USING DATA TO DRIVE INSTRUCTION AND IMPROVE ACHIEVEMENT:
IMPLEMENTING DATA TEAMS IN RURAL AND SMALL SCHOOLS
Increasingly, schools are using data teams to tackle the challenge of using data to drive instruction. © 2012 Colorado Legacy Foundation. All rights reserved.
USING DATA TO DRIVE INSTRUCTION AND IMPROVE ACHIEVEMENT:
Implementing Data Teams in Rural and Small Schools
IDALIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 2010-11 SCHOOL YEAR Number of Students: 107 Hispanic: 33% White: 63% Economically Disadvantaged: 63% English Language Learners: 33% Idalia School District is on the eastern plains of Colorado and has a total of 165 students, with 85 in grades K-5. Student achievement at Idalia, as measured by CSAP, has been relatively flat for the past three years, with the exception of a slight increase in writing scores.
THE CHALLENGE – IMPLEMENTING DATA TEAMS IN RURAL AND SMALL SCHOOLS
How do teachers know that students have mastered an academic standard? And what does a teacher do when students haven’t mastered a standard? This is one of the most critical challenges facing Colorado educators. There is growing agreement that student achievement data should guide educators as they tackle these challenges, but there are few schools that effectively use data to drive instruction and meet students’ individual academic needs. Increasingly, schools are using data teams to tackle the challenge of using data to drive instruction. Implementing data teams in any school requires thoughtful and deliberate planning. The challenges for rural and small schools in Colorado are particularly unique. Data teams are often comprised of grade level or subject area teachers. But in a small school where there is one math teacher for grades 9-12 or one teacher for all subjects 5-8, it requires a little more creativity to structure a data team. Likewise, rural teachers wear many hats – as track coach, bus driver, even administrative positions – that finding time for data teams to meet weekly is difficult. And like any school embarking on a new initiative, rural data teams will be more successful if there is thoughtful communication throughout implementation so that staff buy into the process and trust the outcomes. Idalia Elementary School is confronting these challenges head on.
LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING CENTER The Leadership and Learning Center offers many useful tools for districts and schools implementing data teams, including templates for collecting and analyzing student achievement data, sample data team meetings, suggestions for configuring data teams, and much more.
IDALIA’S STORY
Through a partnership with the Colorado Legacy Foundation, Idalia’s new superintendent and principal, Tim Krause, and staff from the elementary, middle and high schools participated in one day of training from the Leadership and Learning Center on implementing data teams. Why? According to Mr. Krause, “We weren’t doing the kind of work we knew we could. We were spinning our wheels and going in circles. I used to be a math teacher, and sometimes when you explain a concept to a student and they don’t get it, you just explain it louder. That’s kind of what we were doing. Our district was on priority improvement. Our math and writing scores were bad. Our schedule poorly aligned. There was no collaboration going on between grade levels. We had evolved into a situation where we were doing more of the same failing strategies. We needed to take a step back and do some things differently.”
IDALIA’S PROCESS FOR IMPLEMENTING DATA TEAMS
Step 2: Administer Pre-Test on Priority Areas of Need Step 1:
Step 3:
Identify Priority Areas of Need
“Flood” for Two Weeks
Step 5: Analyze Results of Post-Test and Adjust Instruction
Step 4: Administer Post-Test
IDALIA’S STORY (CONTINUED)
During the training, Idalia staff considered the process by which they would implement data teams across the three schools. They identified student achievement data they already had, how they would use it more effectively, and what additional data they would need in order to make instructional choices. They talked about creating time for data team meetings and how they would bring their colleagues on board.
remarkable, with many students making significant gains and most students making at least small gains.
