Putting Data Back Into the ‘Palms’ of Duval County’s Teachers

By Mary Anne Mather, Managing Editor
TERC’s Using Data for Meaningful Change Blog

TERC’s Using Data facilitators have been working for the past two years with 30 elementary schools in Duval County Florida. This is possible through funding from a U.S Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grant to study the efficacy of the Using Data for Meaningful Change processes.

As our time together winds down, the Duval schools are sharing stories about transformation in practice, focus, and student achievement.

 

The Journey to Create a Data Driven School Culture

Collaborative inquiry posters showing causal analysis based on San Mateo Elementary School data

The Data-Aware Principal: Reflection #1
Guest Blogger: Lindsay P. Sharp, Principal, San Mateo Elementary School, Duval County Public Schools, Jacksonville, FL

As a principal, it’s clear to me that I need to be data informed. My job depends on it—literally, since I am evaluated by my school’s achievement. More importantly, though, my heart depends on it—I am committed to seeing data not as just numbers, but connected to the success of the students and teachers in my school.

As the school’s leader, my thoughts turn to the best way to translate my own state of “data informed-ness” into meaningful action, and I have come to understand the key lies in putting my efforts into creating data leaders beyond the principal’s office. My Using Data colleagues are now in every classroom in my school! Accomplishing this level of a “using data school culture” depends on a process that involves professional development, support, and dedication over time. We work at it every day.

 

Reflection Data: It’s Important!

By Mary Anne Mather, Managing Editor
TERC’s Using Data for Meaningful Change Blog

Source: Rowland School District, CA

We don’t learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on experience.
John Dewey

States, districts, education reform pundits…they force our reaction to standardized test scores. But there is more to data than those somewhat controversial numbers currently being used in many places as the primary data point to inform changing policy and practice, and even to rate teachers. Unfortunately we don’t hear many talking about “reflection data.” Let’s take the time to collect data via reflective practice…and teach it to students. Then we’ll all be on sounder ground for tempering test scores with meaningful data that can potentially drive sustained changed.

In his blog entry, Mark Clements focuses on teaching reflection to students, but it’s a lesson to take to heart as professionals, too.

The Importance of Reflection in Education

Mary Anne Mather is also a Using Data Senior Facilitator & Social Media Liaison on Twitter & FaceBook

 

Teacher Teams Help Test Scores. Really? Always?

GUEST BLOGGER: Mary Anne Mather, Using Data Senior Facilitator & Social Media Liaison on Twitter & FaceBook

I was bolstered by this bit of news from Tennessee via Learning Forward about the efficacy of teacher teams that meet regularly to share data and strategies. The article is a sound-bite about the good news for student achievement in Wilson County that leaves me hungry for the details about how their meetings are structured, what data they look at, and how that data inform practice. From the published results, they seem to have discovered the perfect storm where collaboration, data, and strategies/solutions meet to make a difference. I, for one—as a facilitator of processes to help conjure similar storms, applaud them!

But the news item also reminded me that there’s more to this kind of success than simply meeting as a team and sharing “what works.”

 

Can We Influence Public Policy? Shifting Data Resources from Systems to People

In early May, TERC’s Using Data Director, Diana Nunnaley, was invited to attend an important national meeting that can have future influence on public awareness, policy, and pre-service and in-service teacher preparation related to data literacy for teachers.

Diana was selected because of the groundbreaking work TERC initiated over ten years ago, developing a process of collaborative inquiry that engages teachers in cycles of data analysis and root cause analysis to inform instructional changes. Using Data currently works in districts and schools nationwide, building teacher-led data teams and facilitating a proven process of data analysis, instructional improvement, and increased student achievement—all leading to successfully narrowing achievement gaps among student population groups.   

The meeting was coordinated by WestEd and Education Northwest, and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It brought together 50 nationally recognized experts who have studied the meaningful use of education data to improve instruction. They represented several universities, education research organizations, professional development providers, and foundation leaders.

