INSTRUCTIONAL DATA TEAMS

A Teacher-Centered Approach to Instructional Data Teams

Portions adapted from MWasta, ALareau and LLC

THE STUDENT CENTERED WAY…

Collect and chart data

Analyze student

work

Set SMART goal

Brainstorm and

Identify Instruction

al Strategies

Determine results

indicators

THE TEACHER CENTERED WAY…

Identifying the

Instructional Issue

Identifying the

Instructional Practice

Issue

Developing a Plan of Action

Identifying Measures of Improveme

nt

ALIGNING TO BENEFIT TEACHER PRACTICE AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Identify the Instructional Issue through student work analysis

Identify Instructional Practice Issue –

brainstorm and select instructional strategies

Develop a plan of action

Determine results

indicators

Progress monitor

Celebrate successes

Collect and chart data and set your SMART goal

Problem of

Practice

THE LEADERSHIP & LEARNING CENTER MATRIX (REEVES)

Effects/Results (stud.out.)

LuckyHigh results, low understanding of antecedentsReplication of success unlikely

LeadingHigh results, high understanding of antecedentsReplication of success likely

LosingLow results, low understanding of antecedentsReplication of failure likely

LearningLow results, high understanding of antecedentsReplication of mistakes unlikely

Antecedents/Cause Data (Adult Actions)

PRINCIPLES OF THE MATRIX

1. Student outcomes are a direct result of the actions of the adults.

2. If we get the adult actions right, the student outcomes will follow.

3. Collect more data on adult actions.4. If the adult action doesn’t result in

improved student outcomes, stop doing it.

5. If the adult action results in improved student outcomes, continue it and make it better.

LEARNER CENTERED PROBLEM

a problem of understanding or

skill that underlies student performance on assessments.

The problem is about LEARNING not that the learners are the problem.

This is about a problem experienced by many students and if solved, would help meet your larger goals for students.

( A. Lareau adapted from Data Wise Murnane et.al. 2010)

PROBLEM OF PRACTICE an expression of the student learning

problem and the teaching related to that problem, and is an integration of analysis of both assessment and instructional data.

The problem of practice should Include learning and teachingBe specific and fine grainedBe a problem within the school’s controlBe a problem that if solved will mean

progress toward some larger goal( A. Lareau adapted from Data Wise Murnane et.al. 2010)

THE INSTRUCTIONAL CORE (ELMORE)

Student

Content

Teacher

Teacher Centered Instructional Data

Teams

Process & Procedures( Turning theory into practice)

FOCUSING ON THE WORK OF THE ADULTS IN THE SYSTEM

Compare the amount of data that we collect on students to the amount of data that we collect on the actions of the adults.

If the adults do the right things, student outcomes will take care of themselves.

It’s all about the adults!

“ There are only three ways to improve student learning to scale

…increase the level of knowledge and skill that the teacher brings to the instructional process

…increase the level and complexity of the content that students are asked to learn

… change the role of the student in the instructional process.”

City, E.A., Elmore, R.F., Firaman, S.E., Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional Rounds in Education. Harvard Educational Press. P.24.

TRANSITION

Student Deficit model Instruction deficit model

Some will… Some won’t

Medical model … identify deficits in student – “Handicapped”

Data-driven decision-making as a student deficit model

All will

Combining true medical model and data-driven decision-making

Data/diagnostics on student(s) only to inform the changes required in our treatment/practice.

A SUBTLE BUT SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE

Teaching Decoding skills Teaching Decoding Skills

1. ELL students in grades 1 & 2 do not know how to decode very well.

2. There is a deficit in the ability of ELL students to learn decoding skills.

3. Give ELL students extra help in learning decoding skills.

4. Move on

1. ELL students in grades 1 & 2 do not know how to decode very well.

2. We don’t know how to teach decoding skills to students who do not have a foundation in English.

3. Learn ways to teach decoding skills to ELL students.

4. Implement new instruction.

A SUBTLE BUT SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE

Graphing Lines Graphing Lines

1. Students struggle learning to graph lines.

2. The reason is a lack of prerequisite skills.

3. Complain about previous teachers and lack of student effort.

4. Give poor grades in graphing unit.

5. Move on

1. Students struggle learning to graph lines.

2. The reason is lack of prerequisite skills.

3. We don’t know how to teach graphing lines to students with poor prerequisite skills.

4. Learn different ways to teach graphing lines.

5. Develop a plan. 6. Implement plan.

PHASES IN THE PROCESS

I. Collect and chart data and set a SMART goal

II. Identifying the Instructional Issue through student work analysis

III. Identifying the Instructional Practice Issue- brainstorm and select instructional strategies

IV. Developing a Plan of Action- determine results indicators

V. Identifying Measures of Improvement- progress monitor

VI. CELEBRATE successes

COLLECT AND CHART DATA AND SET YOUR SMART GOALData Collector Team Report

Grade/ Content_______________ Step 1: (5 minutes) Examine Collected and charted data: ELA/ Writing/ Math/ Science CCSS _______: ___________________________________________________ **Data – Sharing effect data that is a result of an assessment before instruction has taken place. Data team members are encouraged to complete this chart prior to the meeting to maximize team collaboration time- review at start of meeting. Name of Common Assessment used (if applicable): Teacher’s Names

