No more random acts of teaching: high levels of achievement are the result of systematic, targeted and purposeful instruction. Without data, instruction becomes a series of well-intentioned but essentially random acts of teaching

Leadership, Nov-Dec, 2001 by Dennis Fox

The skillful use of classroom data allows us to identify strengths and weaknesses in student learning, monitor student progress toward specified goals, make adjustments in instruction, measure the degree to which students meet standards, and distinguish effective from ineffective instructional practice. Without data, instruction becomes a series of well-intentioned but essentially "random acts of teaching."

High levels of student achievement are the result of systematic, targeted and purposeful instruction. Effective instruction depends on the skillful use of classroom assessment data. Ultimately, the degree to which classroom data are used for instructional decision-making depends on the principal.

The principal is the key to creating and maintaining a school in which data are used for instructional decision-making. The degree to which classroom data become part of daily decision-making depends on the principal's ability to: (1) model effective data-driven decision-making; (2) build the capacity of others to use classroom data; (3) make data a priority for decision-making; and (4) create time within existing structures and practices for working with data.

The question is, where does the principal learn to do these things?

Expanding the principal's knowledge and skills in using classroom data

Over the past year, approximately 450 elementary school principals have wrestled with classroom assessment data during the Assessment Institute for Elementary Principals: Using Classroom Data to Improve Student Achievement. This institute is conducted by the Southern California Comprehensive Assistance Center, Los Angeles County Office of Education.

The goals of the two-day institute are to expand the principal's knowledge, skills and confidence in using classroom data; and provide the principal with strategies to build the capacity of others to use classroom data to improve student learning.

To ensure the principal is prepared to return to school ready to implement new skills, he/she is provided with user-friendly tools and strategies for using classroom data, opportunities to analyze a wide range of classroom assessment data and time to practice new skills.

Principals share their needs: How to meet expectations

The assessment institute was developed in response to interviews in which elementary school principals discussed classroom assessment data and how they are used in schools. According to the principals, they were expected to use data in their decision-making, but had never been provided with the necessary knowledge and skills. Similarly, they were expected to promote the use of data among their teachers, but were not taught how to do so. When questioned as to their professional development needs, the principals:

1. Recognized classroom assessment data were critical to instructional decision-making, but they lacked the skills and confidence necessary to discuss the wide range of classroom assessment data generated by their teachers.

2. Emphasized the limitations of one-day professional development sessions, in which there wasn't enough time to practice new skills.

3. Reported they needed user-friendly tools and strategies for working with data, as they and their teachers could not be expected to become experts in statistics.

4. Stated they needed strategies for helping teachers use classroom data for instructional decision-making. They asked for ideas and examples to help them integrate data into their daily work.

5. Stressed the need for professional development tailored for elementary school principals.

6. Insisted strategies and examples focus on teaching and learning.

Tools and strategies

The institute provides tools and strategies the principal can use immediately upon returning to school. Most importantly, the tools and strategies apply to many kinds of learning, data, grade levels, subject areas and scoring systems.

A principal must be prepared to meet with a kindergarten teacher at 9 a.m. to discuss the results of an alphabet recognition test, and then meet with a fourth-grade teacher at 11:30 a.m. to review data from a project on the California missions. After school, the principal must be ready to meet with a third-grade teacher to discuss the results of a recent math test.

To expect the principal to have different strategies for all the different kinds of data that is generated in classrooms is unrealistic. The challenge: provide the principal with strategies that apply to a wide range of classroom data.

Learning and practicing skills for using assessment data

During the institute the principal has many opportunities to learn and practice new skills for using classroom assessment data for instructional decision-making. All the "lessons" begin with the same scenario: A teacher meets with the principal and states, "My students just completed this assessment (assignment, project, task) and here are the results. Now what do I do?"

What does the principal say to the teacher? How does the principal build the teacher's capacity to use data to improve student learning?