Strategies for Analyzing and Using Multiple Sources of Data for Instructional Improvement

With data driving instructional practices students achieve more, and with students achieving more school move closer

As a teacher I use formative and summative data to drive my instruction. As I start with the state standard for the lesson and plan a formative assessment on that skill before a summative assessment. In years prior our school district used the platform of Performance Matter to collect data of that grade level standards three times a year. This type of information set in with Dr. Scott McLeod (20??) essential concepts. “The five major elements of data-driven instruction are: good baseline, measurable instructional goals, frequent formative assessment, professional learning communities, and focused instructional interventions (pp. 1-2, 20??). The assessment gave teachers a baseline, mid-year, and end year focus. When the teacher delved into the platform each question was broken down each standard and concept, thus allowing teacher to provide adequate instructional goal to meet the students’ needs. Teachers would also look at past state standardized testing to determine what if any remediation is needed. As a principal, he/she/I needs to understand the data elements to schedule necessary people and aid for the professional development communities.

Data driven decision-making is leading to school success for many apparent reasons. Data driven decision-making is the direct correlation between teachers, curriculum coaches, principals, district educational supervisors, superintendent, and board members. According to Boudett and Moody (2005), the first important step in a successful data driven environment is the gathering of the group that will bare the responsibility for the procedural and executional procedural stages of data analysis.

This PLC has begun to make assertions as to where student’s needs are, however their assertions would be more valid had they presented concrete data to prove their assertions. Should this PLC had used data to support their assumptions through a common formative assessment, and then analyze that data, they would become much more effective than they already

With the data gathered, curriculum makers may gain deeper insight as how to design and plan the curriculum that the students will know about the curriculum before they enrolled.

Assessment and data driven instruction are a vital part of teaching. Assessments are used frequently to guide the proceeding lessons. I am interested in learning more about the different types of assessments and the appropriate uses of each. I think it is critical as a future teacher to have many resources to back up my techniques, especially with the growing interest in data and tracking students’ progress. Gathering information about assessments will allow me to broaden my own techniques and strategies that I use in the classroom, more specifically the ways in which I grade and provide feedback on assessments so that students can use that feedback in a positive way. In my past experiences I have noticed my cooperating teachers providing grades on all assessments with no feedback because they want the students to correct their own mistakes. This may work on summative assessments but I think that there needs to be comments on formative assessments so that students know how to correct their mistakes for the end of the unit tests.

The major emphasis in education for the 21st century is on data driven accountability measured by student performance on standardized testing. National and state expectations require students to demonstrate mastery of curriculum objectives. Instructional objectives are the focus of the building principals to show measurable student progress. The improvements are evaluated based on data and monitoring of the curriculum.

Teachers are able to target the learning gaps by developing a plan of action based on the needs for our students. Verbiest (2014) and Hershkovitz (2015) argue data is used to tailor (how we sever students, how we offer support, types of support, what resources we need to invest on, whether we take a student to students needs with our school psychologist) instruction for students in all content areas in an effort to increase student achievement. As a result, the school can provide specific professional learning, support, and resources to teachers based on the needs and areas of weakness of our students (Fox, 2001). As lifelong learners, teachers recognize that their professional practice continues to evolve as they reflect and act on new information. If teachers have information that helps them confidently identify the root of educational challenges and track progress, they can more readily develop action plans that will have a positive impact on their students’ achievement (Halverson et al.,

Teacher education is enhanced by using teachers as researchers. Teachers, who do research, can provide information on student interaction and classroom environments, and have a broad sampling field due to the amount of time spent in scholastic settings. This kind of action research allows a teacher to share with others what she/he has learned. It also offers to them, foundations for decisions regarding appropriate interventions and outcomes for improving students’ education or literacy within their classroom or school. When a teacher/researcher collects data for the purpose of research, they will mostly likely use a qualitative method (Johnson, 2008). Within this research, data is collected through observations and the answering of questions that relate to the data. Using this method, questions are more open ended and less defined, so there is more room for researchers to collect a variety of data. There are many ways that data can be collected for research purposes such as, the use of rubrics, student profiles, logs, and observation records that may consist of anecdotal records, checklists, reflections, conferences, interviews, and surveys. During my CIRG 621 my action research was based around Math. Although these courses are geared toward Reading Language arts I wanted to improve my student’s math scores and my ability to

The article, Code Red: The Danger of Data-Driven Instruction, the author, Susan Newman provides ineffective uses of data-driven instruction. The author highlights the use of worksheets, spreadsheets, and teaching to the test strategies as weak time consumers that detract from the active learning and classroom engagement. Data-driven instruction is a tool to guide education to increase student performance with researched based practices, rigorous teaching modalities, and differentiated individualized instruction.

All of the data can be extremely confusing to teachers and can lead them astray. Therefore, as Blankstein points out the, “No. 1 priority was for school communities to start with the “purpose” of the data” (164). Without understanding the true purpose behind the data or what the data can tell about a student there is no true reason for collecting it. Therefore, the real work, as mentioned with collaboration, comes after the data is collected. The use of data can drive instruction and promotes intervention or enrichment for targeted students to become more successful, but only if there is a goal in mind when the data is collected. Also, as Blankstein mentions, data should come from different sources, be relevant in relation to the school’s mission and vision, and must be consistent (174-175). By having data from a variety of sources, the scores can paint a clear picture of each individual student rather than relying on just one snapshot at one particular moment in time. This seems crucial considering how students’ lives often interfere with testing and how teachers are critical of assessments because a student is pigeonholed based solely on one test on one day. By curating data from multiple places, over a span of time, in a way that is relevant to the students, teachers can have a better picture of each student and more importantly, how to grow that

Evidence-based instruction includes reliable and valuable data obtained from your classroom. When you apply basil tests, unit tests, exit slips, and acuity assessments you need to collect the data from your classroom to organize your classroom groups. You should also use this data to decide who needs AIS or tiered interventions for certain areas. Instructional practices include the previously mentioned assessments. Pretests for all units of instruction can also help you understand what your students already know and who is weak in certain areas. For example, a unit on main idea and details using passages can be difficult for some students. Running records will help to determine what reading level your students are on. From this

Although testing has been around for a long time, I instinctively believe that testing doesn’t give a clear picture of student’s achievement. Thus, I make strong connection to the following quote: “A central question has been whether accountability policies and standardized testing helping or harming those children the polices are most often designed to serve” (Skrla, p.11). For instance, when I analyzed and interpreted the TAPR of Richard J Wilson Elementary school, I found valuable information that all teachers should know at the beginning of every school year. Specifically, when I examined the categories of testing and the students’ performance on individual TEKS. This practice would allow teachers to have a clear picture of what exact skills and content knowledge students are expected to achieve throughout the school year.

Data is always the best resource for trying to improve student achievement. The data will help guide continuous improvement of a plan. There are four types of data that will be beneficial to any team during the planning phase of the school improvement process.

There is no one size fits all teaching strategy for all students. Therefore teachers must use a variety of teaching strategies to cater for a variety of different learners (Gill, 2013). It is important for teachers to regularly evaluate their practices and whether they are meeting the learning needs of all students (Zeichner & Liston, 1987). Self-evaluation can assist teachers to improve the educational experiences provided for students and assist in identifying the professional education you need to further develop your capacity to teach well (Schwartz, n.d.). As a future teacher developing learning programs, teaching, assessing, providing feedback on student learning and reporting to parents/carers are skills I must be proficient in.