Encouraged by these results, the elementary staff has continued to work together in data teams. Two teachers have taken the lead in putting together the initial report on achievement and leading a meeting with their teams where they discuss the instructional strategies they will use in order to Following the training, elementary positively affect achievement on teachers began working together a specific standard. In the middle during their common planning of flooding, the team meets again “Implementing time. They created teams that to check in. (Use Sample Data made sense based on their Team Agendas.) They discuss data teams has schedules and grade levels. the instructional strategies that Kindergarten, which is a three are working, those that are less resulted in regular day program, is its own team, effective, and what they need to and deeper while grades 1-2 work together do differently. Although Idalia’s and grades 3-5 work together. elementary teachers had always collaboration and team shared a common planning Their first step was to sit down as a group of K-5 teachers and period, they previously used it for planning.” analyze CSAP and MAPS scores individual planning. Implementing from the previous year in reading data teams has resulted in regular and math. (Use the tool labeled and deeper collaboration and Taking Inventory of Data to help team planning. They often have analyze your data needs.) They identified the school’s short meetings before and after school and during lowest achieving area within each subject. For example, lunch where they include a teacher’s aide and the students performed poorly on number sense at all grade Title I teacher in strategizing and planning. In fact, levels. Teachers decided to focus intently on number according to Mr. Krause, it’s “more than a data team, it’s sense for the next two weeks. The two week period daily collaboration” that wasn’t happening before. For began by assessing students’ current knowledge of example, one day last fall when Mr. Krause stopped in, number sense, which gave staff a baseline of student the teachers were jointly preparing a letter to parents, achievement. For the next two weeks, students were explaining the focus of flooding for the next two weeks, placed in ability groups for an extra hour a day to work what they could expect their child to bring home from on number sense. Idalia calls this “flooding.” (See Idalia’s school, and how parents could help. elementary schedule.) At the end of two weeks, the Idalia understands that this process needs to be reflective students were given the test again. The results were
IDALIA’S STORY (CONTINUED)
and based on continuous improvement to be successful. Teachers want an assessment that is relatively quick to administer, and is specific to the strand within the standard that they are focused on. Therefore, they are beginning to develop their own formative assessments. (Use tools labeled Common Assessments and Sample Common Assessments.) Along the way, teachers are asking themselves important questions: How are we going to generate our pre- and post-tests? Who is going to generate and administer them? How are we going to know they are authentic and focused? How will we ensure that we are not just writing out a set of problems, teaching how to do them and feeling like we’ve made gains? “It’s an ongoing process, and something we’ll be
working on for years,” says Mr. Krause. They are also considering using eNetColorado, a free online service for Colorado school districts, which includes a testing module that can generate a short, formative assessment based on standard and grade level. After a partial year of using data teams and flooding at the elementary level, the district is no longer on Priority Improvement. Elementary school teachers have continued to meet weekly in data teams to identify priority areas of need, pre-test, flood, and post-test. They use their common planning time, but also meet after school when needed. “It’s become important enough that they are finding the time,” says Mr. Krause.
PROMISING PRACTICES Based on Idalia’s experience as well as other small schools in Colorado, there are several promising practices that emerge to create the conditions for successful implementation. Set Aside Time for Team Collaboration School districts have used a variety of strategies to find time for data teams to meet. • In Idalia, elementary teachers use their common planning time on almost a daily basis to collaborate. At least weekly, they are focused on examining student achievement data and discussing instructional strategies. Frequently, teachers meet with aides and title teachers after school. • In some schools, staff meetings were eliminated and are now conducted electronically through memo. The time originally set aside for staff meetings is used for data teams instead. • In some Littleton schools, the staff meets after school, and in return, the school grants them an extra day of comp time. • Some school districts that have a four day school week have opted to hold data teams on Friday when school isn’t in session. • Schools could consider implementing early release once or twice a month and use the time without students for data teams.
PROMISING PRACTICES (CONTINUED)
Create Vertical Teams In larger schools, data teams are often comprised of grade specific teachers – the 3rd grade data team, 4th grade data team, etc. In small schools where there is only one teacher in each grade, a different strategy is required. Many small schools, like Idalia, create teams across grade levels. One benefit of vertical teams is that teachers, and therefore students, develop a common instructional language across grade levels, making transitions to new teachers (and students) smoother. Vertical teams can use very similar instructional tools as well, including graphical organizers, adapted for each grade level. Another benefit for data teams across grade levels is that Colorado’s new academic standards are vertically articulated – they are designed to build on each other across grade levels with the ultimate goal of students being college and career ready by the time they graduate from high school. The Colorado Department of Education has created tools to help all school districts implement the new standards. The tools would be particularly useful for vertical data teams. These documents help teachers make connections among all content areas and focus instruction that leads to postsecondary and workforce readiness. • CDE Standards Implementation Toolkit • CDE Vertical Progression Tools Get Staff Buy-In In order for data teams to be successful in increasing student achievement, teachers need to be invested in the process. Often teachers are reluctant to try something outside their comfort zone without another teacher telling them it works. That’s why Mr. Krause created opportunities for his teachers to visit a neighboring district, Genoa-Hugo, to see how they implemented data teams. During the visit, Idalia’s teachers learned that Genoa-Hugo was experiencing a decrease in discipline problems, an increase in parental involvement, and students were making achievement gains. That story convinced Idalia’s teachers that it was worth giving it a shot. “When I put my third grade teacher in touch with Genoa-Hugo’s third grade teachers, who have a common set of shared experiences, the stories resonate, and I find that teachers are more likely to take a risk.” Mr. Krause thinks this is a particularly effective strategy in a small district. Because the teaching staff is small, the opportunity to learn from teachers in other districts expands their professional network.
CONCLUSION
Data teams can be an effective strategy for improving student achievement. There are schools and districts in every corner of Colorado that are at various stages of implementing data teams. To learn more about Idalia’s process, contact Tim Krause (see below). The Colorado Legacy Foundation is also happy to assist districts and schools in making connections with other districts and schools of similar size, student population, or region of the state. Tim Krause Idalia School District idaliasuperintendent@gmail.com School Phone: (970) 354-7298
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Written by: Heather Chikoore, Colorado Legacy Foundation Reviewed by: Angela Baber and Jeri Crispe, Colorado Legacy Foundation and Kara Vandas, Colorado League of Charter Schools Thank you to the staff of Idalia School District, especially Superintendent Tim Krause, for sharing your story. Funded by: The Rose Community Foundation