Notice the number of times that data and evidence appear in NCCRESt’s principles. Saying that teachers, families and administrators need data to make decisions is one thing, understanding and using data well is another. In fact, few teachers and administrators have been educated in programs that have focused on making meaning from data and then using those analyses to guide school improvement and classroom instruction. This module is designed to help building leadership teams learn the skills required to mine data and use it to make decisions. As principals and teacher leaders become confident in their ability to query their data, they will become strong role models and coaches for the entire faculty.

In this module we take a serious look at understanding and using data and other evidence of student performance to improve student learning. We begin by looking at school level data to identify patterns in school performance. We then examine data to understand school structures and then look at issues of pedagogy and practice. Participants will consider a variety of measures of academic performance by asking tough questions about data such as: What do students need to know? How will we know if students have learned it? Who is successful? Who is not? What will we do if students have not learned what they need to know? Working steadily and continuously as a team, school faculty and administrators can become successful with all, not just some, of their students.

• Academy 1: Mining Meaningful Data
• Academy 2: Identifying School-Wide Patterns of Student Performance
• Academy 3: Looking at Student Work to Target Instruction