The research seems clear. Schools and teachers who effectively utilize data see increased student engagement and growth. Our district and site are actively promoting the use of data in the classroom; implementing a coach from each school to work with the data team in the district office and then return to their site and work with a small team of coaches to begin the implementation process. As one of the coaches at my school, I am an active participant in helping my department improve (or actually begin!) this process. The problem we are all having is two-fold. Not only do we have no tools for data collection except for when we utilize multiple choice style questions, but the big question is "what do we do with the data once we have it?" I would wager a guess that this is an issue for many.
In addition to my classroom demands, I have begun collecting articles that talk about being an effective data user. Unfortunately, I have not yet found much beyond vaguaries and broad suggestions. As a science teacher, I know how important data is. We collect it and have students use it to analyze results every time we do a lab. It seems reasonable to me, but when I look at the overwhelming sources of data we educators compile and collect every year from so many sources, I am overwhelmed. Where do I start in this process? How can I help an entire department when I cannot even seem to help myself? Vertical data collection and disaggregation seems the most obvious place to start, but first I need to figure out what information will help me identify gaps and issues in my classroom. I am hopeful that this will help me determine the most useful data to collect and then the pursuit of a collection tool can begin.
It would seem reasonable to think that this process has already occured. In fact, I think it is likely that it has happened well in a variety of places. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have resulted in a product at this point that is being shared, or at least I haven't yet stumbled upon it. So in the meantime, I am working with our coach to try to identify teachers in our district who already utilize data effectively to meet and discuss their process. Then we are going to make the move outside of our district and look at sites that are known for effective data usage. This will not be an easy process, but for many years I and my colleagues have lamented the fact that we do not do a better job of this. I think the journey will go a long way towards allowing me and my peers to grow and change in ways we could not do otherwise.
