Leadership Standard 2 Reflection: Analyze learning to promote student growth

Standard 2 Reflection: analyze learning to promote student growth

Background

Coming into this the Masters in Teacher Leadership, I had quite a bit of experience analyzing data as it is the bases of decision making in our district.  Additionally, as part of the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Program (TPEP) we need to analyze data from our growth goal. Also, as part of our department time, we look at data from formative and summative assessment to help us improve our instructional practices to promote student growth.  

For example,  In my school district we have a “data party” at the end of the year where we have the opportunity to look at our data as a school, department and individuals.  As we have added interim Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test we have additional opportunities to look at data. At these meetings we are asked to look at the data and then share out what we notice and what we wonder.  The purpose is to improve our teaching practices and promote student growth. The district provides us with several pieces of data for analysis. One of these pieces is data which shows a years worth of growth. This  is presented in a scatter plot. We also get data broken down into the sections of SBAC which are color coded and in chart to show us how we compare to district as well to the rest of our department. As we look at this data we share what we notice as well as what we wonder.  This helps us to know where we need to improve upon our teaching systematically as well as individually,

We are also asked to provide an summary of evidence of learning with our TPEP (Teacher/Principal Evaluation Program)  growth goals each year. In this summary we analyze what worked and what didn’t work in order to improve upon our teaching practices as well as to promote student growth.  Additionally, as I have been observed by my principal he has prompted me through questions to promote student growth in my room.

Lastly, in our department meetings we not only look at what is coming up, but also have time as a group to reflect upon past lessons to see what worked, didn’t work or needed to be tweaked.  We also have used our department time to work on formative assessments as well as reflecting and analyzing those assessments to make informed decisions of how to move forward with that information.  

Learning and Applied Practice

During the time that I have been in my Teacher Leadership master program I have had the opportunity to analyze my students’ learning in order to promote student growth.   This began with my action research action research project. For my action research project I chose to investigate strategies that would help my students look at feedback provided for them from me or their peers and improve upon their writing in my classroom.  At the end of this process I wrote up my reflection and analysis of the project. Using this information helped be to see what worked, what needed to be tweaked and what didn’t work so that I could change my instructional practices as necessary to promote student growth.  As a result of doing this project I will be

* Purposely embed opportunities for my students to reflect on their writing by themselves, with partners and with me.

* Provide checklist as well as clear rubrics to make it easier for students to self assess themselves and others.

* Continue to let students revise their assessments after they have been scored and receive feedback from me.

* Use the action research model to help me improve in other areas of my teaching since I found it to be a very systemic approach to finding solutions.

Also, I had the opportunity to take write lesson plans and then video tape those lessons.  Even though it felt uncomfortable it gave me another tool to analyze my student learning so I could help my students grow.  While in my Survey of Instructional Strategies class we had the opportunity to not only analyze our own lesson plans and videos, but also of others in our class.  This helped us not only with our peer feedback skills, but also with our analyzing and reflection skills so we can improve upon our instructional practices to order to promote student growth.

Then in my Applying School Research class we practiced analyzing SBAC data from Northshore School District.  With this assignment we were given SBAC  data from Northshore where they were trying to see if there was a correlation between Free and Reduced Lunches and SBAC scores.  We were asked to tell what we noticed and

what did we wonder as we looked at their data. Then we compared their data with a like school in our district and asked additional questions.  

Issues Encountered/Problems of Practice Addressed

In my Accomplished Teacher class we practiced giving feedback to one another and then we had analyze how this process went so we could be aware of what we needed to improve upon when counseling others on their teaching practices.  I think my biggest take away was to work on saying “I” or giving suggestions since I tended to catch myself doing this, so I really appreciated the sentence starters that we were able to use during

the time were were practicing our “coaching moves”. The first time around I found myself focusing on what questions I was going to ask my partner more than what he was saying.   I also had a hard time finding a time to ask my questions as I was trying to listen and not interrupt. The good thing was that he was able to come up with his next moves with the

student he was talking about thanks to those question stems.The second time around, like many, I found that I was able to listen a bit more rather than thinking of what questions I was going to use.  I am wondering if this is because of the prompt in that we had common experiences with how level 1 and 2 students are helped within our schools. Therefore, I could prepare what questions I would most likely use before the discussion.

One issue that I have encountered while analyzing data to promote student learning is that it is really easy to over analyze the data.  It also easy for us to be hard on ourselves and not realize that we are analyzing the data to show growth not compete. So we need to give ourselves some grace when analyzing our data.  We also need to make sure that we are not looking at too many changes at one time, so we can focus on what has made or not made a difference in our instructional practices.

How Analyzing Learning to Promote Student Growth is Supported by Research

“Meaningful use of data in school means giving all students the opportunity to achieve at high levels” (Datnow & Park, 2015, pg. 49).  In order to move forward and grow and to create a culture in our schools where this happens we need to provide the support and time to look at the data deeply.  There are five principles that need to be addressed in order for this to happen. First, we need to know not only how to make changes in our

classrooms, but also the “why” needs to be communicated clearly.    The staff also has to

be committed to making necessary changes, even if out of compliance instead buying into the change. Secondly, we need dedicate time to make well-informed instructional decisions and not rush those decisions because digging deeper into the data will help us to see the root causes versus just asking a lot of questions.  By doing so we can see ways

that we can address students needs as well as their misconceptions. Thirdly, we need to use caution with developing our solutions to make sure they promote growth rather than limit growth. Fourthly, “student engagement needs to be at the heart of efforts to improve instruction” (Datnow & Park, 2015, pg 52). We can promote this through “regularly observing classroom lesson and meeting with teachers to discuss practices (Datnow & Park, 2015, pg. 53).  Using this data will move us “toward a more holistic portrait of students growth that takes into account academic, social and civic engagement” (Datnow & Park, 2015, pg. 52) which will promote student growth. Lastly, we need to use professional judgement, as teacher is an art instead of a science and we want to make sure that all students get the best education. As we look at data, not only do we need to

look at our educational practices, but we need to effective look at our data in order to make changes that will impact the learning of all of our students.  

Overall Impact

For me,  the research that I had been previously taught through district trainings was reinforced through my classwork in the Teacher Leadership masters program and helped to remind me, as teachers need to take the time to not only take data, but to reflect and analyze that data to  promote growth in our students. It also reinforced the need to introduce one thing at a time so one can know if that strategy made a difference or was it another factor. As i move forward I plan to continue to use the “What do you notice? What do you wonder?” questions to  lead discussions around analyzing data to get more commitment from colleagues to make needed changes in our instructional practices.

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