WEBVTT

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Rich Halverson, associate
professor

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of educational leadership
and policy analysis

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at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.

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Most schools have
school improvement plans

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that coordinate the
overall progress

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of reform in the school.

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The data plan needs to support
the school improvement plan.

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Data plans take goals,
general goals,

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from the school improvement
plan and operationalize them

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into more intermittent goals.

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They specify what
individual members

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of the school community need to
do and the information they need

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to gather in order to move
towards the overall school

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improvement goals.

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There are several
different kinds of data

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that are of use in a school.

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The kind of data, that a
lot of people talk about,

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are the summative data that
come from state test scores,

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and those data are very helpful
for informing how the school

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as a system is doing to
improve student learning.

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But by themselves those data
don't really help teachers make

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better decisions about students.

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You need two other kinds of
data that are largely developed

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at the school level to
improve student learning.

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One is the teacher-level
data, classroom-level data

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to help teachers understand
how they are progressing

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with student learning,

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how is their teaching
providing information

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about student learning.

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And the other is
student-level learning

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so you can understand how each
individual student is reacting

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to the instructional program
and is progressing in terms

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of the instructional program.

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So leaders need to
provide a vision for how

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to integrate those three levels
of data collection and use

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in a school so that the teachers
can make their best decisions

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about student learning.

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It's important for
schools to form data teams

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because no one person

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in a school has the
expertise that's necessary

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to bring together the
information on student learning,

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teacher practices, and
outcomes all in one person.

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Traditionally, we think that
principals should be in charge

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of running a school

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and providing instructional
leadership.

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A distributed leadership
perspective suggests

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that we need to identify
the tasks that are important

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to improve student learning and
to find the people in the school

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who can engage with those tasks.

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In this case, we need
people who are capable

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of analyzing the information,
collecting the information,

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and then using information
to change everyday practices.

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A data team has two main roles.

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One of the roles is what I
will call problem finding:

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to analyze the data; to collect,

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look at the information
that's generated as a result

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of student learning; and
to identify the areas

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that the school needs
to focus on in order

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to improve student learning.

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The second role of a data
team is what I will call

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data reduction.

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Schools are awash
in information.

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They have information on student
learning, student performance,

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school-community climate
surveys; they have input

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from parents; they have
external community data.

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The problem isn't enough data;
the problem is too much data.

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And a key role that
data teams play is

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in reducing the information so
they can make problems solvable

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for the teachers
in the building.

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Leaders can support
the use of data

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for instructional
decision making

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by grounding analysis
activities and design activities

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in the everyday practices
of teachers.

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The problem here is
that leaders have to try

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to change an existing culture
of practice in schools.

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Teachers are accustomed to
taking data and gathering data

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on students in the forms of
grades or notes, quizzes,

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that kind of information,
and making decisions

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about what to do with students.

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Most teachers are not
accustomed to the idea

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of taking outcome data that
are gathered collectively

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across the school
and using those

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to make decisions
about their kids.

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So when leaders create
data teams,

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data teams would be well
advised to ground the activities

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of data analysis in
the everyday activities

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that teachers are
already engaged with.

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Principals can support
the work of data teams

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by providing the time, the
resources, and the authority

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for the data teams
to do their work.

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Principals need to treat
the data team seriously

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and give it the same
kind of responsibility

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that other functions
in the school have.

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For example, the academic dean

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or the guidance counselors
all have both formal positions

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that allow them to
do their work,

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but they also have resources
to get their work done.

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Data teams need the same
kind of respect in a school.

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It's difficult for professionals
who are committed already 100 percent

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to jobs to also take
on the responsibility

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of being on a data team.

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They need some relief in
their responsibilities

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so that they can get
their work done as well.

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One way to do this is for the
principal simply to be a member

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of the data team

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so the principal can
understand what's being asked

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of the data team, what kinds

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of analytic tasks are being
conducted by the data team,

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and what recommendations
are being made to teachers.

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If data teams don't have
the ability to follow

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up in classrooms to understand
whether teachers are using the

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practices that are recommended
by the data team, it's difficult

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for them to do their work.

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And so integrating the
work of the data team

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with teacher evaluation, with
professional development,

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and with the ongoing
instructional initiatives

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in the school is an
important part of the work

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of the data team,
and it's something

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that principals really
have to be involved with.