Help K-12 leaders use data more effectively and securely

Key points:

Autumn is a universally familiar season. Whether you live among the redwoods of the Pacific Northwest or in the sunny southern states, cooler air, shorter days, and yellow school buses are part of our collective fall. Students are now back into the swing of things and teachers and school leaders have found their groove for the year.

With that rhythm also comes certain familiar fall routines, such as administering the first interim assessment, as well as collecting additional baseline formative and summative assessment data to start the year as informed as possible. Fall is a perfect time to examine data skills and confidence.

Data is an essential aspect of a school's culture. At the leadership level, data can be used to identify trends, validate assumptions, monitor progress, and verify the effectiveness of programs and initiatives. At the classroom level, teachers must use a variety of data to plan the next unit as well as weekly and daily instruction. Like leaders, teachers should use it to reflect on best practices for differentiation, as well as to validate support and certify learning. Students, the most important stakeholders, must be aware of how data is used to improve their learning experience and collaborate with teachers to develop data-driven objectives that are age-appropriate and instructionally appropriate.

While you may be nodding your head, for some school leaders, the above is easier read than done. Just as algebra can suddenly present a unique challenge to even the smartest math student, data can be the obstacle that even the most skilled leader finds themselves struggling with. For many it may seem “too much” and the forest is almost always lost among the trees.

Rethink Approaches to Overcome Data Obstacles

So how can school leaders overcome data obstacles and reframe their data readiness? First, do your research when selecting an interim assessment. Be sure to choose the assessment that aligns with your professional ethos, the goals of your comprehensive education plan, and your school's data culture. Selecting the right assessment is a lot like choosing an exercise that fits your lifestyle and fitness goals. For some, yoga, with its mindful meditation and fluid movement, is the perfect option. For others, intense circuit training that pushes them to the limit is just what the doctor ordered.

Start by expanding your understanding of the assessments being used.

Next, learn everything you can about the assessments you are administering. Many school leaders feel like they need to have all the answers, or at least appear to have them, when it comes to data. However, with the time constraints of the position, this can seem like a daunting task that eventually never gets done. So commit to learning everything you can about school-wide, grade-level, and department-wide assessments. While becoming your building's data expert can be a good goal, start small. Whatever interim assessment you use, become sufficiently familiar with its key terms and metrics and how they can be used to inform instruction and track growth. Be sufficiently versed in your grade level and department-wide assessments to know, broadly speaking, the standards being assessed and the ways teachers will use the data in the classroom. This also creates the conditions for more meaningful and fruitful data conversations both with your leadership team and vertically with faculty teams and departments. It is easier to move forward as a school when we all speak the same data language.

Empower your team members to share their data expertise

Don't be afraid to empower your teacher leaders who seem to have a knack for data. Surrounding yourself with a strong data team strengthens your school's data culture and models for students an ongoing best practice: data collaboration. As you develop your data acumen, learn from those who speak your language fluently. A diverse data team can help uncover blind spots and educational gaps, as well as provide a variety of perspectives on ways to get the most out of your data.

Confidence in data comes from a comfortable, if not fluent, understanding of data, the ability to talk about the potential it has to inform instruction, and to lead conversations where data implementation is the key ingredient. With narrow focus and some commitment, what might seem like a mountain now can certainly become a molehill before the last autumn leaf falls.