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