Using Data to Drive Instruction

Jona Henry commented about the Secretary of Education's suggestion that schools use data to drive their educational process. "Teachers and principals have enough to do," she said. "How can they possible do more?" Many years ago, my colleague Sue Cox created what she called a "Customer Feedback Form" with the purpose of finding out how she could improve her instruction in her high school classroom. She created the survey so that it would provide her with objective feedback. She was brave to do this and her students were honest in their responses. As a result of the survey...the students said they wanted her to involve them more in the lessons...translation...less teacher talk. She did this and her classroom performance in terms of student performance improved. Teachers can also have students do simple graphs to track their performance. There is a wonderful book called Quality Fusion by Brynes and Cornesky which talks about more practical ways teachers can use data in the classroom. As a principal, I have used control charts, histograms, affinity diagrims, flow charts and other statistical processes to measure attendance, discipline infractions, grades, etc. Using these processes, I have always included teachers and students. I don't think enough principals use data to involve the people in the process to work on and improve the process using data.

Comments

[Sue Cox]

Sharron Walker, as an admistrator, challenged her teachers to view their students, their parents, and the community as partners in education. In a difficult enviornment her inclusions consistently netted results, most often positive.
This blog should encourage teachers, administrators and clients to examine the current effort to look at and impact education planning realistically and react thoughtfully and honestly.