USING DATA TO IMPROVE LEARNING FOR ALL STUDENTS Advancing Improvement in Education (AIE) Annual Conference October 18, 2012 Victoria L. Bernhardt Education for the Future

What would it take to ensure student learning increases at every grade level, in every subject area, and with every student? Please discuss at your tables.

 Teachers and administrators must believe that all children can learn.  Schools must honestly review their data, especially classroom.  There must be one vision.  There needs to be one plan to implement the vision. THINGS THAT NEED TO HAPPEN

 Curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessments must be clear and aligned to the standards.  Staff need to collaborate and use student, classroom, and school level data related to standards implementation.

THINGS THAT NEED TO HAPPEN  Staff need professional learning to work differently.  Schools need to rethink their current structures, and avoid add-ons.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE? 1. Beliefs that all children can learn. 2. Schools honestly reviewing their data. 3. One vision. 4. One plan to implement the vision. 5. Curriculum, instructional strategies, and assessments aligned to standards. 6. Staff collaboration and use of data related to standards implementation. 7. Staff professional learning to work differently. 8. Rethinking current structures to avoid add-ons.

Everyone knows—  What is Continuous School Improvement.  What data are important for continuous school improvement.  How that data are important for continuous school improvement.  How to get started. OUTCOMES

THINGS WE KNOW ABOUT IMPROVING STUDENT LEARNING  Quality of classroom instruction is the single greatest predictor of student learning and achievement.  Principal leadership is second... Robert J. Marzano

THINGS WE KNOW ABOUT DATA USE For data to be used to impact classroom instruction, there must be structures in place, to—  Implement a shared schoolwide vision/processes.  Help staffs review data and discuss improving processes.  Have regular, honest collaborations that cause learning.

LEARNING DEFINITION Learning is the process through which experience causes permanent change in knowledge or behavior. Steven Katz

THREE POWERFUL INSIGHTS ABOUT HOW PEOPLE LEARN  To develop competence (i.e., properly learn) in an area of inquiry, people must:  Learn new things (facts, ideas, etc.)  Understand those things in the context of a conceptual framework.  Organize their knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.

Reasons to Collect and Use Data— DATA-INFORMED DECISION MAKING  Find out where you are  To understand how you got there  Plan  Evaluate  Predict

What data do you use in your school, and how do you use the data? What do you need to do to improve your analysis of data?

 Describe the context of the school and school district.  Help us understand all other numbers.  Are used for disaggregating other types of data.  Describe our system and leadership. DEMOGRAPHICS ARE IMPORTANT DATA

 Enrollment  Gender  Ethnicity / Race  Attendance (Absences)  Expulsions/Suspensions  Community data DEMOGRAPHICS

 Language Proficiency  Indicators of Poverty  Special Needs/Exceptionality  IEP (Yes/No)  Drop-Out/Graduation Rates  Program Enrollment DEMOGRAPHICS (Continued)

 School and Teaching Assignment  Qualifications  Years of Teaching Total/School  Gender, Ethnicity  Additional Professional Development STAFF DEMOGRAPHICS

WHAT STUDENT DEMOGRAPHIC DATA ELEMENTS CHANGE WHEN LEADERSHIP CHANGES?  Enrollment  Gender  Ethnicity/Race  Attendance (Absences)  Expulsions  Suspensions  Language Proficiency  Indicators of Poverty  Special Needs/ Exceptionality  IEP (Yes/No)  Drop-Out / Graduation Rates  Program Enrollment

 Help us understand what students, teachers, and parents are perceiving about the learning environment.  We cannot act different from what we value, believe, perceive. PERCEPTIONS ARE IMPORTANT DATA

 Student, Staff, Parents, Alumni Questionnaires  Observations/Focus Groups  Student Interests PERCEPTIONS INCLUDE

PERCEPTIONS What do you suppose students say is the #1 “thing” that has to be in place in order for them to learn?

 Know what students are learning.  Understand what we are teaching.  Determine which students need extra help. STUDENT LEARNING ARE IMPORTANT DATA

STUDENT LEARNING DATA INCLUDE  Universal Screeners  Diagnostic Assessments  Assessments for Learning  Formative Assessments (Progress Monitoring)  Summative Assessments (High Stakes Tests, End of Course)

WHAT DO YOU USE FOR ASSESSMENT?

SCHOOL PROCESSES ARE IMPORTANT DATA  Tell us about the way we work.  Tell us how we get the results we are getting.  Help us know if we have instructional coherence.

SCHOOL PROCESSES INCLUDE   Standards Implementation   Curriculum   Instructional Strategies   Assessment Strategies   Programs/Processes

WHAT PROGRAMS DO YOU USE?

 Instructional Coherence.  A Shared Vision for School Improvement.  Data-Informed Decision Making. PRECONDITIONS FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

HOW DOES A SCHOOL DO IT ALL?  State Standards  Data Teams/PLCs  Response to Intervention (RtI)  College and Career Readiness  Effective Use of Data to Improve Instruction

CREATING A VISION AND MISSION Comprehensive Data Analysis Best Practices Learning

 Curriculum— What we teach.  Instruction— How we teach the curriculum.  Assessment— How we assess learning.  Environment— How each person treats every other person. What are the factors that impact learning for our students?

“Shared visions emerge from personal visions. This is how they derive their energy and how they foster commitment… If people don’t have their own vision, all they can do is ‘sign up’ for someone else’s. The result is compliance, never commitment.” Peter Senge The Fifth Discipline

EXAMPLE SHARED VISION The Mission of Marylin Avenue Elementary School is to enable ALL students to achieve their personal best, and to be respectful, thoughtful, and independent learners.

Page 63 RtI and CSI, Bernhardt and Hebért, 2011

 How will you know the students learned the information?  What are we going to do when students are proficient?  What are we going to do when students are not proficient?

As you reflect on the information you heard today, what can you do to improve student learning for all students in your school? REFLECTION

 Challenge current processes with data.  Inspire a shared vision.  Enable others to act.  Model the way.  Encourage the heart. The Leadership Challenge LEADERSHIP

THANK YOU! Victoria L. Bernhardt Education for the Future