Lesson 1

Lesson 1: Using Data to Create Purposeful Groups

Lesson Overview

Small-group instruction gives teachers an opportunity to respond to specific student needs, but effective small groups begin with knowing who needs support and why. Teachers collect information about student learning every day through exit tickets, assessments, classwork, checks for understanding, and other sources of data. Once that data has been collected and analyzed, teachers have to decide how to use it to create groups that have a clear instructional purpose.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use student performance data to identify students with common instructional needs and create purposeful small groups.

Using the Data You Have Collected

Teachers have access to different types of student data, including exit tickets, assessments, classwork, checks for understanding, and observations. Each source provides information that can help teachers make decisions about student learning.

The purpose of collecting data is not simply to record a score. The data should help teachers determine what students need and what should happen next during instruction.

The Institute of Education Sciences discusses how formative assessment can be used to gather evidence of student learning and make instructional decisions. As you review the resource below, think about the different sources of student data you currently use and how that information influences your instructional decisions.

Read: Formative Assessment and Elementary School Student Academic Achievement: A Review of the Evidence
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences

Moving From Data to Groups

Once student needs have been identified, teachers can use the information to determine which students would benefit from working together. Students should not be grouped together simply because they received the same score or did not demonstrate mastery. The data should be used to identify students who share a common instructional need.

For example, assessment data may show that although 9 students did not demonstrate mastery of decimal multiplication. Further analysis of the data shows that four students are struggling with where to place the decimal, while six students are struggling with multiplying by the tens place.

Although all 9 students did not demonstrate mastery of the same concept, the data shows that they have different instructional needs. Instead of placing all 9 students into one group to practice multiplication, the teacher can use the identified needs to create two purposeful small groups. One group can focus on decimal placement, while the other can focus on multiplying by the tens place.

The goal is to use the information provided by the data to determine which students have similar enough needs to benefit from receiving instruction together.

Creating Purposeful Small Groups

A purposeful small group has a clear reason for being created. Teachers should be able to identify the student need that brought the group together and connect that need to the data.

Teachers can begin by asking:

• What need has been identified in the data?

• Which students share this need?

• Which students would benefit from receiving instruction together?

• What is the purpose of bringing these students together?

The Institute of Education Sciences provides resources that demonstrate how assessment data can be used to identify student needs and organize differentiated small groups.

Explore: Toolkit for Differentiating Reading Instruction for Grades K–3
U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences

Although the examples in the toolkit focus on reading instruction, pay attention to how student data is used to identify needs and form instructional groups. The same process of using evidence to make grouping decisions can be applied across content areas.

Groups Should Be Flexible

Small groups should reflect what the current data shows about student needs. They should not become permanent groups or labels for students.

A student may need additional support with one skill while demonstrating mastery of another. New evidence of learning may also show that a student no longer needs the same support or has developed a different instructional need. Teachers should use current data to determine when students should work together rather than keeping the same students together for long periods of time.

Reading Rockets discusses flexible grouping as an approach that allows teachers to organize and reorganize students based on their current strengths and needs.

Read: Forward Together: Helping Educators Unlock the Power of Students Who Learn Differently
Reading Rockets

Flexible grouping allows the composition of a small group to change as student needs change. The students in a group today may not need to remain together after additional instruction and new evidence of learning is collected.