# Students assessed

# and names of Students at or above goal

% Students at or above goal

# of students below goal

# and Names of Students likely to be Goal at end of instructional time –Already Close-(“bubble” / proficient kids)

# and Names of Students likely to be Goal at end of instructional time – Far to go(close to proficient, higher basic)

# of students not likely to be goal – Intervention Group and in need of extensive support(basic/ below basic)

   

   

  

  

  

     

   

  

  

    

     

   

  

  

  

       

  

             

 Totals:

             

And … (7 minutes) Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time bound) Based on charting the data and knowledge based on examining student work, identify 1 or 2 S.M.A.R.T goals. S.M.A.R.T goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. Goal #1: The % of students scoring goal and higher in ______________ will increase from ____ %/ ____ students to _____%/ _____ students by the end of 4 weeks as measured by ________________ administered on/ before ____________________.

IDENTIFYING THE INSTRUCTIONAL ISSUE THROUGH

STUDENT WORK ANALYSIS

Using data, identify one of the most important student achievement issues facing your team.• List student achievement issues we

are concerned about• Prioritize the list• Select the three top issues• Collect data to document the issue

TIPS FOR ANALYZING STUDENT WORK…LET’S TALK POST ITS AND PROTOCOLS!

Step 2: (13 minutes) Identify Instructional Issue through analysis of student work: Examination of actual student work on the assessment for the purpose of identifying strengths as well as challenges. Teams should analyze common assessment student work to identify the skills, concepts and content that students know and don’t know. Be as specific as possible. Strengths revealed in student work

Identify the skills, concepts and content that students have mastered. These strengths can be used as leverage for growth in other areas.

Challenges revealed in student work Identify the skills, concepts and content that students still need. These challenges provide focus for goal setting and instructional decisions.

Goal and above

Proficient/ Close

Far to go

In need of extensive intervention

IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM OF PRACTICE RELATED TO THE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

ISSUE- BRAINSTORM AND SELECT INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

In looking at how we do our work, what area (s) of our practice are most likely to have an impact on the student achievement issue we identified.

• List all of the possible areas of practice.• Prioritize the areas of practice• Select the area most likely to effect the

student achievement issue.• Define what exemplary practice in this

area looks like• Collect data on our current

implementation of this practice

STRATEGY TALK

General Strategies Specific to groups: Goal+

Close/ Proficient

Far to go

In need of extensive intervention

Step3: (18 Minutes) Identify the Instructional Practice Issue; Brainstorm & Select Instructional Strategies:

DEVELOP A PLAN OF ACTION / DETERMINE RESULTS INDICATORS

Having identified Exemplary practice in our area of concern and having measured our current level of practice against this exemplary standard develop a plan to close the gap.

• Brainstorm how we will move from where we are to where we wish to be

• Acquire needed assistance or resources if necessary

• List specific action steps we will take to move forward

• Include in the plan how we will measure the change in the level of our practice

WHAT ADULT ACTION WILL WE TAKE TO INCREASE STUDENT

ACHIEVEMENT?

Strategy One Results Indicators:

Strategy Two Results Indicators:

IF WE USE ______________ WE EXPECT TO SEE TEACHERS:

IF WE USE ____________ WE EXPECT TO SEE STUDENTS:

IF WE USE _________, WE EXPECT TO SEE TEACHERS: IF WE USE ____________, WE EXPECT TO SEE STUDENTS:

Step 4: (7 Minutes) Develop a Plan of Action/ Identify Results Indicators: What evidence do we expect to see if students are learning with new instruction?

Is it Working?

a. How will we know that the strategies are working? What evidence do we expect to see from students as a result of instruction?

IDENTIFY MEASURES OF IMPROVEMENT

We have hypothesized that if we improve practice X on our part, student performance in Y will improve. We have made a plan to improve our performance and we have included in the plan measures that will document our improvement

We must close the circle by determining what measures of student performance we will use to document that as a result of our improvement in X, students are getting better at Y.

PROGRESS MONITORPROGRESS MONITOR/ FOLLOW-UP MEETING (2 weeks later) Bring student work resulting from new instructional strategies and discuss student work analysis and adult actions (results indicators):

Which teaching strategies are working? How do we know?

What skills/concepts are students still struggling with? As a team, do we need to change our instructional strategies for the next two weeks? How have we enriched learning and challenged proficient students?

CELEBRATE SUCCESSES/ POST ASSESSMENT MEETING

CELEBRATE SUCCESSES/ POST ASSESSMENT MEETING (about 4 weeks later) Collect and Chart Data: After Instruction Collaboration

ELA/ Writing/ Math/ Science CT CCSS____________________________________________________

Members present:___________________________________ Meeting Date:__________

Teacher’sNames

# Stu. assessed

# and names of Stu. at or above goal

% Students at or above goal

Growth   Gain in %

# of stu. below goal

# and Names of Students–Already Close-(“bubble” / proficient kids) 

# and Names of Students Far to go  

# of students not likely to be goal – Intervention Group and in need of extensive support 

    

   

  

  

    

     

    

  

  

      

     

    

  

  

  

         

     

               

 Totals:

               

DID OUR ACTIONS MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR OUR STUDENTS?

