How A First Year Teacher Uses Data to Drive Instruction
This post is part of series by Teach for America corps members teaching in Massachusetts schools.
In my first year of teaching, I have found nothing quite as influential to my practice as using data to drive instruction. Collecting student data throughout the school year to understand how students are learning and what skills they have mastered allows me to cater to the individual needs of my kids and recognize skill and learning gaps that may exist. It’s a common misconception that classroom data is limited to MCAS results and that a test score determines success and failure. There are many other sources of data that can be used daily to make students feel successful and confident in their work.
Data is particularly important when working with students who struggle in school, and I have learned this firsthand as a Special Education teacher. Often, students who have struggled in school are so accustomed to focusing on what challenges them, they aren’t aware of the areas in which they excel. This school year, I’ve made it a point to provide students data that shows them they can and will be successful scholars. For example, I regularly assess my 8th grade Special Ed Math students’ basic skills that they need to be successful, like adding and subtracting fractions, decimals, and integers. As the year goes on, they can track how much they have learned and they get excited to successfully complete more complex problems. They can keep track of their own personal “data” to give them confidence that they are strong math students, and they love the first time they get a 100% on a challenging math facts worksheet. The information I get from their assessment also tells me when they’re ready to incorporate foundational skills in higher level content that can be more difficult for some students with disabilities.
Using data to create a richer educational experience for each student is part of the culture at my school, and teachers track student progress throughout the school year. Using the program ANet in Math and English Language Arts, students are given benchmark tests four to five times each year to track how they are doing on specific grade-level standards. Using the data from each benchmark test, we can track specific students as well as classes on the standards they have been taught and how accurately they understand the material. As a Special Education teacher, this information is crucial to helping students succeed. The program allows me to customize analysis of my students so I can easily identify what information they are struggling with the most so I can supplement the instruction in their General Education classroom. I can pinpoint which students need more time on which concepts and re-teach material that we need to review.
Data can be an incredibly useful tool for students like mine and for teachers like me. It makes academic progress feel concrete for kids, and it helps teachers understand what students are learning and where more work needs to be done. Just like in other careers, effectiveness in teaching requires being reflective and realistic about how you are doing. As a teacher, using data allows me to see where I fall short and where I am succeeding. I know that how well I teach is high-stakes for my students because they only get one shot at a good education. My success in the classroom has an impact upon the future success of my students and the school and community in which I teach. They deserve a teacher who uses every tool in the toolbox to the best of her ability.
Vanessa Brown, a Teach for America corps members, is a special education teacher at Atlantis Charter School in Fall River, Massachusetts.
For Massachusetts school performance data, visit www.KnowYourSchoolsMA.org
Progress on Data Systems Assessed
On December 1, the National Data Quality Campaign (DQC) hosted a webinar describing states’ progress toward implementing and using strong data systems to assess students’ educational performance (see the slides or watch the video). Each year for the past seven years, DQC has released an annual report that provides state-by-state updates on progress toward the 10 Essential Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems and 10 State Actions to Ensure Effective Data Use that DQC has identified as essential to building strong data and useful data systems. Overall, DQC reports some progress, but it is inconsistent across states.
What about Massachusetts? There is both good and not-so-good news. Massachusetts has long prided itself on the quality of its longitudinal data systems, and indeed, Massachusetts has all 10 of the 10 elements deemed necessary. On the other hand, the Commonwealth has made demonstrable progress on only five of the 10 state actions. There remains important work to do so that we can take better advantage of the data elements the state has worked so hard to put into place. Specifically:
Actions Met [ √ ] and Not Met [ X ]
X 1: Link data systems: Massachusetts has yet to link state K-12 data systems with early learning, postsecondary education, workforce, social services and other critical agencies
√ 2: Create stable, sustained support
√ 3: Develop governance structures
√ 4: Build state data repositories
X 5: Implement systems to provide timely access to information: Massachusetts has yet to implement systems to provide all stakeholders with timely access to the information they need while protecting student privacy
X 6: Create progress reports using individual student data to improve student performance: Massachusetts has yet to create progress reports with individual student data that provide information educators, parents and students can use to improve student performance
√ 7: Create reports using longitudinal statistics to guide systemwide improvement efforts
√ 8: Develop a P-20/workforce research agenda
X 9: Promote educator professional development and credentialing: Massachusetts has yet to implement policies and promote practices, including professional development and credentialing, to ensure educators know how to access, analyze and use data appropriately
X 10: Promote strategies to raise awareness of available data: Massachusetts has yet to promote strategies to raise awareness of available data and ensure that all key stakeholders, including state policymakers, know how to access, analyze and use the information
Race to the Top and other longitudinal data grants the state has received give Massachusetts the opportunity to address the needs identified by the Data Quality Campaign. MBAE will be paying close attention to the Commonwealth’s progress in these areas.
Good News for Education Reform
Today’s education clips summary from the Education Commission of the States brought some good news for education reform. I was particularly pleased to see topics related to MBAE’s goals and work. Although we are not satisfied until the job is complete, it is nice to see progress in the direction we think education policy ought to go.
Teacher Tenure - As part of our goal for every child be taught by an effective teacher every year, we have often stated that tenure should be meaningful – a hard standard to meet and one that brings significant benefits. So, it is heartening to see that with New York City’s new, stronger evaluation system, teachers who don’t meet high performance standards are not getting the lifetime protection of tenure. The rate of eligible teachers awarded tenure has dropped from nearly 100% to 58%, according to an article in the New York Times. Decisions for 39% of teachers eligible for tenure (up from 8% a year ago) were deferred, giving them a chance to improve. There are criticisms of the new system and it will take time to work out these issues. But, it is certainly good news for those in the teaching profession to know that in New York, leaders are serious about giving teachers the respect professionals earn and students the education they deserve.
