Data-Driven Dialogue:
A Facilitator’s Guide to Collaborative Inquiry
by Bruce Wellman, M.Ed
Laura Lipton, Ed.D
Second Edition
Copyright © 2025 by Bruce Wellman and Laura Lipton
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction of this book in whole or in part in any form.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wellman, Bruce M., author. | Lipton, Laura, author.
Title: Data-driven dialogue : a facilitator’s guide to collaborative inquiry / by Bruce Wellman, M.Ed; Laura Lipton, Ed.D.
Description: Second edition. | Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, [2024] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2024022377 (print) | LCCN 2024022378 (ebook) | ISBN 9781962188418 (paperback) | ISBN 9781962188425 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Educational evaluation. | Educational planning. | Educational change. | School improvement programs.
Classification: LCC LB2822.75 .W45 2024 (print) | LCC LB2822.75 (ebook) | DDC 370.72/7--dc23/eng/20240703
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024022377
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024022378
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And what is good, Phaedras, And what is not good —
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?
Robert M. Pirsig; Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
A TAPESTRY
Once, an idea
Intricately woven with care and love.
Hearts and hands and minds Combine
Artistry with craftsmanship; Invention with precision.
Fancy made real.
Reality made fancy.
Crafted on a loom of trust and acceptance,
Knowledge mixed with uncertainty, Reflection blended with humility, Passion tempered with humor.
Vibrant hues.
Shot through
With Questions, Gold, purple, deepest blue.
Patterns fold back upon themselves. Creating new patterns
Imagination as infinite variety.
It shelters, but does not insulate. Substantial, but never smothering
Replenishing with its warmth.
Almost so familiar as not to be noticed It surprises and delights with its richness.
PREFACE
“Collaborative inquiry is among the most promising strategies for strengthening teaching and learning. At the same time, it may be one of the most difficult to implement…. To start, schools and districts need to create a shared understanding of the purpose and value of collaborative inquiry among teachers and administrators…. Becoming an effective inquiry team takes patience and persistence. Collaborative inquiry is not for the faint of heart, but it can be well worth the effort.”
—Jane L. David
LEARNINGS FROM OUR LEARNING
In the twelve years since the first publication of Data-Driven Dialogue, we have experienced the struggle and the promise of collaborative inquiry in our work with educators across the country and around the world. This second edition includes our learning from these experiences as well as current research studies that examine data-use by teams, schools, and districts.
WE ARE lEARning thAt
• Data have the potential to both focus and distract. Data become a focal point when teams pursue worthy problems and seek meaningful data to support their inquiries. Data distract or even overwhelm teams when the purposes for engaging with tables, charts, and graphs are not clear. Data selection and the choice of display are critical leadership skills.
• Effective data-based inquiry is about a group’s collaborative capacities, not the data alone. Data teams need a practical toolkit for managing the social, emotional, and cognitive demands of problem solving, decision making, and planning.
• Relationships matter, but the work can’t wait. Well-structured tasks and clear processes develop a team’s relational skills while getting the work done. Productive work is not about how much time is available, but how teams use the time they have.
• Data can be a catalyst for powerful collaboration, but group work with data may stir up tensions. During data explorations teams often confront dearly held practices and traditions that
may no longer be effective. Team members need to develop comfort with conflict as an essential part of the process.
• Leaders make a difference. Productive teams don’t happen by chance. Learning and developing the skills for facilitating powerful collaborative inquiry requires deliberate planning, practice, and reflection.
We have taught the three-phase Collaborative Learning Cycle to hundreds of groups and in many cases actively facilitated the work of teams. This volume reflects our discoveries, offers tips and tools for ensuring success and avoiding common pitfalls, and provides a practical guide for this vital work.
you Will Also Find
• An enhanced verbal and non-verbal toolkit for facilitating collaborative work as well as tips for learning these tools and applying them to your work.
• Links to current research on group development and working with data in the updated References and Resources section.
• Expanded information in the text and specific strategies in the tools section for problem identification and decision making.
• Links to downloadable recording sheets and PowerPoint® direction slides.
As you join us in this learning journey we hope you find this book to be a useful guide and resource as you navigate the challenges of developing high performing data inquiry teams.
