Reflection: Data Driven Instruction

Data is used to determine the school's strengths and weaknesses. Once the school collects and analyzes their data, they can determine school wide goals. The school's goals are compiled to create a School Improvement Plan (SIP) that is largely based on achievement scores on county assessments and state standardized assessments. Every staff member in the school is responsible for meeting the goals of the SIP. At times, this means providing students with direct instruction to the test.

The school that I teach at, New Hampshire Estates ES, is a primary school. It is a Title I school made up of a diverse population. It currently has one of the largest percentages of FARMS in Montgomery County. The majority of our students are ESOL. This population is challenging in terms of data. It is difficult for our students to meet the demands of standardized testing. We consistently struggle to match up with the data of our local schools. This struggle forces us to be completely data driven. Our teams hold a variety of data meetings several times monthly. We collect and share data from MClass, Word Study, CARS, Word Recognition, Oral Fluency and county Unit Math Assessments. We use our data to determine strategies for improving the data. We discuss Kids of Concern and we implement any interventions to assist them. For example, if a student is well below grade level in reading, we would put them in a reading intervention group. The student would be pulled from the classroom for extra reading support. Then they would still receive their guided reading support in the classroom. Basically they would receive a double dose of reading daily. In addition, we discuss teaching strategies to improve our overall data. In math, we create warm ups that are taken almost directly from the Unit Assessment. These warm ups allow our students to see the format of the test and provide them with a better opportunity to score points. In the past we have found both of these strategies to be helpful in improving our school data.

My school uses the MClass data collection tool to keep track of reading data. We have an IDA who uses a county database to compile the data that we collect for spelling, reading comprehension and math. Other than MClass, I personally do not use any sophisticated technology for data collection. It has never been an option at my school. I simply create an Excel spreadsheet or chart for my records. I keep record of a variety of assessments (not limited to what the team shares). Collecting such a great variety of data allows me to see a complete picture of the strengths and weaknesses of my students. Then I can plan whole group and small group instruction accordingly.

Data driven instruction is necessary to meet the goals of the SIP. The data analysis allows staff members to find strengths and weaknesses in their instruction. In many ways it is the best way to show school wide improvement overall.