A Pile Of Data

I have known that at my school site we need to develop a plan for looking at student data and making use of that valuable information that can assist us in teaching students and helping them develop. I am glad to have the opportunity to learn about utilizing data with the guidance of my professor and my PLC, as the main focus of this course: EDL 690.  The picture to the left is my pile of data.  It is proving to be challenging to glean significance across the various types of data, but I'm finding that the more I sit with it and keep coming back to it, more and more insight occurs, and that insight often leads me to gather another type of data or investigate reasons behind the data.


To get started, I put out a general announcement to the teachers at my site, asking if there were any groups of students they knew were struggling in any area, and if so, to let me know so that I might include them in my data analysis project.  After a few conversations, it was decided I would look at data for the 6th graders at our site, as many of them are struggling academically.  Below are the answers to the questions for our first check-in:



What type of student achievement data did you analyze?
I began with asking our registrar to run a few reports for me.  She printed transcripts for all 6th graders, as well as any state testing data available for 6th graders as well.  I also pulled assessment reports for each student from our online courseware program, Accellus, in which students work weekly in language arts and math.
What were the main findings generated from the analysis of your data?
My main findings are a bit murky in this first blush look at hard data.  I am finding that grades reported to student transcripts for middle school do not often match the data on test scores.  My guess is that, especially since parents, as homeschool "teachers" have input on their students' grades, suggest grades based on effort rather than grade level competency. I'm finding that our attendance data isn't all that helpful since ADA for homeschool is calculated, not by seat time, but by assignments turned in.  I am going to have to get creative here as I look for more hard data that might provide insight.  I think the data I have from assessments taken on Accellus might be the most helpful because it is very specific to topics studied, and shows level of competency.

Share 5 questions that the data sparked.

1. Why are some students at grade level in math while some are not?
2. What is the difference in home life and support for students performing at grade level and those who are not?
3. Were students who are emerging as a target group to study all home-schooled completely up until this point? (Most of our elementary students have been home schooled)
4. In looking at student transcripts, how accurate are grades since parents have input as homeschool teachers? (grades posted don't always match testing data- are grades on report cards reflective of effort instead of competency?)
5. Will soft data (observations, reading cum file) be more helpful and informative than the hard data I have?

Name 3 priority needs and mention which one of these seemed most urgent.

1. Remediation and intervention needs to be put in place for students who are performing significantly below grade level in math.
2. There seems to be a correlation between consistent under performance in the core subjects of math and science (CST data).
3. Some of our students have moved schools several times.  It seems important to investigate the various reasons for these moves and the correlation between these moves and grade level performance in core subject areas.

Which target group did you select to work with and why?
I chose a target group consisting of seven 6th graders to study, as they are performing well below grade level in math.  Parents and teachers are concerned, and I'm hoping some data analysis might provide some insight that leads to ideas for remediation and intervention.

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