Advancing Assessment Literacy Data Informed Decision Making III: Creating Action Plans

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 2 Data-Driven Decision Making Improvement Cycle 1. Find the data – “Treasure Hunt” 5. Identify Specific Strategies to Achieve Goals 4. Goal Setting and Revision 3. Needs Analysis 2. Data Analysis and Strength Finder 7. Action Plan, Schedule, REVIEW 6. Determine Results Indicators (White, 2005)

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 3 Action Planning This module is going to examine the processes in steps 5, 6 and 7 of White’s Data- Driven Decision Making Improvement Cycle. 5. Identify Specific Strategies to Achieve Goals 7. Action Plan, Schedule, REVIEW 6. Determine Results Indicators White, S. H. (2005). Beyond the numbers: Making data work for teachers & school leaders. Englewood, CO: Advanced Learning Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 4 Four Tasks of Action Planning 1.Decide on an instructional strategy or strategies. 2.Agree on what your plan will look like in classrooms. 3.Put the plan down on paper. 4.Plan how you will know if the plan is working. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 5 Decide on an Instructional Strategy or Strategies Decide on an instructional strategy or strategies that will solve the problem of practice you identified through your analysis of student and teacher data. The instructional strategy your team commits to is the heart of the action plan. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 6 Agree on What Your Plan Will Look Like in Classrooms Your team can reach a shared understanding of the strategy by carefully describing what team members would expect to see teachers and students doing if the plan were implemented well. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 7 Put the Plan Down on Paper By documenting team members’ roles and responsibilities and specifying the concrete steps that need to occur, you build internal accountability for making the plan work. Identifying the professional development time and instruction your team will need and including it in your action plan lets teachers know they will be supported through the process of instructional improvement. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 8 Plan How You Will Know if the Plan is Working Before implementing your plan, it is important to determine what type of student outcome data you will need to collect in order to understand whether students are indeed learning more. This will be a separate workshop following this one. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 9 Decide on Instructional Strategies Using the goals set in the previous module, brainstorm potential instructional and learning strategies to achieve the goal. Place the goal in the center of the supplied template for your brainstorming. If you are unfamiliar with strategies, go to and type in the name of the subject (math) or broad category (cooperative learning) you are looking for. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 10 Research Instructional Strategies Once you have completed brainstorming strategies, conduct some research on the effectiveness of those strategies. Use the supplied template to make notes on each. The following website is a good place to quickly do some research:

11 Impact/Feasibility Once you have completed your brainstorming, conduct an impact/feasibility analysis of your ideas. Impact refers to the degree to which a strategy will make a difference in the learning of students. A high impact strategy will make the greatest difference in learning for the broadest population of students. Feasibility refers to the practical supports that are in place such as time, funding, scheduling, etc. StrategyImpactFeasibility Activate prior knowledge before reading new texts. High Adopt new curriculum materials MediumLow Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. When done, choose the strategy that will have the greatest impact and is most feasible to implement.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 12 Agree on What Your Plan Will Look Like in Classrooms Once you have decided on teaching/ learning strategies to use, implementation indicators need to be identified. On the following table, indicate what it will look like and sound like for teachers, students, classrooms, and student work if the strategy is being successfully implemented. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

IMPLEMENTATION INDICATORS Before Reading: Activating Prior Knowledge What we will see and hear in classrooms Teachers  Teachers will provide structured prompts to elicit prior knowledge.  Teachers will bridge the prior knowledge of students to the material being read. Students  Students will be telling stories.  Students will write in their journals.  Students will be graphically representing connections. Classrooms  Noise, as students share stories.  Graphic representations posted on the wall. Student Work  Higher level of connection to text being read.  Higher level of insight in responses to text. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 14 Writing Out The Plan Using the supplied template, begin to draft the details of the plan as you work to achieving your goal. The supplied template is only a suggestion – you may create your own or use another of your own design. Boudette, K., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 15 Implications/Reflections Thinking about what you’ve planned so far, in what ways might this affect the daily work life of staff? Of students? Find a partner and discuss your thoughts.

Advancing Assessment Literacy Modules: Data Informed Decision Making III (February 2008) 16 Next Steps Assessing progress within the plan is the focus of the next module in this series and should be completed as soon as possible after the completion of this module.