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What Does Your School Data Team Sound Like?: A Framework to Improve the Conversation Around Data
Inspire the data discussion!
Data is a valuable resource for improving education. Unfortunately, many school data teams struggle to make sense of new and often overwhelming data. What Does Your Data Team Sound Like? provides an approach that gets teams talking about and applying data effectively in a variety of setting and scenarios. Written to help data teams navigate the confusing world of data analysis for on-going school improvement, this book offers a framework that is rigorous yet easy to follow. Readers will
Data is a valuable resource for improving education. Unfortunately, many school data teams struggle to make sense of new and often overwhelming data. What Does Your Data Team Sound Like? provides an approach that gets teams talking about and applying data effectively in a variety of setting and scenarios. Written to help data teams navigate the confusing world of data analysis for on-going school improvement, this book offers a framework that is rigorous yet easy to follow. Readers will
176 pages, Paperback
Published August 13, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 2, 2019
Most schools are going (or are long gone) down the path of data-driven instruction. The main theory is that within collaborative groups, teams are able to zero in on the skills students have mastered or not, then help the team to teach to specific learning targets.
I have long been on collaborative teams that have looked to create and read the data for our ELA department. This is painful work, no matter how you spin it. I really wanted more ideas on how best to express the data, but I will say that much of what is shared takes the "math" route. I hate to say this and sound negative, but math is easy to get specific, numeric data. English is a lot harder to do that with, as we rarely (if ever) give multiple choice tests. Yes, we use rubrics, but writing and reading comprehension/analysis is a skill that isn't necessarily "mastered" and then never return to. We have found that it is a skill that has to be constantly revisited and made better. Our own in-building data teams can be pretty hard on us, expecting beautiful checklists and graphs. That is just difficult to do, as they often want these checklists, numbers, and graphs to tie to grades, automatically. This, in return, can drive a wedge between teachers and administrators. That's just not good. In reality, some students start writing or reading at a much lower level, but their growth can be spectacular. That's something we HAVE TO focus on even more, to keep all our morale going.
My take on this book is that it's really awesome if you are early in the process of learning how to collaborate around data. This book really breaks it down so much better than a million meetings I attended years ago. Having said that though, you really do have to dig deep into your subject matter, figure out what is ESSENTIAL for your students, then come up with that "data" or evidence. We've found that we can create checklists for essentials, and we can DISCUSS as a department our evidence and what it means. Finding a perfect number doesn't work for every little thing. These are kids, with nuanced issues and situations. Their writing for a narrative their 10th grade year might have been great, but then they backslide over the summer and struggle to write an informative paragraph at the beginning of their 11th grade year. This isn't meant to make either teacher OR student feel bad, I think, rather, that for humanities and art subjects, we're meant to look at where growth and improvement need to be focused so we can more effectively teach.
This is just my experience speaking. I do think this is a well written and clear book. I just want to be aware that there can be a lot more involved--and that all the positivity in the world isn't going to make the "data" effective without some hard work and some painful discussions as a learning team. I would say, make sure all teachers on a team understand these fundamentals, and then really work on building relationships of trust (as also worked through in the book). That will take you far in digging deep with instruction and assessments.
I have long been on collaborative teams that have looked to create and read the data for our ELA department. This is painful work, no matter how you spin it. I really wanted more ideas on how best to express the data, but I will say that much of what is shared takes the "math" route. I hate to say this and sound negative, but math is easy to get specific, numeric data. English is a lot harder to do that with, as we rarely (if ever) give multiple choice tests. Yes, we use rubrics, but writing and reading comprehension/analysis is a skill that isn't necessarily "mastered" and then never return to. We have found that it is a skill that has to be constantly revisited and made better. Our own in-building data teams can be pretty hard on us, expecting beautiful checklists and graphs. That is just difficult to do, as they often want these checklists, numbers, and graphs to tie to grades, automatically. This, in return, can drive a wedge between teachers and administrators. That's just not good. In reality, some students start writing or reading at a much lower level, but their growth can be spectacular. That's something we HAVE TO focus on even more, to keep all our morale going.
My take on this book is that it's really awesome if you are early in the process of learning how to collaborate around data. This book really breaks it down so much better than a million meetings I attended years ago. Having said that though, you really do have to dig deep into your subject matter, figure out what is ESSENTIAL for your students, then come up with that "data" or evidence. We've found that we can create checklists for essentials, and we can DISCUSS as a department our evidence and what it means. Finding a perfect number doesn't work for every little thing. These are kids, with nuanced issues and situations. Their writing for a narrative their 10th grade year might have been great, but then they backslide over the summer and struggle to write an informative paragraph at the beginning of their 11th grade year. This isn't meant to make either teacher OR student feel bad, I think, rather, that for humanities and art subjects, we're meant to look at where growth and improvement need to be focused so we can more effectively teach.
