Using Data to Improve Schools One child at a time

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Using Data to Improve SchoolsOne child at a
time..

• The Educators Role
• Pamela M. Kastner
• National Board Certified Teacher

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DATA

• As an educator, when you see or hear the word
  data, what are your first thoughts?
• Think-Pair-Share

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DATA

• Data drives strategy design, delivery/implementati
  on of the strategy, and the professional
  development necessary to make the strategy
  effective.
• How does this translate into our classrooms?

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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.

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Data does not fix problems

• Disaggregating data is not a problem-fixing
  strategy. Rather its a problem-finding
  strategy.
• Lezotte 1999

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Tools to help

• Getting Results- Pennsylvanias 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

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Lets 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 teams thinking.

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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.

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If you want to continue the dialogue.

• My e-mail address is
• pkastner_at_ltsd.k12.pa.us

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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.

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The Five Ds - 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 students
• current status of student achievement
• with respect to the academic standards
• in reading and mathematics.

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The Five Ds- 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.

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The Five Ds- 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.

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The Five Ds- Documentation

• A school staff needs a data system that helps it
  track the changes that are occurring in practice
  and in achievement.

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Focus Area Multiple Data Sources

• Questions to ponder
• Does the district/school use multiple sources of
  data?
• What is the districts/school plan for analyzing
  collected student performance data and trend
  data?
• What is the district/school plan for analyzing
  data related to educational practice?

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The Five Ds- Development of People

• Data can help a staff focus its professional
  development and let it know how effective it is.

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Data informed classrooms