Data Walls for Steel Valley Language Arts Teachers

1. Data Walls for Steel Valley Language Arts Teachers By Jodi Geyer, adapted from information provided by Christina Steinbacher-Reed

2. What are Data Walls? • An interactive system for organizing data • A tool to help teachers visualize important student data • A tool to identify and analyze trends

3. What are Data Walls?

4. Specifically, What are Data Walls? • Color-coded notecards given to teachers. • Different colors for every teacher. • Marked with stickers, numbers, and percentages. • Easy to read • Confidential! (Data goes on the front of the card, the student’s name goes on the back, unseen).

5. What Goes on the Notecards • Important student information that may include, but is not limited to: • Demographic data • Attendance • Disciplinary referrals • Standardized test scores • Course grades • IEP data

6. A Sample Card

7. The Card Includes… • 90% The student’s current class grade • 6 marks The number of student absences • Pro Proficient on Keystone Exam • 1511 Score on the Keystone Exam • Purple Sticker Low Socioeconomic Status (free and reduced lunch) • Aqua Sticker IEP • P Student attended Park Elementary School

8. What Data SV Analyzes (So Far) • Low Socioeconomic Status • IEP • Non-white • Park or Barrett Elementary School • Attendance • PSSA or Keystone Score (from most recent test) • GRADE data (GSV)

9. The Cards Are Done, What Next? • Cards are taped to a chalkboard and are organized by grade in class (A, B, C, D, E) • Teachers look at their own notecards (don’t forget, they are color-coded) • Teachers look at their colleagues’ notecards • Trends emerge • Discussions Ensue

10. Data Discussions Thus Far • A ninth grade teacher was surprised that a student with perfect attendance and an advanced PSSA score currently has a C in her class. • An eighth grade teacher noted that one of her students has maintained a 95% A with more than ten absences this year. • A general 11 teacher noticed that almost ½ of his students had no PSSA data.

11. Data Discussions Thus Far • Two eighth grade teachers discussed grades in their classes-why one class has such high grades, the other such low grades. They discussed using a common assessment to drill into the data. • Teachers discussed whether or not their class grades follow a traditional bell curve pattern. • A seventh grade teacher was surprised by the high number of failures in her academic class.

12. Data Discussions Thus Far • Teachers have discussed with their colleagues strategies for reaching specific students. • A teacher who was tracking only his ninth grade students has decided to make notecards for his tenth grade students. • A teacher noticed that none of his “gold star” students have above a C in his class. • Most teachers noticed that the students from one elementary building score higher on tests and have higher class grades than the students from the other building.

13. What Next? • We’ve noticed several areas of concern with our data. Where do we go from here? • A more thorough analysis of GRADE data will take place next month. • Since the GRADE assessment isn’t going away (we are a KtO district), we’re going to use the frequency of this assessment to really dig into the data by examining the six stanines of the assessment. • Teachers will compare GRADE results with class grades.

14. What Next? • Teachers will determine our next steps. As they identify areas of strength and weakness, they will continue to ask questions and analyze the data. • Teachers decide what data to analyze from month to month. • Our meetings take place on the third Thursday of every month. • On the first Thursday of the month, teachers work independently on their data cards.