Comments on: Three Rules Help Manage Assessment Data http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=166 All Information, No Commerce Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:17:23 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: nbb4665 http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=166&cpage=1#comment-922 nbb4665 Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:54:04 +0000 http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=166#comment-922 I am a special education teacher and found this article to be very interesting. One of my school's current mottos is "Data drives everything." We are very data driven and are continuously giving mini assessments and benchmark assessments to get and analyze the data. We adjust our monthly groups for needs based instruction based on the assessment data. We also adjust Early Intervention Program rosters based on data. One month a student may need extra assistance, whereas the next month, they do not. Data shows, not only, how the students are performing, but sometimes how we, as teachers, can improve instruction. If 15 out of 20 students answered number 10 incorrectly, it is the teacher's responsibility to assess her own model of instruction for possible adjustments. Mini and interim assessments are hardly a waste of instructional time. They give us a piece of the puzzle that lends itself to better student learning. I am a special education teacher and found this article to be very interesting. One of my school’s current mottos is “Data drives everything.” We are very data driven and are continuously giving mini assessments and benchmark assessments to get and analyze the data. We adjust our monthly groups for needs based instruction based on the assessment data. We also adjust Early Intervention Program rosters based on data. One month a student may need extra assistance, whereas the next month, they do not. Data shows, not only, how the students are performing, but sometimes how we, as teachers, can improve instruction. If 15 out of 20 students answered number 10 incorrectly, it is the teacher’s responsibility to assess her own model of instruction for possible adjustments. Mini and interim assessments are hardly a waste of instructional time. They give us a piece of the puzzle that lends itself to better student learning.

]]> By: grrlgenius http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=166&cpage=1#comment-732 grrlgenius Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:32:11 +0000 http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=166#comment-732 I appreciate this article, because as an elementary school principal, I am inundated with data. I spend hours sorting it out for myself, but more importantly I make a point of filtering it regularly for teachers. I spend lots of time crunching numbers in Excel to make graphs and other diagrams that teachers can use to move forward. This year, I especially highlighted anything that showed positive growth. I picked every area we were improving in and shared it during our weekly meetings. Why? I really thought the constant talk of budget cuts and layoffs were going to wipe out our positive school climate and it almost did. I believe that the constant display of good news kept us going during a very difficult year. Each time, we followed up with the teams' reporting to the whole staff of what they did to achieve the gains they were making. Not that we didn't show honest data, or data that required us to change course...there was lots of that, but the emphasis was definitely on data showing positive growth. At the end of the year, one of my teacher leaders said, "I heard that at some of our neighboring schools, there are regular 'fights' in the staff room. Teachers are not even talking to one another and the climate is incredibly bad. Why do you think it's not like that here?" It made me really happy to know that we had avoided some of the pitfalls of such an uncertain time. I appreciate this article, because as an elementary school principal, I am inundated with data. I spend hours sorting it out for myself, but more importantly I make a point of filtering it regularly for teachers. I spend lots of time crunching numbers in Excel to make graphs and other diagrams that teachers can use to move forward.

This year, I especially highlighted anything that showed positive growth. I picked every area we were improving in and shared it during our weekly meetings. Why? I really thought the constant talk of budget cuts and layoffs were going to wipe out our positive school climate and it almost did. I believe that the constant display of good news kept us going during a very difficult year. Each time, we followed up with the teams’ reporting to the whole staff of what they did to achieve the gains they were making.

Not that we didn’t show honest data, or data that required us to change course…there was lots of that, but the emphasis was definitely on data showing positive growth. At the end of the year, one of my teacher leaders said, “I heard that at some of our neighboring schools, there are regular ‘fights’ in the staff room. Teachers are not even talking to one another and the climate is incredibly bad. Why do you think it’s not like that here?” It made me really happy to know that we had avoided some of the pitfalls of such an uncertain time.

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