Did we reach our SMART goal? _______

The % of students scoring goal and higher in _______________ increased from %/ students to %/ students by the end of 4 weeks as measured by

______________ administered on/ before _____________________________.

The % of students scoring proficient or below in _______________ decreased from %/ students to %/ students by the end of 4 weeks as measured

by ________________ administered on/ before ________________________.

If not, why not? If so, what specific teaching strategies helped students succeed?

Next Steps:

EXAMPLE- IDENTIFYING ISSUES

We are concerned about the following student achievement issues:1. The number of students scoring at

advanced in writing on the CMT2. The number of special education

students scoring at goal on the CMT3. The number of students who are

scoring at exemplary or above on their unit tests in Science

4. The number of students who are actively engaged in Math lessons

EXAMPLE (CONTINUED) We have selected the number of

students scoring at the advanced level in writing as our priority student achievement issue at this time for the following reasons:

• A significant number of students are effected (over the past 3 years we have only averaged 26% of our students reaching this level and we feel many more can)

• Writing at high levels has a broad effect on all academic areas

• We know that this is an area in which we need to grow

EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)…STRATEGY TALK

In looking at our work in relation to students scoring at the advanced level on the CMT we realized the following:

• We don’t have a great understanding of what students have to do to score at advanced vs. goal

• We haven’t spent much time thinking about the explicit teaching we need to do to move students to the advanced level

• We need to become more knowledgeable about this issue and more skilled in the specific instructional techniques required of us to move students to advanced.

EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)…STRATEGY TALK

We have to determine what exemplary practice looks like in this area of writing instruction. To do this we will:

• Study the performance of past students comparing those who scored advanced vs. goal and determine the factors that led to the difference

• Once we identify the differences in student performance between advanced and goal we will have to identify the best instructional practices that will move students from goal to advanced.

• Once we have identified “best practice” in this area, we will measure how we are currently performing.

EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)-PLAN OF ACTION

• To measure how we are currently performing in regard to this “best practice”, we will observe each other’s classes and measure how often and to what degree we are already demonstrating this “best practice” (we suspect we aren’t doing it very often or very well but we want to be sure and we want to create a baseline from which to measure our progress).

EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)-RESULTS INDICATORS

Now that we have identified the gap between our current level of implementation and the “best practice” level of implementation of our writing instruction we will develop a plan to improve our skills:

• We will research numerous writing approaches with particular emphasis on approaches that seem to have a track record of taking students to very high levels of achievement.

• When we have decided on an approach we will practice the techniques and strategies that are recommended

EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)-RESULTS INDICATORS

• We will observe each other in class and use our team time to debrief each other on what we appear to be doing well and what we still aren’t getting.

• We may have to attend a workshop or have at least one of us attend a workshop and bring information back to share.

• We will take periodic measures of our progress toward our ideal ( we may modify our ideal as we acquire new knowledge)

EXAMPLE (CONTINUED)…RESULTS INDICATORS

As we are gathering information on our progress toward our ideal or “best practice” in writing instruction we need to demonstrate that it is having an effect on student outcomes. To that end we will:

• Create mini-assessments that will measure student writing performance.

• We will score the assessments using a rubric that clearly identifies “advanced” performance.

• We will administer these assessments about once every two weeks.

LET’S TRY IT!

I. IDENTIFY THE INSTRUCTIONAL ISSUE

As a team, list a number of student performance issues that have troubled your team.

As a team, come to consensus as to the most significant of these issues.

Document this issue via data.

II. IDENTIFY THE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE ISSUE

Again, as a team, brainstorm the instructional issues or practices that you believe are most closely related to the identified student performance issue. That is, what thing that we

control if we change is most likely to positively effect the student performance issue?

As a team come to consensus as to the most significant practice issue, that if we change, will positively effect the student performance issue.

II. CONTINUED As a team, decide how we will

describe the new level of practice or entirely new practice that we need to reach if we are to effect the student performance issue. (This may take a good deal of time and effort and perhaps a few trials and errors. We may also have to do a bit of research.)

Describe the new practice in as

specific terms as possible (Remember, we have to be able to measure this!).

III. DEVELOP A PLAN OF ACTION

As a team, write out the major actions you will take to accomplish the change in your practice that you believe is most closely related to the student achievement issue.

List the major steps in sequential order, including who is responsible and projected dates.

You are making your best estimate here and understand that some of these details may change.

IV. IDENTIFY MEASURES OF IMPROVEMENT

As a team, describe how you will measure progress on the student achievement issue you identified.

Be as explicit as possible in terms of describing the measure and the process you will use.

Teachers are the most significant variable in

improving outcomes for students, more powerful than

family income, race, color.This process is designed to allow

teachers to work collaboratively,

in a structured manner to focus on improving their collective

practice in service to improving student achievement.

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS…

Erin BaileyProfessional Development Specialist

bailey@educationconnection.org860-567-0863x223