In Service

If my building principal had pulled me aside ten years ago and asked me how I used data to inform my instruction, I would have handed her my latest stack of unit tests or essays and explained that at the end of each unit, I tried to get a handle on what my students were still struggling with so that I could *try* to reteach it in the next unit of study.

But of course, time was always an issue.

And I had too many kids.

And most of them were apathetic. None of them did their homework. And their parents didn’t care and our class periods were too short and I had to get them ready for the state assessments and last year’s teacher didn’t prepare them well enough and I needed new resources and I was being pulled out of my classroom too often and the temperature was too warm in my room and my computer printer was jammed and I was trying to differentiate my cooperative learning-driven literature circle. That was differentiated. With the differentiation. Cooperatively.

*Sigh*

And anyway shouldn’t the kids have COME to me having learned this material already? Hmmmm?

It’s funny, the perspective you develop when you step out of the classroom and into the role of staff developer. It’s been an education, and some days, I truly do wish that I could go back and do it all over again. Better. I think everyone in my position does. And if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the definition of “better” is always, well……getting better. Evolving. Some people are frightened by that. I find it exciting.

The notion of using data to inform instruction is something that has moved well beyond the district office planning room and into classrooms across our region. Teachers who were once skeptical or overwhelmed by data-driven conversations and processes are now considering how the use of data might actually help them target areas of student need with better precision, align their instruction, and provide rich opportunities for collaborative discussion that might truly create meaningful change. The fact of the matter is this: when instructional decisions are based on evidence, the teacher’s ability to respond effectively becomes a simpler road to travel.

I began teaching two years before the first waves of the English Language Arts assessment crashed upon the shores of New York State. I was a proponet of Nancy Atwell’s workshop model, performance-based assessment, and cooperative learning. I truly believed that if I were to distribute a multiple-choice test in my classroom, I would then have to sit back and plug my ears as my students’ brain cells erupted in shrieks of pain before receeding to their ultimate demise.

You might say I had some strong opinions. I’m sure I was a joy to work with.

At any rate, the notion of using data during that time was something lost on me and every other teacher I knew. It just wasn’t done, and it didn’t have to be. Accountability was a distant nightmare for those of us in the classroom at that time. In fact, the first time that I was asked to consider data was in reaction to the NYS Assessments. And it wasn’t fun. For anyone. And all of us, everywhere, were doing it.

Unfortunately, that early trauma still lingers, and each time I use the dreaded *D* word with teachers today, I can practically hear their jaws clench as they brace themselves against another blow. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Using data to inform instruction gives teachers better information about what their students need and how well their curriculum and instruction is providing it. Gathering data, having conversations about it, and forming pro-active responses to the conclusions drawn puts teachers in better control of their practice. It eliminates the fear of the unknown and the frustration that so many teachers feel when it dawns on them that they spend a good deal of time firing shots at a target that seems to keep moving.

When I roll out assessment data to teachers, I’m often confronted with justified skepticism over what the assessment is TRULY testing. Some teachers still feel that if they focus on drilling the content of the test, their scores will improve. Others feel that if they focus on test-taking strategies, their students will have it made on testing day. And sadly, some teachers have resigned themselves to the perception that SED is just trying to “trick” their students, confuse them…..abuse them.

How do we teach well in a standards-based, data-driven climate? How do we continue to deliver rich curriculum that engages students and inspires teachers to want to be in their classrooms? These are important questions to consider, and I don’t claim to know the answers. I am, however, willing to share what I’ve learned about better practices (understanding, again, that “better” just keeps getting “better”), and I plan to do that over the next several entries.

What I do feel certain about is this: using data to inform instruction seems to make a lot of sense. And data are defined well beyond assessment scores. Data goes much deeper than the reports used by the folks in district offices. The most important data is classroom data. Data can be gathered about anything.

Understanding which data you might want to gather is key. And that’s where I’ll pick things up next time.