What is a data wall?

A data wall allows us to visualise individual students’ achievement over time on a physical or virtual wall.

Why use a data wall?

Building a data wall is a practical and powerful way to focus the work of every teacher on the growth and achievement of every student.

Any grouping of students, from a single class to the whole school, can form the basis of a data wall. The power of a data wall comes from including every student in that group – not just those struggling, flying or doing okay. This shifts the conversation from ‘my students in my classroom’ to ‘our students in our school’; and it shifts the motivation from ‘improving my practice’ to ‘improving our practice’.

A data wall can become the place where teachers gather to tame the torrent of data coming at them and transform it into actionable classroom strategies. Over time, this not only builds teachers’ confidence with incorporating evidence into everyday teaching – it also builds their belief in collective efficacy, that is, teachers’ collective power to improve learning outcomes for all students.

Continue reading about data walls by accessing Professional Practice Note 5.

Protocol Overview

• Review Protocol (3 minutes)

• Presentation (5 minutes)

  • “Owner” of the data provides overview of the context and focus

• Clarifying Questions (4 minutes)

Phase 1: Predictions

• • Group fills out predictions sheet (3 minutes)

  • Round-robin report-out of predictions (one item each person, one round only — 3 minutes)

May be charted by the facilitator or other member of the group

• Distribution and Examination of Data (7 minutes)

• Additional Clarifying Questions, if necessary (3 minutes)

Phase 2: Go Visual (10-30 minutes)

• • Participants mark up and re-organize the data to better understand it. May be done individually, in pairs, or in small groups depending on group size and amount of data. Highlighters, chart paper, and calculators are helpful to have on hand.

Phase 3: Observations

• • Group fills out observations sheet (5 minutes)

  • Round-robin report-out of observations may (one item each person, continue rounds until new ideas are spent — 5 minutes)

• Check in with Presenter (2 minutes)

  • Do we need to refocus our attention?

Phase 4: Inferences

• • Group fills out inferences sheet (5 minutes)

  • Round-robin report-out of inferences. May be charted (one item each person, continue rounds until new ideas are spent — 5 minutes).

• Response from the Presenter — What new thoughts are you having about the data now? What are your next steps? (5 minutes)

• Implications for teaching and learning (10 minutes)

• Debrief the protocol (3 minutes)