This is just my experience speaking. I do think this is a well written and clear book. I just want to be aware that there can be a lot more involved--and that all the positivity in the world isn't going to make the "data" effective without some hard work and some painful discussions as a learning team. I would say, make sure all teachers on a team understand these fundamentals, and then really work on building relationships of trust (as also worked through in the book). That will take you far in digging deep with instruction and assessments.
August 2, 2019
Most schools are going (or are long gone) down the path of data-driven instruction. The main theory is that within collaborative groups, being able to zero in on the skills students have mastered or not, then help the team to teach to specific learning targets.
I have long been on collaborative teams that have looked to create and read the data for our ELA department. This is painful work, no matter how you spin it. I really wanted more ideas on how best to express the data, but I will say that much of what is shared takes the "math" route. I hate to say this and sound negative, but math is easy to get specific, numeric data. English is a lot harder to do that with, as we rarely (if ever) give multiple choice tests. Yes, we use rubrics, but writing and reading comprehension/analysis is a skill that isn't necessarily "mastered" and something you never return to. We have found that it is a skill that has to be constantly revisited and made better. Our own in-building data teams can be pretty hard on us, expecting beautiful checklists and graphs. That is just difficult to do, as they often want these checklists, numbers, and graphs to tie to grades, automatically. When in reality, some students start writing or reading at a much lower level, but their growth can be spectacular.
My take on this book is that it's really awesome if you are early in the process of learning how to collaborate around data. This book really breaks it down so much better than a million meetings I attended years ago. Having said that though, you really do have to dig deep in your subject matter, figure out what is ESSENTIAL for your students, then come up with that "data" or evidence. We've found that we can create checklists for essentials, and we can DISCUSS as a department our evidence and what it means. Finding a perfect number doesn't work for every little thing. These are kids, with nuanced issues and situations. Their writing for a narrative their 10th grade year might have been great, but then they backslide over the summer and struggle to write an informative paragraph at the beginning of their 11th grade year. This isn't mean to make either teacher OR student feel bad, I think, rather, that for humanities and art subjects, we're meant to look at where growth and improvement needs to be focused on so we can more effectively teach.
This is just my experience speaking. I do think this is a well written and clear book. I just want to be aware that there can be a lot more involved--and that all the positivity in the world isn't going to make the "data" effective without some hard work and some painful discussions as a learning team. I would say, make sure all teachers on a team understand these fundamentals, and then really work on building relationships of trust (as also worked through in the book). That will take you far in digging deep with instruction and assessments.
I have long been on collaborative teams that have looked to create and read the data for our ELA department. This is painful work, no matter how you spin it. I really wanted more ideas on how best to express the data, but I will say that much of what is shared takes the "math" route. I hate to say this and sound negative, but math is easy to get specific, numeric data. English is a lot harder to do that with, as we rarely (if ever) give multiple choice tests. Yes, we use rubrics, but writing and reading comprehension/analysis is a skill that isn't necessarily "mastered" and something you never return to. We have found that it is a skill that has to be constantly revisited and made better. Our own in-building data teams can be pretty hard on us, expecting beautiful checklists and graphs. That is just difficult to do, as they often want these checklists, numbers, and graphs to tie to grades, automatically. When in reality, some students start writing or reading at a much lower level, but their growth can be spectacular.
My take on this book is that it's really awesome if you are early in the process of learning how to collaborate around data. This book really breaks it down so much better than a million meetings I attended years ago. Having said that though, you really do have to dig deep in your subject matter, figure out what is ESSENTIAL for your students, then come up with that "data" or evidence. We've found that we can create checklists for essentials, and we can DISCUSS as a department our evidence and what it means. Finding a perfect number doesn't work for every little thing. These are kids, with nuanced issues and situations. Their writing for a narrative their 10th grade year might have been great, but then they backslide over the summer and struggle to write an informative paragraph at the beginning of their 11th grade year. This isn't mean to make either teacher OR student feel bad, I think, rather, that for humanities and art subjects, we're meant to look at where growth and improvement needs to be focused on so we can more effectively teach.
This is just my experience speaking. I do think this is a well written and clear book. I just want to be aware that there can be a lot more involved--and that all the positivity in the world isn't going to make the "data" effective without some hard work and some painful discussions as a learning team. I would say, make sure all teachers on a team understand these fundamentals, and then really work on building relationships of trust (as also worked through in the book). That will take you far in digging deep with instruction and assessments.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews