Moving From "What Happened?" to "What Should We Do?"

Intro/Background

• What Antecedents Are Worth Monitoring? Administatively, what we monitor is what we get- what gets inspected gets respected. However, we can 't monitor everything. What variables in the complex phenomenom called "learning" are worthy of our monitoring efforts? How do we know?

Sources

• Internet Link #1
• Internet Link #2
• What Works In Schools: Marzano et al.
• Book Source #2

Reflections on Data Day

At times, Sweet Home appears to be turning a corner. Over the past three years, we have espoused the mantra "It is about learning, not teaching." We gather data on student learning at many levels and ask teams of teachers to consider "how well the kids did." We focus on the results of our efforts in a "big" way at the end of June each year. We gather huge amounts of data in a short period of time and make graphs that many teachers look at. But do we really do anything with it that makes a real difference for any kids?

White talks about the "rearview mirror" effect. When the results come out, we look at them and celebrate our progress or bemoan their stagnancy. But, once collected and distributed, then what? Do we do anything with that information? Do we know what to do with it?

Reeves talks of the "Learning Leader"- the one that knows what is important and deliberately seeks to foster those conditions that are proven to foster improved student learning. The "Learning Leader" has moved past the "rearview mirror" effect by asking "how did we get these results? What are we doing- or not doing- that leads to these results?" Until our school community gets to regularly asking these questions- we will continue to be either "lucky" or "losing."

The real work for the data is to begin using it to answer the key question: Why do we get the results we get? Consider our HS Social Studies results: 96% passing the Regents/ 81% at Mastery. Sure, the test and conversion table may be inflated. However, this doesn't mask the fact that our results are better than just about any district in WNY including those with more stable, affluent demographics. Why do we get these results? The data we provide teachers on data day only provides a look in the "rear view mirror" showing how the kids did? To get the answers to the fundamental question- we need to start gathering different kinds of information. But what to gather- how do we know where to look and what to look for?

The Importance of Monitoring

Mike Schmoker, in his 2006 book Results Now, outlines the concept of the "buffer"- the cultural tendency to protect and privatize classrooms and classroom instruction. The "buffer" is the unwritten more that the role of the institution and the administration is to protect teachers from outside observation and scrutiny. Given a proper curriculum, this means that the most important work in the learning process is ignored, or allowed to continue unfettered regardless of its effectiveness. If administrators do not purposefully take action to break the buffer, poor teaching is guaranteed to continue. We must change the very nature of teacher work by monitoring those settings and processes that can break down this buffer:

• the quality of the teamwork and collaboration taking place in small teams
• classroom routines and processes such as the posting and clarity of learning goals, the percent of students engaged in classroom activity, how quickly class begins, time on task.
• Instructional strategies employed in classroom settings. Those with the most power and promise include identifying similarities and differences (comparing, classifying, categorizing, analogous thinking) non fiction writing, reading for meaning and summarizing.

If we don't recognize the most important administrative work is getting into classrooms and collaborative team meetings, we will be doomed to the lucky/losing side of the leadership matrix. Monitoring coupled with feedback can have powerful results. But, in order to be effective, monitoring must be preceded by the identification of important learning variables and the communciation and clarification of those factors to the faculty. Then- we've got to get out there. We've got to get into classrooms and meetings and make our observations. We've got to record that data in someway and provide meaningful feedback to teachers on what we saw. It may require scheduling the time in our calendars or requiring weekly reports as a means of accountability but we've got to do it.

Thoughtful Education and Antecedents

What Works

Marzano et al. have identified eleven factors at either the school, classroom or student level that have a strong, positive correlation with learning.

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