Week 3 Reflection - Data Driven Instruction

Our vision for Roberto W. Clemente Middle School states that “we will close the achievement gap, maximize student potential, and teach students about the value of service.” I believe that this would not be possible without analyzing classroom and assessment data for our students and using this data to drive instruction towards our vision.

At our school, we have a plethora of data gathering tools at our disposal. For classrooms, teachers can collect data from assessments, formative and summative, exit cards, gradebooks, activotes, scantrons, or by using quick dip-sticking techniques such as thumbs up, thumbs down. All of these tools can be used to help a teacher decide what objectives are being met and what concepts need to be re-taught and re-assessed.

For content specialists a wider view of the data may be necessary to ensure that your program is alignment with the school improvement plan. Some tools that would be helpful here would be FileMaker, SIMS, excel, Achievement Series, IMS, and MyMCPS. These tools will allow you to look at data by course, No Child Left Behind sub groups, teacher, or any other initiative that would be helpful to departments in meeting the goals set out in the school improvement plan. The content specialist also has the task of making sure students are appropriately placed. By using state and local assessment data, a content specialist can now get an overview of student capabilities and make sure that that student is exposed to a rigorous curriculum that will help challenge his learning

Administrators may need an even broader look at the school data. A goal for our school is improving the climate of the school. Administrators will need to use the same programs outlined above as well as survey data from parents, students, and staff in order to assess the climate of the school. Survey Monkey or Test Pilot might be beneficial here in helping the administrator decide if the school is meeting the needs of its stakeholders.