Activity: Organize, Learn, and Scale

There’s no getting around it: learning your brand of practical data use takes time. But why take more time than you need to? Here’s how to organize your data, learn on the job, and reach the most students, all in one workflow. 

What this Does

How This Can Help Us

This activity connects three steps together in a chain: organize your data sources, use trial and error to learn what helps you the most, and scale with faster data sources. This will reduce the time it takes to find the most practical data. And it will help you act on it intentionally instead of feeling overwhelmed by the possibilities.
 

Instructions

1. Make a list of the data sources available to you. Think broadly. Some examples are quiz scores, observation notes, state testing results, and reports from instructional software. 

2. Sort these data sources into two columns:  In column A, list the data sources that you make and can improve on the job. These can include data sources like cumulative files, which you generally have control over even if you don't create all the data. In column B, list the data sources that someone else (usually a software company or education agency) makes for you. 

3. In the first two weeks, spend the majority of your data work experimenting with the sources in column A. Revise how you use them until they reflect a strong connection between the data and your most important decisions. For more on this, see this past data activity email about the connection between job duties, key decisions, and data sources. 

4. Once you can verbalize how you use the data sources in column A, look to column B for more efficient ways of getting similar data. Try this sentence frame: My favorite way to use data in column A is __________. I can try making that more efficient by experimenting with __________ in column B. 

Examples 

Example: List of Data Sources

• Exit slips
• Behavior trackers 
• Quiz scores 
• Cumulative files

• Online assessments 
• Student record systems 
• Public enrollment data

Example: The Thought Process

Two weeks later . . . 

I learned the exit slip data helped when I could sort the scores in a spreadsheet. The classroom software we use has a lot of reports. I wonder if I can sort scores, not only from last week’s assessment on expressions but also from the one on ratios before that? There might be more opportunities to reteach.

Notes