—Bruce Wellman
and Laura Lipton
INTRODUCTION
“In
large numbers of schools, and for long periods of time, teachers are colleagues in name only. They work out of sight and hearing of one another, plan and prepare their lessons and materials alone, and struggle on their own to solve most of their instructional, curricular and management problems. Against this almost uniform backdrop of isolated work, some schools stand out for the professional relationship they foster among teachers. These schools, more than others, are organized to permit the sort of reflection...that has been largely absent from professional preparation and professional work in schools. For teachers in such schools, work involves colleagueship of a more substantial sort. Recognition and satisfaction stem not only from being a masterful teacher, but also from being a member of a masterful group.”
—Judith Warren
Little
DATA HAVE NO MEANING
A fundamental premise of this book is the importance of engaging educational practitioners around tough-to-talk-about topics in datadriven conversations. Essential to this collaborative inquiry is the use of data as the focus, and process skills as the means for exchanging viewpoints and building shared understandings. Meaning is imposed through interpretation. How we understand is subjective. Meaning is defined in and by relationship. Even the words “up”/“down”, “large”/ “small”, “close”/“far” can only be defined contextually. A 5’11’’ individual is short if he or she is a member of a professional basketball team.
Consequently, in this world of abstractions, school leaders are wise to approach meaning making as an active, personal, and social process. As such, the words we employ to describe subjective experiences create complex webs of meaning that beg to be explored. Data, in a variety of forms, calibrates our individual perspectives with a potential shared reality. Skilled facilitators shape collaborative cultures, creating structures and processes for understanding. In these forums, individual realities bounce and bump, nest and dovetail, coalescing ultimately in the cultural artifacts expressed as a shared meaning system. Without such intentionally organized opportunities, data becomes something to fear, and to defend against (see Table I.1).
Teachers blaze the path to knowledge generation when pairs, small groups, and entire faculties intentionally and purposefully use data as a source for analyzing progress and proactively planning for improvement.
This point was driven home to us in a conversation with the director of assessment for a medium-sized school system. She was perplexed and a bit stunned by the response she received during a meeting with a district committee charged with analyzing the performance of students in upper elementary mathematics. The data in her tables and graphs were accurate, comprehensive and clearly displayed, yet part way through her presentation, committee members interrupted to explain why the data didn’t tell the whole story, which parts couldn’t possibly be true, and how the positive effects of their efforts were not reflected. What was intended as a well-reasoned, thoughtful, and data-focused session rapidly dissolved into defensiveness, denial, and distracting peripheral comments.
Our colleague’s experience is not uncommon. In our work with school and district teams we find similar patterns and pitfalls. The quest for more data-based planning, problem solving, and decision making often stumbles against limited capacities for engaging in thoughtful interactions. Typically, groups lack process tools, collaborative communication skills, and habits of reflection for talking productively about hard-to-talk-about topics. What seems rational on the surface runs headlong into emotional torrents and confusion. There is a press towards product over process, which often leads to limiting and limited plans. Data presented poorly or prematurely are then perceived as irrelevant or worse as oppressive.
CREATING CONFIDENT DATA USERS
Collaborative school cultures infused with purposeful, data-driven inquiry operate with the assumption that teachers are generators of knowledge about their practice. Meetings become a forum for testing new ideas and exploring research findings in the context of that school. When educators systematically inquire into school or classroom-based issues and concerns, develop research designs, collect and analyze data from multiple sources, and establish and implement plans for change, they plant the seeds of their own professional development. Teachers harvest these seeds in the successes of their students.
While many educators engage in rigorous reflection regarding their own work, most school cultures do not embrace organized, collaborative examination of practice. Thus, in many ways, data-driven dialogue is countercultural. There are a variety of reasons for the lack of collective engagement in problem posing and problem-solving. Foremost, perhaps, are the competing priorities for limited amounts of available time. Educators have responsibilities to their students and to their students’ parents; they must perform a variety of administrative tasks and often complete mountains of required paperwork. Time and energy for professional, data-driven exchanges with colleagues must be carved from the hours assigned to these responsibilities. In addition, many
classroom teachers feel inadequate about the technical and statistical knowledge and skills needed to effectively organize and analyze data. Others bemoan a lack of appropriate and accessible technology.
