Data-Goal-Strategy Match

Does your school have good data from multiple sources? What is a good process and screening tool for writing a good goal statement as a result of looking at that data? Finally, how do schools choose the best action plan strategies to accomplish the goal, aligned to the data?

Data

1. Reflect on student results. Analyze and interpret data from multiple forms of assessment over a period of 2-3 years. Be sure to analyze trends that seem to apply to all students as well as trends in performance you observe about student subgroups.
2. Reflect on educational practices. Student results provide insights into the efficacy of teaching and learning for all students as a collective and for sub-populations.
3. Identify the vital few research-based approaches, successful models, or promising ideas that you believe will have the greatest impact on improving the quality of instruction and student learning.
4. Satisfy yourself that your vital few strategies flow logically from your analysis and consist of high leverage strategies that form a coherent instructional roadmap.

The next section contains a menu of tools to help your school process data, write goals, and determine appropriate strategies. Choose the tools that best meet your school's needs at different times during the continuous improvement process.

Guidelines

Making Sense of Your School's WASL Data

Making Sense of Common Assessments

Making Sense of Iowa Test Data

Making Sense of Levels Test Data

Making Sense of the Reading Attitude Survey

Making Sense of the Math Attitude Survey