Data Analysis

The next area I am going to reflect on is Data Analysis in preparation for that first administrative job. Now, I happen to have experience in this area in the current school where I teach. We are a small prek-8 public school in New Jersey. I had the opportunity to pick up several administrative roles over the last several years, and data analysis was one of them.

I had the task of taking the returned state test scores and putting together a presentation for the Superintendent. This presentation would have the current scores along with the scores from the last few years. This allowed us to track a group over several years across several teachers and of course how the students fared certain teacher's classes. I was able to do this while still being a member of our association because I was always professional while handling the information in front of me.

In addition, we were able to dig deeper into the numbers as well. I am a systems guy. Meaning, I do not blame people (students included) without first looking at the systems/procedures/resources in place first. In my presentation, I was able to show that over the last few years, for example, our students scored low in working with nonfiction writing. Before blaming the teachers on why this was not being taught, I asked if they felt they had adequate resources to implement this more for next year. Also, I wanted to see if there was a need for an in-service or professional development to assist in this area.

When it came to math, we noticed that students were stumbling over some of the higher level thinking questions. We did a nice job when the problems were given to the students, but the numbers showed we needed guidance on how to push high order thinking skills in math. Now, we had the two main topics that would push out Professional Learning Communities the following year: working with non-fiction in ELA and creating higher order tasks in math.

In addition to the state tests, we also took the MAP tests. I was involved in assisting teachers with analyzing the results from those tests as well. This was different because it gave me a chance to work with teachers from each grade level. The scores showed us strands certain students needed additional work on, so we worked in conjunction with our Basic Skills teachers to help the students get caught up. This would either be done in class in small groups or as pull outs, depending on scheduling.

I enjoy this part of the job. I like see results from assessments and praising the teachers and students on the areas we did really well in. Also, the numbers can help us focus in on the areas that need improvement as well. I always worked on being extremely professional with my colleagues when talking about numbers. I focused our discussion on what the students were learning, never about what the teacher was or was not doing. The learning is the focus. That is the only way to strive to improve achievement throughout the school.