The Data Wise Process

Prepare

1. Organize for Collaborative Work: Schools develop a data team to gather data from many sources and then set up schedules to allow school personnel to collaborate in their examination of the data.

2. Build Assessment Literacy: Educators learn the basics of assessment terminology and learn how to both analyze and talk about the data.

Inquire

3. Create a Data Overview: Educators create a concise summary of student achievement results that inspires rather than overwhelms. The summary is intended to show what students are learning and reveal gaps in that understanding.

4. Dig into Data: Now that the data is available, educators look at a broader range of student work, such as projects, classwork, and homework, to provide more clarity on what the data has shown. Through this step, educators discover gaps in certain areas that are common to large numbers of students.

5. Examine Instruction: Educators look at how classroom instruction has affected poor student performance in areas revealed by digging into the data. They identify an area that they want to tackle through collaboration.

Act

6. Develop an Action Plan: The team decides to address a certain area and designs a professional development program to support educators who will put that plan into action.

7. Plan to Assess Progress: Educators set goals — both shortterm and long-term — and develop a plan that will determine if those goals have been met.

8. Act and Assess: Educators monitor how the plan is working, and then make adjustments to make improvements. The process then returns to Step 3, in which data is gathered for analysis, and a new cycle of review begins.