Module

5-Data-Based Decision Making Objective: This lesson is designed to help school community council members know where to find quality data, how to analyze them, and how to set goals and make plans to make data-driven changes to benefit schoolchildren. Activity: Watch YouTube clips about data. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPMNj26Z85E -Dilbert and boss talk about ways to misinterpret data. (0:20) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ3UrLQP2ok -Sherlock Holmes quote about the necessity of collecting data before making conclusions. (0:10) Ask one of the participants to read aloud the quote from Arthur Conan Doyle. Module Outline School LAND Trust program Available data sources How to analyze SMART Goals and Planning School LAND Trust program School trust lands were set aside as a means to improve school quality. The system for granting lands to support schools was set up by our nations Founders. In Utah there are 3,400,000 acres of land and a State School Fund of $1.2 billion to support public education. These are valuable assets that have been secured and bolstered by the work of dedicated advocates like Margaret Bird. Utah is unique in the way it utilizes these assets. In many states, the funds from school trust lands are simply used to redirect tax dollars from education to other state-funded projects (i.e. construction of roads). In Utah, the funds from school trust lands are given directly to schools via school community councils, which determine the needs of the school they serve and create a plan to meet those needs. Available data sources In order to make an effective plan, a school community councils needs to be able to accurately determine the needs of the school. Otherwise, the plan may overlook the larger problems in the school while focusing on problems of a smaller magnitude. Collecting and analyzing data to make informed decisions is crucial in school improvement.

 What types of data do we have access to as school community council members? Brainstorm Hand out sticky notes and ask the participants to write down two or three sources of data we can request from the principal and analyze. Give participants one minute to write one data source on each sticky note. After the minute is up, ask the participants to stick their notes to a poster or board so that all present can see. Discuss the quality of the data sources and plausibility of collecting the data. How do we analyze? Now that we have collected data, we need to be able to analyze them. We need to find a way to make the data speak, for example by putting them in a scatterplot, a line graph, a bar graph, a pie chart, a total, an average etc. As a school community council, we can now discuss. Do we have a common understanding about what the data tell us? What trends do we see? How do these results compare with national or state standards, past results, or other schools results? SMART goals and planning Once we have used the data to analyze the needs of our students, we can set goals and make plans to make a difference. SMART goals help us to be effective and systematic in improving schools. SMART goals are Specific: Focus on one or two main problems. Measurable: We need to be able to say definitively whether or not we have reached our goal. Measure along the way and at the end. Achievable: We cant solve all of the problems right away. Lets break them down into step-by-step solutions. Realistic: Look at the personnel (not personal) and material costs. Do we have the resources to cover the costs of improvement? If not, where can we look for additional funding? Time-based: We need a timeline and a deadline to implement and achieve. We have to know specifically what we will have done and when we will have it done. As we begin planning, we need to prioritize. Two simple guidelines for prioritization include: We first need to plan for the upkeep of effective practices, then We can plan to improve in deficient areas.

Share with the participants the slides with actual school community council plans. Discuss how each one exemplifies the SMART goal principles by citing examples from the plans that demonstrate whether it is an example or non-example of effective goal setting. Helpful Pointers Although you should allow the participants to examine and discuss the plans, here are some points you can be aware of in each of the slides to help guide the discussion if necessary. Specific, example: The school community council has identified CRT scores from the previous school year and has set a goal to see an increase of 2% in proficient scores. Specific, non-example: The goals and plans in this plan are vague and broad. What is meant by academic success? What does checks and interventions mean? Measurable, example: We will be able to measure the percentage change in number of failing grades as we look at the grade books from teachers. Some schools have an online report generating system that can easily produce a report about the number of failing grades in the school. Also, the Utah Writes program includes specific metrics to score students on performance. Measurable, non-example: Technology use in the classroom and student technological literacy are not measurable. Does technology use include using a basic calculator, or is it limited to use of an iPad? Is technology literacy measured in the number of tweets a student can generate in five minutes? We will not be able to say definitely when we have reached our goal. Achievable, example: As we look at the results of this goal, we can see that for some grades, it was easily achievable, while for others, it was more difficult. In aggregate, the goal appears appropriate since most of the grades were able to meet the goal. Next year, we might try giving each grade level an individualized goal to reach. Achievable, non-example: (Presenters should be aware that this slide includes 4 animations.) This school was not able to meet any of the goals it set, and many of the goals set were far from being reached. It is not bad to aim high in our goal setting, but as we look at these goals, we can safely say that next year, our goals should be adjusted to be more attainable. Realistic, example: This school definitely had the resources it needed in order to achieve its goals. The original plan allowed them a comfortable cushion in case an expense turned out to be larger than expected. They also said they received more funding than expected from the school district for professional development, ending up with such a large ending balance. (Having such a large ending balance is not

necessarily a good thing, but running out of money half way through the project is worse.) Realistic, non-example: Again, this school seems to have skipped its homework, as one of the measurement tests was out of use they were hoping to use to measure progress. Also, some large obstacle must have arisen or the resources were not available to begin with to teach a commercial arts class. Time-based, example: This school has some specific times for when it will implement different steps in its program (i.e. evaluating expansion of the library in October.) Time-based, non-example: This plan includes no mention of when anything will take place. If you dont know when you will do something, you likely will not do it. In this way, many good ideas or plans go unrealized. Share the Good News When we are successful, it is critical to disseminate our successful practices. Other schools are trying to tackle similar problems to yours and would likely appreciate some friendly guidance and ideas about hot to tackle them. It is important to inform educators and parents, as well as community members about success stories we have had in the course of our work. Politicians on both the local and state levels should also be informed about any success in our communities to improve education for schoolchildren. We can spread the good news by creating a blog to post success stories, writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, or writing to the mayor, governor, aldermen, state legislators or Congressmen.