Building a Data CultureBuilding a Data CultureData Guru Roles, Responsibilities & Expectations

Eight Steps for SuccessEight Steps for Success

• Establish and communicate a clear vision• Research and learn from others’ successes• Examine infrastructure for effective data use• Ensure buy-in, commitment, and trust• Foster professional development• Lead by example and encourage data

utilization• Establish data meetings• Remove or modify barriers to effective data use

Source: Creating a Data-Driven Culture: Leadership Matters

Dr. Lane B. Mills, a SAS® white paper

Our ObjectivesOur Objectives

• Provide a structure and process that supports and enables school stakeholders (district personnel, school administrators, curriculum and instructional facilitators, and teachers) to make data-driven decisions based on…

• An analysis of trends and relationships• Across different types of data• From a variety of data resources• Over time

Our ObjectivesOur Objectives

• Increase the quality, timeliness, and accessibility of data available to the schools

• Increase knowledge and use of different data sources

• Increase knowledge of data analysis tools

• Build capacity of all stakeholders to analyze and use data

• Encourage collaboration and support

Our ObjectivesOur Objectives

• Utilize meaningful data to make instructional improvements for all students

• Encourage greater transparency through the sharing of data

• Increase fidelity of data guru implementation

• Build a sustainable data culture that is systemic and pervasive at all levels

Data Guru WorkshopsData Guru Workshops

• Build capacity• At least one data guru from each school

(Principal, Assistant Principal, Instructional Facilitator, or Teacher)

• Hard copy of Principals’ Playbook• Data Notebook• Jump Drive

• Establish a common language• Encourage collaboration and administrative

support• Provide leadership (walk the walk and talk the talk)

What is your purpose?What is your purpose?

• Data worth collecting should have a purpose• How do you use data to inform instruction

and improve student achievement?• How do you decide which data are the

most important to use, analyze, or review?• How do you apply the right data at the

right time to the right issue?• In the absence of data, what is used as a

basis for instructional decisions?

Are you using a Data Process?Are you using a Data Process?

• Collect and chart data• Analyze strengths and obstacles• Establish goals: set, review, revise• Select instructional strategies• Determine results indicators• Evaluate effectiveness• Sustain or refine, and use the data to make

instructional improvements

Best PracticesBest Practices

• Structure organization and practice to support data-driven decision making

• Collaborate and share ideas regarding data inquiry and analysis issues

• Examine student data to determine which practices work best for which students

• Use assessment data to identify gaps in student achievement

• Adapt instructional activities to meet students’ individual needs

• Communicate with parents about student progress

Asking Questions is Key!Asking Questions is Key!

• How do you accelerate learning for all students?• Which programs best prepare students for future

success?• Who are the students that need remediation

before moving to the next level?• What early warning indicators are the most

predictive of possible future failure or dropping out?

• How successful are students that attend our schools?

Roles & ResponsibilitiesRoles & Responsibilities

• Act as a role model for data use• Gather, report, analyze, and monitor data for

your school• Provide timely access to information• Share data with stakeholder groups through

data notebooks, presentations, data walls or data boards

• Provide reinforcement and support for others as we move toward being part of a data-driven culture

ExpectationsExpectations

• Assist staff in the analysis and interpretation of data to guide instruction and student achievement

• Cultivate a data culture by training teachers to use and analyze data

• Coordinate PLC meetings through scheduling and creation of agendas, minutes, and necessary data

• Provide support and instructional coaching that builds teacher capacity

• Promote and coordinate professional development and the implementation of research-based instructional strategies

Continuous JourneyContinuous Journey

• Data should invite action

“Data that is collected should be analyzed and used to make improvements (or analyzed to affirm current practices and stay the course).”

S. White, Beyond the Numbers, 2005, p. 13

“Education thrives on an environment of continuous learning and improvement. Once users have access to information they become data consumers. As such, they tend to become more sophisticated in their questions.”

G. Mariani, Data-Driven Decision Making, a SAS white paper

Moving from Reactive to ProactiveMoving from Reactive to Proactive

Source: Data-Driven Decision Making, a SAS® White Paper

Ready to answer these questions?Ready to answer these questions?

• Which students are at risk?• Which intervention strategies work best to help at-risk

students stay in school?• Which students are not on track to graduate?• How can we predict likely student test results early in the

year and take steps to improve student success on an individual basis?

• Which programs are working to improve student achievement and which are not?

• How do we optimize resources and funds by forecasting student enrollment, population patterns, and student performance?