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Building Smart Education Systems |
Voices in Urban Education
Archives
Using Data for Decisions
VUE Number 18, Winter 2008
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EXCERPT:
Building a Data Culture: A District-Foundation Partnership
By Debra Vaughan and Kirk Kelly
Debra Vaughan is director of research effectiveness for the Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga. Kirk Kelly is director of testing and accountability for the Hamilton County (Tennessee) Department of Education.
> Author biographies
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, a district and its partner, a local education fund, created a culture where using data for decision making is now the norm.
At the middle school principals' network meeting, the room is abuzz with principals poring over school-level, disaggregated data.
Miles away on the other side of the county, a high school leadership team (composed of the principal, assistant principal, change coach, literacy and numeracy coaches, college access counselor, and department lead teachers) is reviewing, discussing, and learning from their data with central office administrators.
Downtown, at an elementary school student-led parent conference, fifth-grade students are discussing with their parents data that describe their academic performance on state standards.
All across Hamilton County-Chattanooga, Tennessee, public schools are using data to inform instruction, enhance leadership, and motivate students to higher levels of achievement.
Having data is not a new phenomenon. In fact, in the past, schools have been inundated with data, resulting in what is comically known as “paralysis by analysis” — schools had so much data that they didn't know what to do with them all. But this is no longer the case for Hamilton County-Chattanooga schools. The Hamilton County Department of Education, in partnership with the Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga (PEF), is dedicated to providing schools with data they can use to improve teaching and learning.
Data are used to help schools, teachers, and students improve. Data have become a valuable tool to improve instruction and increase student achievement. Because of this, there has been a culture change — a change in educators' attitudes toward data. It began with a reluctant acceptance of data. During principal network meetings, principals were given school-level data, disaggregated in a variety of ways, and asked to reflect on the data. Protocols were used that allowed principals to focus on “what the data are saying” about their school in a safe, nonjudgmental environment. These ask:
Building a Data-Driven Culture
An important key to developing a data-driven culture is choosing metrics that matter. It is rather easy to recognize the metrics that matter to districts: meeting adequate yearly progress, scores on state assessments, attendance rates, graduation rates, etc. But more important are those that matter to principals and teachers: advanced scores on assessments, promotion from ninth to tenth grade in one year, students “on track” for on-time graduation, college readiness, and college matriculation. Teachers and principals really care when the metrics are ones that deeply affect student success. Schools can use these data to make a real difference for their students.
Archives
Using Data for Decisions
VUE Number 18, Winter 2008
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
EXCERPT:
Building a Data Culture: A District-Foundation Partnership
By Debra Vaughan and Kirk Kelly
Debra Vaughan is director of research effectiveness for the Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga. Kirk Kelly is director of testing and accountability for the Hamilton County (Tennessee) Department of Education.
> Author biographies
In Chattanooga, Tennessee, a district and its partner, a local education fund, created a culture where using data for decision making is now the norm.
At the middle school principals' network meeting, the room is abuzz with principals poring over school-level, disaggregated data.
Miles away on the other side of the county, a high school leadership team (composed of the principal, assistant principal, change coach, literacy and numeracy coaches, college access counselor, and department lead teachers) is reviewing, discussing, and learning from their data with central office administrators.
Downtown, at an elementary school student-led parent conference, fifth-grade students are discussing with their parents data that describe their academic performance on state standards.
All across Hamilton County-Chattanooga, Tennessee, public schools are using data to inform instruction, enhance leadership, and motivate students to higher levels of achievement.
Having data is not a new phenomenon. In fact, in the past, schools have been inundated with data, resulting in what is comically known as “paralysis by analysis” — schools had so much data that they didn't know what to do with them all. But this is no longer the case for Hamilton County-Chattanooga schools. The Hamilton County Department of Education, in partnership with the Public Education Foundation of Chattanooga (PEF), is dedicated to providing schools with data they can use to improve teaching and learning.
Data are used to help schools, teachers, and students improve. Data have become a valuable tool to improve instruction and increase student achievement. Because of this, there has been a culture change — a change in educators' attitudes toward data. It began with a reluctant acceptance of data. During principal network meetings, principals were given school-level data, disaggregated in a variety of ways, and asked to reflect on the data. Protocols were used that allowed principals to focus on “what the data are saying” about their school in a safe, nonjudgmental environment. These ask:
- What do you see that you expected to see?
- What do you see that you didn't expect to see?
- How can you use this in your schools?
Building a Data-Driven Culture
An important key to developing a data-driven culture is choosing metrics that matter. It is rather easy to recognize the metrics that matter to districts: meeting adequate yearly progress, scores on state assessments, attendance rates, graduation rates, etc. But more important are those that matter to principals and teachers: advanced scores on assessments, promotion from ninth to tenth grade in one year, students “on track” for on-time graduation, college readiness, and college matriculation. Teachers and principals really care when the metrics are ones that deeply affect student success. Schools can use these data to make a real difference for their students.
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