Donna Thompson: Renewed Determination

One of the key insights I have gained from attending the Art of Leadership conference at Harvard is related to the efficient and productive use of data. In Texas, we often feel like we’re “testing the kids to death”… with pre-tests and benchmarks and practice tests and mastery tests… not to mention the “real” TAKS test. Sometimes teachers ask, “When am I supposed to teach? I’m so busy testing, I don’t have time to teach!” The truth is that, if we’re not making good use of the data generated by that testing to drive and modify instruction, then, at best, we’re providing our students with practice in test-taking skills and exposing them to test format… and at worst, we’re wasting their energy and time as well as our own.

Several of our speakers have challenged us to adopt a structured program of data disaggregation… and then to “teach our teachers” how to understand what the data “says” and how to use that information to modify or determine instruction. This may mean that the teacher has to re-teach students who didn’t understand. Or it may mean that the teacher has to find a different instructional strategy to reach students who didn’t learn the material in the original presentation method. Of course, the data could show that the students have mastered the information at that level and are ready to be challenged to take instruction and learning to higher levels. In any case, the insights drawn from the disaggregation of the data should determine the teacher’s next course of action in the classroom.

I’ve come out of these sessions with new ideas and a renewed determination with regards to data inspection. I will have a focused plan and will train my teachers how to use that data to our greatest advantage in instructing students. An analogy comes to mind. I think of how the Native Americans reportedly found a valid use for every part of the buffalo they harvested from the plains… how they didn’t let even the smallest part of the animal go to waste. We’ve got to become that focused in using the data generated from our instruction and our assessment of students. We’ve got to look at their answers… the ones they got correct and the ones they missed. We got to examine the questions and the format and the content and the level of thinking involved. We’ve got to let data “drive” our instruction… and let it take us down the road to our goal of successful learning for every child.

Donna Thompson