3. Facilitating Professional Development on Use of Data

Professional Development on Data Analysis and Data-Informed Instruction

School staffs will need professional development to support a variety of skills:

• How to interpret and use assessment data.
• How to access data and create graphic displays.
• How to participate productively in group discussions.
• How to develop, implement, and assess action plans.

The “Data Wise” Improvement Process, Harvard Education Letter, January/February 2006: Volume 22, Number 1.

Professional Development Should Be Provided in Accordance with Ohio’s Standards PD Standards Quick View.pdf  

Finding the Time for Collaboration

The universal complaint of most teams is the lack of time they have to do all the things that need to be done. Unfortunately, there is no single method to solve this dilemma, but there are some ideas that have been implemented with success in many schools:

1. Schedule common planning time by sending the entire group of students to
   fine and applied arts at the same time (i.e., art, music, physical education, health, band and computer);
2. Use district in-service days for team planning (note that if there have been abuses of this time in the past, a product of the team planning time might be requested for team members to show evidence that this time was used effectively);
3. Use early releases or delayed start times to develop curricular plans;
4. Have a team of floating subs who move from team to team every hour or so;
5. Hold monthly assemblies that part of the staff supervises, while other teams plan;
6. Arrange for “Big Buddy” classes (e.g., first and fourth grade) that meet once a month for a joint class where the fourth-grade team conducts the classes, while the first-grade team meets. The next month, they switch;
7. Plan a strategy similar to the “Big Buddy” system, but schedule joint field trips where one grade hosts the trip, while the other grade plans;
8. Agree to “banked” time. If the teacher day is 15 minutes before and after the student day, agree to meet for 30 minutes on Monday in return for leaving 15 minutes earlier on Friday;
9. One district contracted for three in-service days during which teachers who agreed to take advantage of this opportunity were paid $20 per hour. This provided money and time for committees, grade levels and departments to meet outside the school day or school year. Another way to gain time is to use the time you have more efficiently. Many teams save a great deal of time by:
   • Beginning and ending meetings promptly as scheduled;
   • Having a specific agenda for each meeting;
   • Posting the agenda several days before the meeting so people come prepared;
   • Organizing a timed agenda (each agenda item has a specific number of minutes that is strictly adhered to, thus keeping the meeting moving and on target);
   • Taking minutes, thereby, avoiding miscommunication and conflict;
   • Assigning roles and responsibilities to each team member during meetings (i.e., task master, timekeeper, recorder, critical friend, peacemaker, process observer);
10. Keeping track of what percentage of each meeting is spent on planning and assessing students’ work. This percentage should be about 80 percent. Student management, discipline and team “housekeeping” issues should not take more than 20 percent of the meeting time;
11. Ending by processing the effectiveness of the team meeting and setting an improvement goal for the next time.

Standards-Based Instruction for All Learners:  A Treasure Chest for Principal-Led Building Teams in Improving Results for Learners Most At-Risk.  Ohio Department of Education, 2004.
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/DocumentManagement/DocumentDownload.aspx?DocumentID=823

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