Data-Driven Systemic Improvement

Portfolio Assignment from Module V.

Demographics: Middle School Band classroom. 40% Caucasian, 60% Hispanic, 65% free/reduced lunch. Elective class grades 7&8

Process: Direct Instruction with practice sessions throughout. Student participation in form of sharing out and playing musical selections.

Outcomes: Student proficiency in playing selected pieces (partially observed for some students)

Perception: Student engagement is sporadic and linked to teacher control of classroom

SMART Goals:

Specific: Improve student engagement through classroom management techniques of clear directions and learning goals, and anticipating opportunities for students to disengage prior to teaching a lesson.

Measurable: Student will demonstrate engagement by complying with teacher directions and commands without repetition at least 80% of the time in class.85% of Classroom dialogue will center on teacher-selected topics and subjects.

Attainable: The teacher will work with principal weekly and will identify a mentor teacher to observe and model teaching behaviors.

Relevant: Achievement of this goal, will help the teacher be more effective in communicating the subject area content to students improving students’ perception of the class and their competency.

Timely: The target date for this goal is 3 weeks from today.

Reflection:

The future of data-driven decision making look for your school and district including formative assessments and paperless teacher observations.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve our data-driven decision making. We use Illuminate to track a wide range of student data from attendance to discipline to performance on standardized tests as well as school-developed benchmark assessments. We have tried several “walk-through” tools- all with their benefits and drawbacks. The one I used to collect data for this assignment was very easy to use and somewhat customizable- both features I appreciated- but the data we receive from the walk through tools is to often limited to “yes or no” (Observed/not) type data. For me, it leaves too much left unsaid, but a more powerful tool- one where I can do a more complete observation- is often to unwieldy to easily represent data. As our district better identifies what it is we really want to know, we will be better able to identify the tools to help us do this. I see us using more and more data to drive what we do with the goal of improving instruction in and out of the classroom.

Your school and/or district's readiness (from the self-assessment survey).

We are very ready at my site. The biggest hurdle for us has been the fact that we changed data systems this year in addition to going 1:1 with ipads. This was a tremendous amount of change for us as a district, so it has taken a bit of catching up for all of us to use these data systems effectively. As we use more and more web-based tools, we are finding ways to easily collect meaningful data on our students and ourselves. We are actively working with our student information system to have the program integrate with the tools we are using on the web to get the best possible “picture” of our students. I am excited about it as an administrator because web-based observations allow me to communicate much more information to my staff in a timely manner.

Your shared leadership approach to data analysis and collection.

In the true spirit of PLCs, data is to be shared. I firmly believe that all of our data reflects all of us. Every person at my site has contributed in some way to each piece of student data. If we have data that disturbs us, it is a school problem we can all help solve, rather than a teacher or student problem that one person is responsible for solving. The most difficult aspect of data collection and analysis is determining what data I really want. This requires we know which questions are important to ask. When I meet with my staff at the end of this school year, we will be looking for what metrics we would like to have for next year to measure our progress and success. If we all agree on the metrics, understand how they will be measured, and agree that the areas we are measuring are the right ones to measure (whether we’re looking at student or staff performance) we will all understand the goal we are working toward and will be more likely to achieve it.