroom teaching.
 What do I know about individual students?
 How can I use this information in my
teaching?
 The data is then used to design instruction
and can also be used as a discussion point
with parents at parent/teacher conferences.
Step Two- continued
 Teachers can use the data to work with other
teachers looking for patterns of strengths and
weaknesses across grade levels. (data dialogues)
 Teachers will be able to determine standards they
should be focusing on to increase student learning
and best practices that are effective in their
classroom.
 The data will help teachers decide how to use
instructional time effectively, for example, when
whole-class instruction is most effective and
where use of small group instruction will be most
effective.
Step Three- Making sure your
students learned it.
 You understand the results of your data and
have adjusted your instruction accordingly,
now you need to use classroom assessments
that mirror the instruction that has taken
place.
 Effective classroom assessment measures
what was learned as compared to what was
taught.
Data Informed Classrooms
 If we want curriculum, instruction, and assessment
to be one seamless entity teachers need to know
how students will be assessed. (PSSA/ Eligible
Content/Reporting Categories), that way our
instruction and classroom assessments can be
designed to enable students to be successful.
 Professional development and dialogue is
essential.
Tools to help
 Getting Results- Pennsylvania’s Voluntary
Framework for School Improvement Planning
 Leading for Learning- A framework for District
Strategic Planning
 Assessment Anchors- Clarify and focus the
Reading and Math Standards on the PSSA
 Adopt-an-Anchor- A tool designed to build a
bridge to Assessment Anchors, designed to
support teachers.
 www.pde.state.pa.us
Let’s begin the dialogue with a
hands-on/minds-on activity
 Listen for instructions.
 Place yourself in your team groups.
 Engage in a data dialogue.
 Choose one person to share the team’s
thinking.
THANK YOU!
 Thank you for sharing in this dialogue.
 The information shared with you today was
gained from training and tools available
from the PA Department of Education,
Donna Long- a national assessment
consultant for McGraw-Hill, and my
fourteen years of teaching, one child at a
time, one mind at a time, and one heart at a
time.
If you want to continue the
dialogue….
 My e-mail address is:
[email protected]
Data
 Is data collection highly centralized at the district
level?
 Is data being shared with teachers at the building
level and at the classroom level?
 In other words, “Who is actually analyzing and
interpreting the data?”
 We are all stakeholders in the process of using
data to inform our instruction, one child at a time,
as we move each child toward proficiency levels
as measured by AYP.
The Five D’s - Data
 It is critical that a district have a high quality data
system that provides the kinds of information and
analyses that help a school staff.
 The data needs to:
-provide rich detail of a student’s
current status of student achievement
with respect to the academic standards
in reading and mathematics.
The Five D’s- Design
 When a data system provides teachers with
a rich analysis of current achievement and
practice, it provides the teacher with a clear
reference for developing a design the
describes “where they want to go next” with
respect to what research-based strategies
that they will use to improve their teaching
practice and student achievement.
The Five D’s- Delivery
 Data helps a school staff implement its
design effectively by letting it know to the
extent to which the improvement tasks are
being done and the extent to which the
strategies are being implemented.
The Five D’s- Documentation
 A school staff needs a data system that
helps it track the changes that are occurring
in practice and in achievement.
Focus Area:
Multiple Data Sources
 Questions to ponder…
 Does the district/school use multiple
sources of data?
 What is the district’s/school plan for
analyzing collected student performance
data and trend data?
 What is the district/school plan for
analyzing data related to educational
practice?
The Five D’sDevelopment of People
 Data can help a staff focus its professional
development and let it know how effective
it is.
Data informed classrooms