Diana shares a glimpse of the discussions that ensued at the meeting and the musings they spurred. She concludes with a call to action for all who are committed to excellent education for all children…

 

Is Every Teacher a Literacy Teacher?: Reading and Writing in the Content Areas

Guest Blogger: Dr. William L. Heller, Using Data Program Director, Teaching Matters

There is a growing philosophy that every teacher is a literacy teacher, a view that is becoming increasingly important as states prepare for the Common Core State Standards, which place an emphasis on content literacy.

But what does “every teacher is a literacy teacher” actually mean? Will science teachers be expected to put away the Bunsen burners and take out the Balzac? Will social studies teachers be responsible for teaching contractions alongside the Constitution? If we misunderstand the idea, we may misapply it, and it may even lead to resentment among teachers who feel they are being asked to take on another’s responsibility.

Part of the confusion may stem from the tendency to refer to the English Language Arts (ELA) class as Literacy class. I’ve done it myself. After all, that is the class where students ultimately learn how to read and write. But as we continue to examine the demands of college and the workplace, we are discovering the need to expand our understanding of literacy as a set of essential skills that are critical for success in every subject area. Teaching literacy in isolation misses the point of why we need to be literate in the first place.

 

Can Data Inform a Cohesive Vision? The Achievement Gap in Connecticut

GUEST BLOGGER: Kevin Dwyer, Education Consultant, LearningDesigns
Email: kevin@learningdesigns.net          
Twitter: @marketeducate

Education reform is an ongoing topic of public comment and debate in many states. Our guest blogger, Kevin Dwyer, a long-time education consultant and Connecticut resident, fills us in on the Connecticut news that he’s been following…

A fiery public debate about education reform in Connecticut has been ignited by first-term Governor Dannel Malloy. Twitter is alive with back and forth 140-character points and counterpoints (see #ctedreform and #wecantwaitct). Data is at the heart of arguments on both sides.

The driver for the debate is a fact debated by no one: Connecticut has the highest achievement gap in the country. The purported excellence of its suburban schools serve to highlight the gross inadequacies of Connecticut’s urban districts. Students in urban districts are simply not being given the same access to quality education as their suburban neighbors.

Compounding the problem is that Connecticut has failed three times to secure Race to the Top (RTTT) money. Billions of dollars have been awarded in three rounds of funding. Connecticut has yet to earn a dime. Lack of an adequate evaluation system to promote effective teaching practices has been a key shortcoming in their RTTT applications.

After the most recent RTTT application failure, the Governot drew a line in the sand. At the State of the State address in February, Malloy said, “Let’s be honest with ourselves, and let’s speak bluntly: many parts of our system of public education are broken.” In essence he said that schools in Connecticut must change—not just urban schools, ALL schools.  He added, in reference to the issue of equitable teacher quality, “In today’s (public education) system, basically the only thing you have to do is show up for four years. Do that, and tenure is yours.”

Opponents and proponents of the Governor’s comprehensive school reform plan have readily lined up on either side of the issues of teacher quality, funding for charter schools, and definitions of education reform. Interestingly, both camps reference common data sources and are able to make data interpretations that selectively support their opposing views.

The Connecticut Education Association (CEA) leaked a memo that outlined their strategy to delay the Governor’s reforms for at least another year. The CEA has launched a television ad campaign which says that the Governor doesn’t get reform right. They attest that the Governor ‘s plan “takes away district control and places it in the hands of the state education commissioner; allows principals to decide which teachers are certified and; and siphons tax dollars from neighborhood schools.”

On the other side of the argument, reform advocacy group ConnCAN  has taken dead aim at the union—telling them to “Come Clean” with their membership about the role of student achievement data and teacher evaluations. ConnCAN is one of a host of groups representing businesses (CT Business and Industry Association), Superintendents (CT Association of School Superintendents), School Boards, and principals who are supporting Governor Malloy’s vision for school reform.

In the end, the question of what’s right for students and educators is being lost. Everyone agrees that something needs to be done. But the message is being buried by claims and counter claims buttressed by the same data—often manipulated to support opposing viewpoints. It leaves the public increasingly polarized about education funding and teacher performance, and wondering whose data interpretations to trust. The REAL challenge remains: figuring out how to move beyond special interests to how to meaningfully and accurately use the data to move together towards educational excellence.