Digging Deeper Looking Beyond Surface Data Presented by: Karen H. Bingham Conway Elementary Stafford County Public Schools July 29,2008

Names, Dates, Times, Locations – What does all this data mean? Together we’ll shovel through the numbers

Types of Referrals  At Conway we collect data using 3 types of referrals:  Administrative (ODR’s)  Teacher – sent home if you’d call a parent  Bus – standard county form

Data Collection  Data is entered weekly/bi-monthly from all 3 sources.  Our referrals include the following information:  Name, Grade, Gender, Date, Teacher, Location, Time, Ethnicity, top 3 behavior infractions, 3 actions (teacher or admin.), type of referral, and notes.  We use Excel for our database.

Extracting the data  All of this information can be overwhelming to the staff and ESD team  Select with care the most important information to share with them  Visual representations make lasting impressions for all stakeholders

Examples  Graphs our staff members like seeing are ones they can quickly interpret and give clear precise information.  Clear data equals good buy-in

At a Glance Teachers quickly notice our bus referrals are much lower this year. This was one of our focus areas.

Gender Basis was also a concern after last school year. Were our boys being unfairly targeted?

 Our data shows that the number of girls receiving referrals has almost doubled  This year we did see a decrease in referrals for males  As we begin next school year, this will serve as a good reminder that we have to be careful to ensure all students are being treated equally

Location In we saw lots of referrals coming from specials, the cafeteria, the bus and the classroom. Our goal for was to reduce referrals on the Bus, in Specials and the Cafeteria. We met 2 of the 3 goals Referrals in Specials decreased by 6% Bus referrals decreased by 8% Cafeteria referrals rose by 2%

The 3 most frequent areas are: Disrespect Disruption Physical Contact  Despite the continued need to focus on these 3 areas, all other areas made significant improvements.

Grade level data When looking at lunch schedules for next school year, based on the referral numbers it would be beneficial to have our rising 1 st, 2nd and 5th graders avoid coinciding lunch times.

TRENDS??? The previous slide shows us: Sometimes it isn’t the teachers fault Yes, behaviors do follow patterns 5 th grade needs to be proactive as they prepare for their incoming class. We’ll utilize lots of positive behavior strategies this coming year.

Time for Transitions 12:00-1:00 PM & 2:00-3:00 PM are the toughest time of day for our students and quite possibly our teachers. 12:00-1:00 PM & 2:00-3:00 PM are the toughest time of day for our students and quite possibly our teachers. These times encompass lunch, recess and specials which are all high transition and less structured time periods. These times encompass lunch, recess and specials which are all high transition and less structured time periods.

2 nd Semester Significant changes in behavior occur in the 2 nd semester. More ODR’s are written Teacher referrals for lesser infractions declined Spring Break was in March (earlier this year) SOL testing took 3 weeks: - change in schedules - teacher anxiety (dealing with less in the classrooms) Special Events requirements changed. 2 nd semester attendance was based on referral numbers. 1 st semester it was golden tickets.

Reaching the Buried Treasure Be Consistent Be Clear & Concise – teachers want information but they lack the time to really study it. Efficiency is key Buy-in sometimes comes in weird ways Remember: ESD is all about the Children! Celebrate their Successes!