Dismantling the Five Common Barriers
to Using Student Performance Data
Barb Storandt, MS.Ed., MS., Manager, Research and Evaluation
Read Part II
Educators confront increasing expectations to embrace data-based instruction and decision making that is informed by student performance on a variety of local and annual assessments. Today, data-based practice means integrating student performance data of all kinds into both instructional and programmatic designs and to assess progress. Despite these expectations and the increasing availability of assessment data, several common barriers can prevent educators from fully realizing the potential that performance data can offer. Further, administrators and teachers are often trained in the principles of teaching and learning so they typically don’t see themselves as experts in data collection, analysis and interpretation. As one superintendent in New York State describes, “Most teachers are not trained as statisticians. A packet full of stats is overwhelming to them."
Implementing any new initiative typically requires one to clearly identify and then overcome barriers that stand between the initiative’s promise and its reality.
Through surveys and case studies conducted across New York State during the spring of 2006, Hezel Associates learned first-hand from administrators and teachers about common barriers to data-based practice. Districts and schools statewide are in various stages of applying data to their work, some are just beginning to think about using data; others are prevented from engaging more fully in data-based practice because they cannot overcome the barriers they face; and a select few have implemented creative strategies for dismantling their barriers to data-based practice. It is these pioneering districts and schools who represent the State’s leaders in data-based decision making and from whom their peers can learn a great deal about taking data-based practice to the next level.
Barrier 1: Administrators and teachers need more time to work with student performance data. Educators are busy people whose time is often stretched in many directions. As one teacher explains, many practitioners don’t realize that using student performance data can decrease – rather than increase - the amount of time they spend on their teaching. She says, "At first using state test data was hard. It took forever to figure out what was going on. But now that I use data all the time, it actually makes my teaching much easier. I know who needs to work on what so I don't spend all that time teaching things the kids already know."
Dissolving the perception that data-based practice is time-intensive begins by creating opportunities for administrators and teachers to work with student performance data during the school day. Spending a few minutes sharing concise, targeted applications of student performance during faculty, department and team meetings can give teachers and administrators opportunities to begin thinking about using data in their daily activities. One administrator underscores the importance of embedding data-based practice into the school day. "If teachers have to use their own time to explore something new, they probably won't." Another solution may be to de-emphasize or automate other, less important responsibilities such as administrative tasks and replace them with activities that promote practitioners’ interactions with student performance data.
Barrier 2: Whereas administrators have sufficient professional development opportunities to develop their capacity to use student performance data, teachers want and need more opportunities in this area. To date, administrators have typically been the recipients of professional development around student performance data because accountability procedures that rely on these data have been tied to districts and schools, rather than teachers. Administrators have developed a more thorough understanding of how to analyze, interpret and apply performance data as a result of these opportunities. Applying a ‘train the trainer’ approach transfers some of this capacity from administrators to teachers by establishing a local, accessible resource for sustaining conversations about data that relate directly to teachers’ instruction. Further, administrators that guide teachers through school-based opportunities to work with student performance data establish an embedded learning experience for teachers that is grounded in and structured around their students’ learning needs. Teachers in New York State emphasize the importance of having embedded, sustained opportunities to work with their students’ performance data. As one teacher explains, "We need to use our own data during the training and we have to keep getting it (training); it is too overwhelming to understand all at once."
District and school leaders who do not feel comfortable leading their teachers in local discussions about data can partner with other districts or schools that have implemented innovative data-based practice. Regional educational service centers may also provide professional development opportunities for teachers around student performance data that complement local efforts or partnerships between districts and schools.
Barrier 3: Reports of student performance data arrive too late and are difficult to use. While the timing of student performance reports from state-administered assessments is largely out of educators’ control, administrators and teachers can collect, analyze and interpret local measures of student performance throughout the school year. These assessments will provide dynamic, short-cycle data on student performance that complements annual statewide measures. This approach also gives practitioners a more comprehensive understanding of their students’ learning needs from which to make instructional and programmatic decisions that target various proficiency levels.
Barrier 4: Some teachers are skeptical about the validity and reliability of student performance data. Developing data-based practice goes deeper than using statewide performance measures to guide instruction and decision making. Practitioners that situate state assessment data within a more comprehensive assessment strategy realize that state test data may help show longitudinal progress over time, but other assessments may be more appropriate for influencing intermediate instructional programming and decisions. Data-based instruction relies on a variety of data sources to assess student learning throughout the school year and, by applying the findings from those assessments systematically, teachers will know what learning needs exist among their students long before state test data are collected or reported.
Barrier 5: Lack of a data-based local culture. Developing a school- or district-wide culture that embraces data collection, analysis, interpretation and application can be the most difficult barrier to overcome. Districts and schools that have successfully developed a data-based culture began by introducing discourse around data and then dedicating resources such as time, personnel and technology to developing data-based practice. When teachers see administrators dedicate resources to an initiative, they are more likely to invest themselves.
The recent thrust toward data-based practice can seem overwhelming to administrators and teachers who sometimes confront significant barriers to adopting this perspective on teaching and learning. While the majority of districts and schools nationwide are in the early stages of crafting a data-based approach, pioneers have developed innovative strategies that can engage educators to anticipate potential challenges before they arise. The next – and final – article in this series suggests next steps for extending districts’ and schools’ data-based approach by posing reflective questions and providing actionable suggestions for deepening data-based practice.