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Why Data
Why Data
Data helps school communities to track SEL progress over time. It is an indicator of how well the investment of an SEL program is working to achieve the desired outcomes. Data trends assist SEL teams in decision-making. Negative trends might indicate a need to try new practices or get rid of old ones. Positive trends might indicate a need for greater adoption of a particular SEL program. Trends also change over time with different student and teacher populations. What worked with a certain class of students might not necessarily work for the next, so analyzing data also helps us tailor SEL practices to the school community members, each one of them uniquely made in God's image.
Check out this Roche center SEL Academy video on why data matters and how to define your purpose:
Why Data Matters: Know Your Purpose.movPurpose Driven Data Analysis
Purpose Driven Data Analysis
It is important to clearly know your school's unique purpose in analyzing data. Here are a series of questions that SEL teams can review together in order to determine what data is most revelant to the school's needs:
Is an assessment a requirement?
Is it a mandate to collect information?
Would it Appeal to the board?
Do you need it for marketing?
Do you need to justify funding?
What specific information are you looking to collect?
Is this for a school climate check?
Is it to measure specific student growth in competencies?
Are you looking for general, overall trends?
Do you need something very specific?
How much time and money do you have to put into this?
Is there a budget for assessments?
How often do you want to assess?
yearly check or growth per year?
What Data to Collect/ Analyze
What Data to Collect/ Analyze
Existing Data
Below are some examples of types of existing data you that would be helpful to analyze at your school:
Behavior data
Office referrals
Minor data in the classroom
A, B, C data
Counseling Data
Referrals and reasons
Nursing Data
Data Collection
Below are some examples of types of data it would be helpful to collect from your school community:
Teacher Assessments
Whole class report
Individual student ratings
Fidelity checks
Classroom visit checks
Climate surveys
Student assessments
Climate surveys
Self assessment of skills
Parent assessments
School climate surveys
Click here to download example survey questions for your school community from the Panorama Education website.
When analyzing data, there are a few key points:
Go from big picture to specific individuals: Sarting by looking at aggregate data and narrow in on areas of concerns by understanding what individuals are being represented in the data. This can help to inform interventions and identify students who may need more support.
Follow trends over time: establish a timeline for how often data will be analyzed
Look at data in different ways: Slicing data into demographics (gender, race, family income, etc.) can give more insight into larger, systemic trends that may reveal certain populations of students that may benefit from tailored programs
Analyzing Data
Analyzing Data
Additional Page Sources
Additional Page Sources
CASEL's advice on establishing a timeline: https://schoolguide.casel.org/guide/
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