But perhaps the most imposing roadblocks to a successful journey into data-driven inquiry are the ways in which data have been used. Typically, data are collected for delivery to “someone else.” These unnamed others might include the district office, the local community, or next year’s classroom teacher. They have not been used for selfassessment, problem solving, reflection or discovery. Even worse, data are often used to intimidate and blame, rather than support and improve. Educators see data as something that needs to be gathered, organized,
Table I.1: Guiding Assumptions for Data-Driven Collaborative Inquiry
“The real methodology for system change begins and ends with ongoing, authentic conversations about important questions.”
—Tony Wagner
Data have no meaning. Data are simply information. Individuals and groups create meaning by organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data. Interpretation is subjective; data are objective. Frames of reference—the way we see the world— influence the meaning we derive from the data we collect and select.
Knowledge is both a personal Human beings are meaning-making organisms. Knowledge is socially and a social construction. constructed and individually integrated. We sift experience through personal and social filters, forming beliefs and ways of knowing. Individuals interact with information and with others to shape new understandings from our world and about our world.
There is a reciprocal influence Like societies, organizations have cultures that determine modes of between the culture of the behavior. Cultural artifacts, symbols, and rituals reflect and transmit workplace and the thinking and acceptable and unacceptable patterns and practices for individuals and behavior of its members. groups. The introduction of new behaviors opens opportunities for testing cultural boundaries and shifting organizational norms.
Understanding should precede When confronted with data, individuals and groups often assign planning. causality and determine solutions without clear problem definitions. They seek the comfort of action rather than navigate the discomfort of ambiguity. Skilled groups cultivate purposeful uncertainty as a pathway to understanding before jumping into planning processes.
Cycles of inquiry, Learning occurs when we shift from professional certainty to conscious experimentation, and reflection curiosity, from isolated individual to collaborative community member, accelerate continuous growth and from passive technician to active researcher. The pursuit of and learning. meaningful questions arises from thoughtful data analysis, careful problem framing, and ongoing monitoring of gaps between goal achievement and current conditions.
Norms of data-driven
That we talk in our schools is vitally important in these changing times. collaborative inquiry generate How we talk may be as important. Understanding emerges from continuous improvements. thoughtful inquiry and dialogue about important matters. Such inquiry in student learning is driven by high-quality data derived from internal and external sources. Because data in and of themselves have no meaning, data alone leads to no action. Meaning and action result from collective processes that develop shared commitment to improved student learning.
“The question is how do we come together and think and hear each other in order to touch, and be touched by, the intelligence we need?“
—Jacob Needleman
and submitted to comply with external requirements, rather than as a tool for understanding and improving their own practice. Nancy Love (2001) and her colleagues describe this discrepancy as the difference between being “data givers” and being “data users.” The real work for school leadership is shaping the cultural conditions and facilitating the shift towards responsible, informed, collaborative data users.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Given the current conditions and guiding assumptions outlined above and our experiences working closely with teachers and administrators struggling to make sense of their collective work, we present this volume as a toolkit for focusing and guiding collaborative inquiry, problem solving, decision making, and planning efforts to improve student learning.
The book is designed and written to support both novice and more expert facilitators in their work with school teams. We offer guiding principles, practical tools, field-tested tips, and a three-phase model for structuring, and facilitating data-focused conversations. To find specific facilitator’s tips offered throughout the text, look for this Facilitator’s Tip icon.
When thoughtfully implemented, the tools and the model presented here will increase the sense of psychological safety for group members engaged in collaborative processes. The tools and the model will also provide guidance and increase the confidence and skills of facilitators charged with steering these processes.
WhAt you’ll Find
Beyond this Introduction, this book is organized into eight sections, including six chapters and two sections of additional resources and information. Here is what you’ll find.
ChAPtER onE—ChAngE is thE ContExt: Why WE tAlk
This chapter presents a view of the current conditions and driving forces shaping school improvement efforts. Informed by the literature on leading change, this chapter establishes a context for data-driven dialogue and illuminates some possibilities and pitfalls as practitioners rise to the challenges of continuous improvement.
ChAPtER tWo—FACilitAtivE PAttERns: CRAFting thE ContAinER
This chapter articulates the elements of a high performing team. You’ll find frameworks and tools for developing facilitative skill in orchestrating data-driven dialogue to support school improvement. Strategies and guidelines for creating and sustaining productive work groups and for using data to focus participant attention and energy are presented here. This chapter includes tips for increasing a team’s collaborative capacities and for enhancing facilitation skills.
