Читать книгу The Data Coach's Guide to Improving Learning for All Students - Katherine E. Stiles - Страница 43

This chapter discusses how school districts and individual schools lay the groundwork for successful implementation of the Using Data Process. It answers basic questions about what to consider as you get organized for implementation and how to get started: How can collaborative inquiry be integrated into your existing improvement efforts and with other initiatives? How do you build support among key people? Organize Data Teams? Select and prepare Data Coaches? Create time for collaboration? Ensure timely access to robust local data? Based on lessons learned through the Using Data Project, these are the conditions that can make or break the success of collaborative inquiry. The chapter is written for the people responsible for initiating the local Using Data effort, including individual Data Coaches or leaders who are preparing Data Coaches. The following vignette highlights some of the key actions Data Coaches take to get started with collaborative inquiry.

Vignette: Organizing for Collaborative Inquiry—The Data Coach’s Role

The Nevazoh Data Coach generated interest in the Using Data Process when she talked with several key staff and made a short presentation at a faculty meeting in their middle school. The teachers were really intrigued by the process of looking at the school’s demographic data and discussing it. The Data Coach’s sense was that the teachers could have spent at least another hour talking about what they saw. She promised them more opportunities in the future if they wanted them.

She worked out ahead of time that the principal would announce that the Data Coach had support to convene a Data Team from the school to begin planning an effort to use data to improve mathematics teaching and learning and to ask the staff to consider how they would like to be involved. The principal pointed out there would be a Data Team that would meet weekly to collect and analyze data and ultimately make recommendations for action and that all of the staff could be involved in other ways such as attending sessions to gain data literacy skills and analyze data together.

After the meeting, the Data Coach followed up with several of the mathematics and special education teachers and other faculty who seemed enthusiastic about the Using Data Process during the faculty meeting. In one-on-one chats, she asked them what they thought of the idea, what their concerns were, and if they would like to be involved. She took careful note of their questions and concerns, especially when they raised the issue of data usually being used to point fingers at teachers. She realized that the Data Team would need to demonstrate quickly that this was not how it would operate. These conversations, along with a discussion with the principal and mathematics chair, helped the Data Coach think through the possible membership for the Data Team. She was careful to select a manageable group size of 5–10 people representative of the school and diverse in terms of perspective and culture. She invited the following people to form the team:

 The school principal

 Three of the six mathematics teachers, one from each of the three grade levels

 Three of the nine special education teachers, each with a special education inclusion class at one of the three grade levels

 One of the five Title I teachers who was designated for sixth-grade mathematics and had a keen interest in closing the achievement gap in the school

After numerous conversations with each team member and several meetings with the principal, the district mathematics coordinator, and the county educational center’s mathematics leader, the Data Coach helped craft a written agreement that outlined the specific roles and responsibilities for the team as a whole as well as for each individual team member. Everyone involved agreed that the Mathematics Improvement Data Team would have the authority to recommend and lead the implementation of schoolwide changes in the mathematics program, including changes in curriculum, instruction, and local assessment. These recommendations would be made after the Data Team had analyzed a variety of student learning and other data and examined the research to develop an appropriate action plan with clear specifications for ongoing data collection and analysis and monitoring of the action plan’s impact on student learning. The rest of the mathematics faculty would be informed at critical junctures and their input solicited. The district mathematics coordinator, the principal, and the county educational center’s mathematics leader each clarified how and when they would be available for support, and the Data Team was ready to be launched.

As you begin to consider implementing the Using Data Process in your own setting, your biggest question might be “Where can I start?” This chapter discusses seven steps you will take to establish collaborative inquiry within your school(s). They are

1 Make collaborative inquiry an integral part of your school operation and improvement initiatives.

2 Build stakeholder support.

3 Assess and take steps to strengthen a collaborative culture.

4 Select, prepare, and empower Data Coaches.

5 Organize Data Teams.

6 Create time for collaboration.

7 Ensure timely access to robust data sources.