Disclaimer: This post is for a graduate school (University of Maryland University College) assignment.
The Data Meeting Process Overall
Throughout the Spring 2016 semester I have had the opportunity to work in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) of three dedicated educators. Our data team was made up of the following:
As one can see, this data team not only comes from different counties in Maryland, but different regions within the state as well. On the team we had two teachers from the elementary level and two from the middle school level. I strongly believe that this level of diversity within the group allowed for successful ideas and conversation.
From our very first meeting I could tell that communication would be an essential ingredient for these successes. Being that EDTC 615 is solely an online course, most of us were under the impression that we could complete the work at times that were convenient for us. We soon realized that this would not always be the case.
Rather that using the UMUC site and email as our primary communication tool, our informal conversations, plans for meeting times, and questions were soon moved to a group iMessage/ text message thread. As seen in the image below, this allowed for more consistent and timely feedback. Thanks to this tool we were able to discuss meeting dates and times more easily.
- Steven Garrison - 4th grade, Prince George’s County Public Schools
- Katelynn Ruby-Leftridge - 7th grade, Harford County Public Schools
- LaShawn Brown - Middle School Program Coordinator, Baltimore County Public Schools
- David Dulberger (myself) - 5th grade, Washington County Public Schools
As one can see, this data team not only comes from different counties in Maryland, but different regions within the state as well. On the team we had two teachers from the elementary level and two from the middle school level. I strongly believe that this level of diversity within the group allowed for successful ideas and conversation.
From our very first meeting I could tell that communication would be an essential ingredient for these successes. Being that EDTC 615 is solely an online course, most of us were under the impression that we could complete the work at times that were convenient for us. We soon realized that this would not always be the case.
Rather that using the UMUC site and email as our primary communication tool, our informal conversations, plans for meeting times, and questions were soon moved to a group iMessage/ text message thread. As seen in the image below, this allowed for more consistent and timely feedback. Thanks to this tool we were able to discuss meeting dates and times more easily.
The Target Students
Throughout the entire data meeting process, Steven kept us posted on his students. Just as the initial data described, Steven has a wide range of reading abilities and disabilities within his student population. This seems to be apparent in many urban elementary schools, especially those in urban settings. I was excited about the student data and exploratory question we chose as a group to focus on because I had found similar patterns with my students reading data this year. Specifically these patterns indicated a decrease in certain student's’ lexile scores from Fall to Winter testing. As the semester moved on we were able to brainstorm a comprehensive list of strategies, tools, and evaluation metrics that would ultimately help close this learning gap.
Being a part of a data team with a structured focus and agenda has also been beneficial to me as a learner and teacher as well as Steven’s students. For instance, the course often required us to present the knowledge and experience we gained from data meetings through a collaborative screencast. Due to the nature of these assignments, my group always found it beneficial to write a script and practice. This process forced my group and I to closely share the instructional resources like Front Row, MyOn, Achieve 3000, and Reading A-Z with each other. Explicitly demonstrating these instructional tools for each other was necessary before going on “camera.” I truly feel that the rehearsals and demonstrations have impacted the students. This impact may not have been direct but it certainly has been positive.
Being a part of a data team with a structured focus and agenda has also been beneficial to me as a learner and teacher as well as Steven’s students. For instance, the course often required us to present the knowledge and experience we gained from data meetings through a collaborative screencast. Due to the nature of these assignments, my group always found it beneficial to write a script and practice. This process forced my group and I to closely share the instructional resources like Front Row, MyOn, Achieve 3000, and Reading A-Z with each other. Explicitly demonstrating these instructional tools for each other was necessary before going on “camera.” I truly feel that the rehearsals and demonstrations have impacted the students. This impact may not have been direct but it certainly has been positive.
*These tools were outlined in my final project screen cast I completed a week ago.
Our Goal
As described on our 4th Data Meeting Action Plan Tracking Sheet below, our goal is for the target group of students to receive 12 or more points on our External Evaluation rubric. Since Steven has not had much time to implement the tactic methods our group established during this data meeting, I look forward to hearing from him in a month or so about the hopeful progress his students made.
Future PLCs and Data Teams
I am certain that the experiences I have gained from my EDTC 615 data meetings will help me as an educator and leader in my own school. As I move into my 5th year of teaching next year I will have more and more opportunities to share my expertise with colleagues from my school and county. As we use models like SAMR and TPCK to guide instructional planning, I will also share my experiences with Venables Turning Data into Action model.
Sources
Venables,D.R.(2014). How teachers can turn data into action. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.
