1. What learner achievement data do I need to collect?
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Module 4
What learner achievement data do I need to collect?
Overview:
This module has been generated in response to observations that schools collect considerable amounts of data about students .
Some of this data relates specifically to learning achievement, some to family and social details, and some to medical, behaviour and attendance information.
The collection and use of this data is seldom rationalised, and often in an effort to gain a clearer picture of an issue, more non-specific data is collected. This sometimes leads to the issue being clouded even further, or leads to wrong assumptions being made.
This module provides a process for reviewing data management and making better use of learner achievement data.
‘We are good at studying the small moments. We don’t often stand back and see if a pattern is emerging’ - Margaret Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science (systems theory).

2. What learner achievement data do I need to collect?
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What learner achievement data do I need to collect?
Presenter’s notes:
This professional development module will take 1 hour.
Allow 5 minutes for the introduction
Allow 5 minutes for the whole group brainstorm
Allow 10 minutes for Activity 1 (small group)
Allow 10 minutes for Activity 2 (whole staff)
Allow 15 minutes for Activity 3 (small group)
Allow 10 minutes for Activity 4 (individual or in pairs)
Allow 5 minutes for Activity 5 (whole school/site refocusing)
Activity 5 will generate information that could be used to develop a data management framework for your school/site.
A subsequent follow up session of 1 hour to discuss the proposed framework is recommended.
Before this session:
Familiarise yourself with this presentation
Ask staff to prepare for this session by focusing on one of their children/students for whom they need more information about their learning patterns
You will need:
Data show and computer for this presentation, or overhead transparencies of the slides
Paper and pens for recording suggestions.

3. The aim of this activity is:
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The aim of this activity is:
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To clarify what is meant by useful data
To refine existing data collection processes so that they become more efficient and useful
Presenter’s notes:
The presentation encourages staff to be strategic in the data they collect.
It also encourages the collection of SACSA Framework related data in the first instance, and discourages the wholesale collection of data from diagnostic tests for all students.
Teacher judgment combined with the analysis of SACSA Standards and Outcomes data should lead to the collection of relevant data for specific students and groups of students - on a needs basis only.

4. Today’s activity will consist of:
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Today’s activity will consist of:
General introduction
Group focus - ‘What do I need to know?’
Looking first at big picture data
Looking at individual student detail
Presenter’s notes:

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As individuals and as a school we need to review the data we collect and why we collect it.
We also need to decide what data is most useful and how it will be shared.
Presenter’s notes:

6. Some of this data is used well
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Schools and teachers in particular generally collect lots of student related data
Some of this data is used well
Some of this data is collected and not used well
Some of this data tells us what we already know:
confirms existing knowledge
triangulates, ie validates
unnecessarily duplicates
Presenter’s notes:
This is the beginning of the general introduction.
Ask the group to brainstorm (5 minutes) a list of data which:
is used well
is collected and not used well
tells us what we already know.

7. Good data generates good information
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Data takes many forms
When it is consistently collected, data creates an emerging pattern or picture of achievement
Good data generates good information
Invalid, unreliable and biased data is unusable data
Presenter’s notes:
Invalid data is data about which valid assumptions cannot be made and therefore is not able to inform planning.
For example:
Allocating significance to an average score in a small school in which the actual achievements are at both ends of the spectrum.
Interpreting the data for a class in a small school incorrectly by discounting that some of its lower achievers were not present for the assessment. In this case the data is valid for that cohort, but not for the whole class.
Making comparisons between data collected through an ‘easy assessment’ and a ‘difficult assessment’ without acknowledging this complexity.
Unreliable data is data that has been collected in unsatisfactory circumstances For example:
Copied answers, assessments conducted when students are distracted or unwell, data that has been collected against different sets of criteria. When data is collected consistently over time, unreliable data will often show up against the trends.
Data collected consistently over time provides useful trend data. Consistently collected data is collected against common criteria and under similar circumstances.

8. Collect only the data you need Focus on quality - not quantity
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Collect only the data you need
Focus on quality - not quantity
Presenter’s notes:
Focus on quality …
For example:
Do I need to record that a child achieved 7/10 for a mixed mental mathematics activity?
What does this data tell me?
Would it be better for the assessment and the data stemming from this assessment to be more specific?
The assessment could relate to a single or a linked set of criteria such as:
perimeter, money, chance, etc in which case the recorded data will become useful data, ie it can be acted upon in subsequent learning programs.