ChAPtER thREE—A ModEl FoR CollAboRAtivE inquiRy
A three-phase, question-driven model for structuring data-driven conversations, The Collaborative Learning Cycle, is presented in this chapter. You’ll discover the importance of structuring collaborative inquiry, the possibilities and liabilities of each phase—and receive tips to ensure success and avoid pitfalls.
ChAPtER FouR gEtting sMARt About dAtA
“What are data?” “How do we choose what to collect?” “How do we connect our questions with the data that will inform them?” These are some of the questions addressed in this chapter on launching and sustaining an effective data-based pursuit to planning and problem solving. Examples of data sources for naming and framing problems, distinctions between qualitative and quantitative data, the need for multiple data sources, and ideas for creating or selecting assessment instruments fill this chapter. Information on choosing and organizing visually vibrant data displays and for creating data focused conversations is found here as well.
ChAPtER FivE tools FoR tEAMs
This chapter presents an alphabetical list of tools for teams. Each description includes facilitator instructions, process guidelines, and group development strategies. Each strategy description indicates best use within the Collaborative Learning Cycle as well as details about essential management, monitoring, and mediating functions for skillful facilitation. Applications, variations, and extensions, as well as an index organizing the tools by intention, required time, and ideal work group size make this chapter a practical resource for novice and experienced facilitators alike. Look for this icon indicating that a related reproducible resource is available for download.
ChAPtER six lEAding systEMs: stRuCtuREs And CAPACitiEs FoR Continuous sChool iMPRovEMEnt
Organized around a framework that elaborates critical components in complex systems, this chapter establishes the context for datadriven conversations as vital elements within collaborative cultures. This section describes and explores the organizational and individual capacities that support the technological and sociological infrastructures of productive, learning-focused systems.
APPEndix
This Appendix provides technical information related to the topic of data-driven dialogue. Included are a glossary of technical terms related to assessment and statistical analysis, a rubric for group assessment and goal setting, additional strategy descriptions, examples of survey questions, and planning designs for meetings of varying lengths. R
REFEREnCEs And REsouRCEs
Learning is a continuous journey. This section includes an array of print and web resources for further exploration of communication and dialogue, group development, facilitative mastery, and data use in school improvement.
WhAt you Will not Find
This book is not a book about the technical skills necessary for data analysis related to school improvement processes. For example, it does not offer insight into data management systems or methods for statistically analyzing standardized tests. There are a number of excellent volumes in that area listed in the References and Resources section. Nor is this purely a book about facilitation, consensus building, or shared decision-making. Again, the field is so wide and so deep we could not hope to do it justice here. However, you will find additional resources in the References and Resources section to extend and complement what you find here.
CHANGE IS INEVITABLE; GROWTH IS OPTIONAL
Change produces tension. We tend to become comfortable with the known and anxious with the unfamiliar. Nevertheless, the drive towards excellence requires that we take measure of where we are and contrast that assessment with where we want to be. Recognizing the gap offers a choice point; remain static or grow. For some groups, the gap is daunting. Achieving the vision seems impossible—changing the status quo seems hopeless. “If only” or “yes, but” reactions are rampant. “Sure we could teach every child to read at grade level if only there were more support from their parents,” or “Yes, we could shift the schedule to increase opportunities for collaboration but we would have less time for academic prep.” However, the gap between what is and what could be also offers a source of energy for growth. This creative tension is “the force that comes into play at the moment when we acknowledge a vision that is at odds with current reality” (Senge, 2006). It is an energy we must capture, embrace, and cultivate if we are to succeed in creating learning environments that meet the challenges of our times. The shift requires first that the school community is willing to take an honest assessment of the present. This book offers theoretical constructs and practical methods for analyzing the gaps, building cultures of collaboration, creating organizations that thrive in times of change, and inspiring educators to open-mindedly engage with each other to produce optimal learning for all of our students.
“When
we do come together in schools, we do so filled with the fear of being judged because we are in the business of fixing, saving, advising, and setting each other straight. So we find ourselves in these false forms of community in which the things we need to do to generate knowledge together simply aren’t done. They are too risky in school settings where there is so much fear that we don’t tell each other the truth. Instead, we posture or play roles or withdraw into silence in order to stay safe. If we want to create viable alternatives to researchers lobbing information at us we have to come together in community to engage in difficult forms of discourse out of which shared knowledge is generated.”
—Parker Palmer