Data-Driven Decision Making

"The difference between simply teaching and becoming a great teacher is reflective practice."
(Nugent, 2012)

Inspiring Interviewees

• Holly Buchholz, Third Grade Teacher/Data Coordinator
• Heather Yarbrough - Instructional Coach
• Phyllis Vermilyea - Nampa School District PBI Coordinator

Holly

• Data helps keep us from having a jaded vision that things are growing.
• Used data from formative assessments to group students and plan interventions
• Results showed drastic improvement.
• Encouraged me to take it one step at a time (H. Buchholz, personal communication, March 19, 2018).

Heather

• Kinder team analyzed fall IRI data, planned differentiation accordingly, focused on specific skills, results flipped next IRI
• Encourages to begin with CFAs, one at a time, examine feedback that I give
• (H. Yarbrough, personal communication, March 23, 2018)

Phyllis

• Focuses on behavior
• Data drives focus for district
• Analyzes to create problem statement, makes "smart" goal, solution/plan for initial problem
• "Many times we admire the data instead of using it to inform our decisions."
• (P. Vermilyea, personal communication, March 22, 2018)

My Views

• I need to get to work!
• Not as daunting as I imagined
• Need to be willing to be transparent
• Utilize action research to be proactive, not reactive (Pillars, 2012)

Plan of Action

• Start action research right away
• Use data to focus on specific question to guide plan (Pillars, 2012)
• Identify a goal for end result of students (Ross-Fisher, 2008)

Plan Continued

• Conduct research, collecting data throughout (Ross-Fisher, 2008)
• Reflect, asking what went well and what needs to change
• Collaborate
• Modify teaching and research, plan accordingly (Ross-Fisher, 2008)

Practices to Employ

• Action research (Nugget, 2012)
• Use data to drive PD
• Collaborate, gallery walk (H. Yarbrough, personal communication, March 23, 2018)
• Analyze data to create mission and vision of the school (H. Yarbrough, personal communication, March 23, 2018)

Resources

• Nugent, G., Malik, S., & Hollingsworth, S. (2012). A Practical Guide to Action Research for Literacy educators. Washington, DC: Global Operations Unit, International Reading Association

Resources

• Pillars, W. (2012, September 5). What Teachers Need to Know about Action Research. Education Week Teacher. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/09/05/tln_pillars_actionresearch.ht...

Resources

• Ross-Fisher, R. (2008). Action Research to Improve Teaching and Learning. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 44, 4. ProQuest Educational Journals.