9. Data is used to answer questions about learner achievement.
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Data is used to answer questions about learner achievement.
What I really want to know is...
Presenter’s notes:
Activity:
Allow 10 minutes for this activity
Form small groups
Ask the groups to discuss what they really need to know about their learners’ educational progress
What are the 5 questions that the staff want answered?
Move to the next slide when staff have had a chance to clarify their 5 questions.

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1. Are my students progressing at the ‘expected rate’ described in the SACSA framework?
2. Which students aren’t making the progress I would expect?
- Why aren’t these students progressing?
- What can I/we do to help them?
3. What specific strengths are individual students demonstrating?
- How can I/others foster these further?
4. What specific learning needs are individual students demonstrating?
- How can I/others help these students?
Presenter’s notes:
Activity 2:
Allow 10 minutes for this activity
Refocus as a single group
Show this slide and ask the group how closely their needs match those listed
Draw attention to ‘expected rate’ in question 1. Has the group made reference to a similar concept?
Tell the participants:
The ‘expected rate’ is loosely used to describe the milestones/standards outlined within the SACSA Framework. It is recognised that individual children/students progress at different rates and it is assumed that in the analysis of data, educators’ professional knowledge will enable them to take this into account.
The ‘expected rate’ can also be considered in relation to progress in literacy and numeracy as these are key aspects of development which underpin development of skills and understandings in other areas. Basic Skills Test data is available for students in years 3 and 5, and literacy and numeracy data is available for year 7 students. School Entry Assesment data is available for reception students. ICT Certificate 1 data will be available for students in year 10. This data will complement SACSA outcomes data.
It is important to keep the focus of data collection in perspective and to ensure that data relating to other aspects of development (not only literacy and numeracy) is also collected.
Student progress can be examined in both short and long term contexts.
A whole school data management process to which all staff contribute needs to be established before long term progress can be reliably analysed and gauged. Long term progress spans 2 or more years and therefore usually requires the collection of consistent data by more than one teacher. This requires staff collaboration.

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The SACSA Framework provides a mechanism for gauging student development across all of the 8 Learning Areas, incorporating Essential Learnings, Equity Cross-curriculum Perspectives and EVE (Enterprise and Vocational Education).
The SACSA Framework provides a means of assessing general progress. It is not designed to provide detailed diagnostic information to support selected students.
Presenter’s notes:

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What SACSA outcomes data is currently being collected and what processes exist for sharing and analysing this information?
(Suggest improvements if these are needed).
Does this information answer the first question, ie: Are my students progressing at the ‘expected rate’?
Presenter’s notes:
Activity 3:
Allow 15 minutes for this activity
Form groups of 4-5 to answer the questions on this slide
It will be important that discussion does not focus on characteristics (eg socio-economic status/sex/(dis)ability) of individuals/groups as a reason for a lack of ‘expected progress’
Record information to pass on to the planning group.

13. The next question might be:
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The next question might be:
Which students are/are not progressing at the ‘expected rate’ and in which aspects of development is this progress expected, advanced or limited?
For these students what more
do I need to know?……...
Presenter’s notes:
Activity 4
Allow 10 minutes for this activity
Have each staff member think of a student in his/her class/group and write a series of connected questions about their progress which are puzzling
Ask staff to list the questions they need answered. For example:
1. What factors are impacting on this student’s general development? eg developmental delays.
2. How significant are these issues?
3. What tests have been done?
4. What records/data exist?
5. What support has been provided so far?
6. What progress has been made over time?
7. How and how often will I assess progress and what targets need to be set?
8. Who else needs to know about my concerns/the information I collect?
We collect considerable data about literacy skills and much less about numeracy and other aspects of development. Are these aspects important?

14. Assessment Assessment
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Presenter’s notes:
Activity 5:
Allow 5 minutes for this activity
Form a whole staff group
Ask staff to individually share one of the questions for which they need answers
Ask the group to raise their hand if they listed the same question
Continue until a range has been covered
Note the number of staff members who had similar questions
Use the questions as the basis for developing a data management framework for your school
Give the thoughts/issues to a planning group to shape into a proposal that could be discussed in a subsequent staff meeting, eg what needs to be collected, by whom, when, in what form, how will it be shared, who will have access.