Using Data to Achieve Results

When I arrived as a new assistant principal of an elementary school in Tucson, Arizona, the students were reading at 29% at grade level. The elementary school and the middle school formed a K-8 complex. I was charged with the task of running the K-5 school and given many responsibilities to lead the school to better results.  

The school had many factors to consider: 90% free and reduced lunch, 45% English Language learners, and zip code area with the highest number of domestic violence in the city. My first thought, “What needs to happen for teachers to effectively meet the needs of our student population?”  

My principal mentor taught me the importance of using data to achieve results. Before I could begin to implement data strategies, it was essential to establish a school culture to receive it. 

“Effective education is not adding a program or a set of programs to a school. Rather, it is a transformation of the culture and life of the school.” David Berkowitz

Teacher buy-in was essential. After spending a few months learning about teachers and building a foundation for a student success culture, it was time to introduce data. 

The current culture when I started at the school: Teachers felt beat up by data. They knew they had low scores; however, they didn’t know what to do to change it. They collected data for district assessments. It was turned in and never discussed.  

The first change to make: helping teachers understand: It’s not about collecting data. It’s about connecting to data to make better decisions for students.  To help create a shift in thinking, we started with a discussion on gauges.

To help us understand why gauges are so important when working with data, let’s consider an analogy to a car. Many of us drive a car to reach our destination. The destination for the car is your goal. The trip could be to a local store (short-term goal) or a road trip (long-term goal). Depending on your goal, the preparation is different.  However, we know that the car alone is incapable of making the trip by itself. It must have a driver. The driver is the school leader or leadership team. 

As a leader or member of the school leadership team, you are the driver and responsible for the care of your car. If your low tire pressure light comes on, it’s time to slow down and check the tires. If you ignore it, you will eventually end up with a flat and be forced to stop. If you are low on gas, it is time to find a gas station or again you will find yourself stuck. If your engine needs oil, you need to make an appointment to take care of it or your engine will seize up and no longer work. You get the point. Regular car maintenance must occur to avoid bigger issues. 

In addition, if you ignore your car gauges and are forced to stop, the problems can be magnified when it occur in a dangerous or inconvenient location. When this occurs, the outcomes have many frustrations and delays or failure to arrive at your destination. It is through monitoring and paying attention to your car gauges that you can ensure a safe arrival. 

The staff and I were seeking to achieve goals and see consistent results, we started by asking, what are the important gauges? 

Gauge 1: State & District Performance 

• Gauge: Which reports on the district benchmark are the most useful and aligned to the state assessment?   Reports For: leaders? teachers? students?
• Training: What training is needed to learn how to collect and use the data from these reports?
• Data: Do we need every report, and every piece of data from our assessment system? What data can you let go to find time to go deep with what is most important?

The A-F Calculator:  In working with Arizona schools, I developed an A-F Calculator. This calculator helps to identify how many students are needed to move out of minimally proficient and how many students are needed to move toward proficiency based on the schools’ A-F results. Armed with this information, identifying the correct gauges or data to monitor student progress is easy. Would you like to know the next steps to become an A or B school or get out of School improvement?  If so, contact me for more information about the Arizona A-F Calculator. 

Gauge 2: Classroom Instructional Goals

There should be no surprises when taking the state assessment. By identifying the correct gauges, we will know who will perform well and who will struggle. 

• Gauge: What data is needed for teachers to track students’ classroom performance on standards aligned to district and state assessments?
• Training: What training is needed to learn how to collect and use classroom data effectively?
• Data: Determine what type of data teachers will use to monitor classroom instruction.  With this data, identify a system to help teachers monitor this student's performance easily and effectively. 

Data Examples:  A few possible examples (using one or a combination of all 3)

• Summative Data: State Testing Data (which reports), Benchmark assessment data (which reports), Unit Assessment data (which tests).
•  Formative Data: Teacher observations during lessons, Exit tickets. Monitoring of questions asked and answered by students in large and small groups.
• Reflective Data: Is student performance better at certain times of the day? In certain grades? In certain classrooms?

Gauge 3: Student Goals (after the first 2 Gauges are in place)

It is important to teach students to take responsibility for their own learning and progress. To do this, we asked what gauges students need to monitor their goals.  

• Gauge: How will students measure progress toward their goals?  
• Will students determine how to measure progress toward their goals or will we select the assessments they will use? 
• Training: What training is needed to teach teachers how to implement and monitor student goals? 

When working with school leaders, I help them identify and prioritize their gauges and which data are most important. This provides a filter to determine which data are worthy of your time to collect and analyze. There is no shortage of data in schools, and often I see schools with low or flat-lined results, overwhelmed with data. They are focused on the wrong data because they are using the wrong gauges. 

Finishing my story above, did our focus on data and school culture make a difference? We saw increased results in the first year. Within three years, we were recognized as one of the top ten schools in our area with the most growth in student achievement: 29% of the students reading at grade level to 65% reading at grade level.  

Are you unhappy with your results or feeling overwhelmed by data? If so, see information on STAR Leadership School & Student Data Solutions Training.   STAR Services (debradurma.com)