Читать книгу The Data Coach's Guide to Improving Learning for All Students - Katherine E. Stiles - Страница 11

Beginning in 2003, the Using Data Project, a collaboration between TERC and WestEd, set out to develop, pilot, and field-test a program to provide educators with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions to put school data to work to improve teaching and learning and close achievement gaps. The goal of the project was to prepare education professionals to serve as Data Coaches to lead a process of collaborative inquiry with school-based teams and to influence the culture of schools to be one in which data are used continuously, collaboratively, and effectively to improve teaching and learning. The project had education partners who were instrumental in influencing and shaping the Using Data Process, including Clark County School District (Las Vegas, Nevada) in collaboration with their Local Systemic Change Initiative, Mathematics and Science Education (MASE); several schools serving primarily Native American children on reservations in Arizona in collaboration with the Arizona Rural Systemic Initiative, based at the American Indian Programs at Arizona State University Polytechnic in Mesa, Arizona; and the Stark County Mathematics and Science Partnership, where we focused on seven urban school districts in the Canton, Ohio, area.

In addition, the project conducted two national field tests, one in collaboration with the Education Development Center’s K–12 Science Curriculum Dissemination Center. Field-testers gave us immediate feedback on the materials and the professional development and, in several cases, took the materials and implemented them in schools in which they were working, including schools in Los Angeles, California; Johnson County, Tennessee; and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Although our effort focused on mathematics and science improvement, schools quickly applied the process to all other content areas, demonstrating that the Using Data Process is generic and broadly applicable.

Through the rich experiences and work with our partner schools, the project gleaned a wealth of technical and practical knowledge about how to prepare Data Coaches to work with Data Teams in diverse settings, from large urban areas to mid-size cities to small rural schools. This book is the product of that work. It provides the knowledge and tools produced by the Using Data Project, including how to

 design, implement, and sustain a districtwide (or projectwide) program of continuous improvement in diverse settings;

 prepare Data Coaches to lead Data Teams in collaborative inquiry and high-capacity uses of data;

 keep the focus on equity and closing achievement gaps;

 increase the power, focus, and effectiveness of professional communities;

 use data as a catalyst to powerful conversations about race/ethnicity, class, educational status, gender, and language differences;

 get staff excited about using data regularly and collaboratively;

 apply robust tools for making sense of data; and

 connect data use to instructional improvement and learning results.