Graduation Rates - Accurate data to understand where we stand on education measures has always been a priority for MBAE. It is especially important to know how many of our children are earning a high school diploma. and each got a boost from the U.S. Department of Education. We will get a much more honest picture now that the U.S. Department of Education has established a uniform formula for calculating how many students finish high school. Until now, states have used a variety of methods to calculate this rate. Now, with each student tracked individually, it’s likely that many states will find out their graduation rates are lower than reported – perhaps by as much as 20%. The number may shock some states, including ours, but it is more important to have valid numbers. We’ll be looking carefully at how Massachusetts fares and will continue to work to raise graduation rates as part of the MassGrad initiative and other efforts to change state policy and district performance.
There are other good things happening – but these two were particularly gratifying moves toward closing achievement gaps!
Getting Excited About Data
Who gets excited about data? Me for one! Along with many others who attended the 2010 Early Childhood Information System (ECIS) Strategic Planning Institute last week. Federal grants to Massachusetts are providing the opportunity to develop our state’s data systems in new and critical ways. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, invited national, state, and local leaders, community providers, advocates, researchers, and other stakeholders to brainstorm ideas. We discussed what types of data should be generated by the ECIS, what questions the data generated should answer, what barriers stand in the way, and what steps to take next to bring these ideas into reality.
While the K-12 system has been developing a data warehouse and new vehicles for making that information accessible, there is currently no data system for children at early childhood even though information gathered at that stage of a child’s life can be used to create and improve intervention programs to ensure that children are on a school ready track.
Expert panelists discussed the need for an ECIS to provide a robust and interoperable system of data within the state. Panelists also noted that while a lot of data is being collected, it is not getting to everyone who could use it.
I was excited to learn about WEAVE (Web-Based Analysis and Visualization Environment), which is a visualization tool for public data that the Open Indicators Consortium (OIC) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell is collaborating on with seven other US regions. Co-founder of the OIC Charlotte Kahn showed us how centralized data from different government agencies can provide real-time information about a district’s schools, services, and poverty levels to allow stakeholders to develop timely strategies to help families and their children. This tool illustrated the power of information and how rich data can be when multiple data points are combined and analyzed together. WEAVE is expected to go live in March or April of next year. I look forward to what’s to come!
12th Graders Not Proficient But Still Lead Nation
Once again, Massachusetts received good news that our students topped their peers on a national measure of student achievement. This time, it is a pilot test of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), better known as “The Nation’s Report Card”. Of the 11 states voluntarily participating, Massachusetts’ average score of 295 edged out New Hampshire at 293. We have become somewhat blasé about this type of performance, but need only look at the details behind the scores to see that the averages mask some disturbing results.
Page 41 of the full report tells us that 8% of seniors in 2009 (the year the test was given) scored “advanced” in reading. Next highest score in this category was 7% for Connecticut. We tied with New Hampshire and South Dakota at 38% scoring “proficient” and joined Connecticut with the lowest percentage at “basic” level – 34%. But a whopping 20% of our graduating class scored “below basic”. Only South Dakota had a lower figure, at 18%, but this is nothing to crow about. Can our state simply write off one-fifth of its senior class and expect to be competitive in a very unforgiving global environment? Obviously not.
Our performance in math was similarly strong in comparison to the other states and national averages, but disheartening in terms of the numbers of children who are not mastering the skills they need to succeed in college or in the workplace. On page 41 we see 5% at advanced, (1 point ahead of New Jersey); 31% proficient (with our neighbor New Hampshire a close second at 29%); 39% at basic and 25% below basic.
Yes, it is nice to be top scorer on average, but this doesn’t translate into good news for students if only 46% in reading and 36% in math are performing at proficient or above. Further examination of the data in the report reveals that 78% of Massachusetts students taking the pilot test were white and 68% were from the suburbs. Look at the charts and you’ll see the racial achievement gap of over 20 points between average scores of white and minority students.
Bottom line is it is nice to be #1. Massachusetts, however, cannot take this status for granted. We also must make high achievement an expectation – and reality – for all students in the Commonwealth if they are to be able to find the type of employment here that sustains a middle class lifestyle and if our employers are to be able to find the skilled workforce they need to grow our economy.
MBAE Presents KnowYourSchoolsMA.org
MBAE is pleased to provide a web-based tool for educators, parents and concerned citizens to understand school performance on a number of measures. The site, Know Your Schools replaces the Just for the Kids Massachusetts website that MBAE hosted from 2004 through 2009. Our goal is to provide information about the comparative performance of all Massachusetts schools on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams, as well as high school graduation rates and other performance factors as data becomes available. The site provides educators and the public access to data and tools that can be used to raise student achievement and serve as the catalyst for discussions and action to improve schools.
MBAE has worked with SUNY Albany School of Education in New York and the Business Coalition for Educational Excellence in New Jersey to develop Know Your Schools. We will continue to build the site and expand it to become an even more robust and valuable resource in the future. Our ultimate goal is to measure how well schools are preparing graduates for college and career success.
MBAE is grateful to the Verizon Foundation for its support and the tools available through our link to Thinkfinity. The cooperation of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was also essential for us to provide this information. We hope you will visit Know Your Schools Massachusetts and let us know what you think!
