| | Turning data into knowledge
When fully integrated into a school's system, data can be transformed from mere numbers to useful information, and can then contribute to school and district knowledge in effective and meaningful ways. The Promise of Value Added Education in Milwaukee
For the past 7 years, WCER staff have worked with Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) district staff to develop MPS capacity to analyze and use data on students and schools. That partnership has developed a sophisticated system for measuring and tracking the productivity of MPS schools, producing data that forms the core of the district’s school report card and accountability system. Ramping Up Data Expertise
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has pressed school leaders to develop their own ways to translate student testing data into the kinds of information they can use to improve student learning. Richard Halverson says educators now work in a “data-driven paradigm.”
Analyzing data and using it to improve instruction is often abstract and challenging. District-level specialists and external consultants provide some of this expertise. But Halverson sees some of this knowledge within the schools, just waiting to be scaled up. School student service staff, including school psychologists, Title I teacher, special educators, and social workers, have used achievement data for years – long before NCLB. A New Practice Guide for Using Data Effectively
Richard Halverson and colleagues helped produce a guide for the U.S. Department of Education, “Using student achievement data to support instructional decision making.” This practice guide shows how to adapt lessons or assignments in response to students’ needs, how to alter classroom goals or objectives, and how to modify student grouping arrangements.
The guide shows educators how to use common assessment data to improve teaching and learning. Common assessments include annual statewide accountability tests such as those required by NCLB; commercially produced tests administered at multiple points throughout the school year; end-of-course tests administered across schools or districts; and interim tests developed by districts or schools, such as quarterly writing or mathematics prompts. Data-driven Reform Efforts can Improve Achievement Significantly
Large-scale, data-driven reform efforts can lead to significant improvements in student achievement. New findings by Geoffrey Borman and colleagues will help guide the growing movement toward data-driven reform on achievement outcomes. Value-Added Measurement: What It Is and Is Not
A value-added model for evaluation is simply a statistical formula that estimates the contribution of schools, classrooms, teachers, and other educational factors to student achievement. What makes value-added evaluation unique is that it also measures, and controls for, non-school sources of student achievement growth, including, for example, family education, social capital, and household income. Value-added models take into account that different schools serve very different populations of students. |
