- What type of student achievement data did you analyze?
- What were the main findings generated from the analysis of your data?
- Share 5 questions that the data sparked.
- Name 3 priority needs and mention which one of these seemed most urgent.
- Which target group did you select to work with and why?
The idea of data and data collection is not new to any teacher or business leader, but what separates a great district, school, teacher, or business is using recent data to influence decision making to continuously improve leading, teaching and or business strategies. Some schools are intimidated and overwhelmed by the data, and are hesitant or do not know how to respond to it. Other schools understand that there is always room for improvement and accept the challenge of analyzing, interpreting, and implementing strategies to address data trends (p. 1, James-Ward et al.).
As a future leader and educator it is my responsibility to motivate and empower the community around me, so that they identify instructional improvement as the shared responsibility of all stakeholders, and not the sole responsibility of the principle. Our book: Using Data to Focus Instructional Improvement identifies that most of us have structured our lives to make positive choices, or complete tasks and things that we should do. These are usually prompted by a cue or subtle message to nudge us, such as a gym bag or healthy food choices in the refrigerator. These nudges can be used to nudge ourselves and other . The statement is also made that "data could be used more efficiently if we increase the number of people who view it (p. 15, James-Ward et al.). At my current placement at HSHMC this is evident as many streams of data are available, and while everyone may not be using all of it, someone is using, interpreting and analyzing some of it al all times.
So, What type of student achievement data did I analyze?
I actually chose to use three different sources of data to hopefully identify a target group. The first source of data was from a recent "student voice" survey, and under the title of "sense of accomplishment". Under this title 28% of the 11th grade population identified that they have not been recognized for something positive at school, and only 57% identified that teachers let their parents know what they are doing well. After continuing to look at the data I recognized that it would be difficult to identify a small target group, as I do not have access to personal responses (anonymous survey).
I continued to look at the "student voice" data and wanted to somehow stay under the umbrella of "accomplishment." At HSHMC we have a Never Too Late To Learn philosophy where students can make up work at anytime (up to 12mo after), and are not given a failing grade but an "I" for incomplete. I am making an assumption here, but I assumed that a student who has an incomplete for both first semester (ended January 2015), and currently has an incomplete for this semester (IN ANY SUBJECT/S) would feel less accomplished than if they did not have any incompletes, and I identified this group as an area of concern under "accomplishment". Using the most current (4/5/15) incomplete list I identified that 28 students or 20% of the 140 or so 11th grade students fall into this concerning category (an incomplete from last semester and currently in this semester).
I wanted to further identify and attempt to isolate a target group, so I consulted the daily attendance and tardy log and cross referenced the group of 28 students identified under the area of concern for accomplishment. The average amount of absences per student is 11 days, and the average amount of tardies per student is 46. Using these averages I was able to focus the target group from 28 students down to 14. These 14 students meet both criteria of missing 11 days or more, and being tardy 46 days or more.
It would be interesting to see if the priority of positive feedback (identified through personal interactions, meetings, and letters) contributes to an increase in attendance and less tardies. Does this increase in attendance correlate with clearing incompletes (passing grade), and improve a students sense of accomplishment?
Priority:
1. Absences
2. Tardies
3. Incompletes
4. Positive feedback (student and parent)
Through out the process above I had many questions:
1. How do I identify accomplishment?
2. Are there other overlapping data sources that can help me target a group?
3. All of these 28 students are not consistently missing school, how can I isolate a better target group?
4. Can it be connected to attendance / tardies?
5. How will recognizing this group positively and making their parents aware of their accomplishments influence their attendance, tardies, and sense of accomplishment?
6. What is the students own expectation on being absent or tardy?
Reference:
James-Ward, Cheryl et al. Using Data To Focus Instructional Improvement. Print.