Demystifying Student Data for Parents

I came across this great article posted on Edutopia on how a teacher at an elementary school shares student data with parents so they can help their kids with homework. Parents are used to seeing school reports but this teacher took it further. She has organized Parent Data Nights, events where she meets with each parent to demystify the reports, explain acronyms, test scores, and trouble areas for their child, as well as providing tips and tricks for helping their student at home. This type of work is becoming a new standard. It is no longer a question of IF but WHEN. These days Parents need to be engaged and data is an essential part of it. Parents are often confused about the school reports and results that are being shared either for their own children or wider statistics for the whole school and cohort. Having a data-informed culture also means getting this information to parents in a timely and accessible manner. Have a read and see if this might work for you and your school!

Building and Leading a School Culture that Values Data Informed Dialogue to Improve Student Learning

(This post is by Megan Brazil, Elementary School Principal, United Nations International School, Hanoi. The post was first published online in 2016.) In a ‘silo schools’ approach, teachers have generally been left to work independently on collecting, understanding and using their own classroom data to make decisions about instruction, planning and assessment. Many schools have not yet made the successful transition from individual to collaborative: to enable teams of teachers to collectively analyze learning data in order to improve learning outcomes for all students. What we know to be true in many schools is that teachers still spend a disproportionate amount of time planning instruction, but don’t place the same emphasis or effort on finding out if the instruction really worked. Perhaps then, less importance has been placed on finding time for teams of teachers, coaches and administrators to take a look at the ‘back end’ — the learning that has taken place as a result of the planni

Designing Best-Fit Classes with the Class Placement Engine

(This post is by Ben Hacking , Deputy Principal at the Vienna International School ) Established in 1978, the Vienna International School (VIS) is a CIS accredited, IB World School situated in Vienna, Austria. The School serves students from kindergarten to grade 12 who come mostly from the diplomatic corps and international businesses based in Vienna. Diversity is one of VIS’s greatest strengths and the School is proud that of the 1368 students attending, approximately 112 nationalities are represented around 85 native languages are spoken altogether. This diversity is also represented amongst our approximately 270 faculty members, leadership teams and administrative staff. VIS joined the Learning Analytics Collaborative (LAC) in 2017-18 after an extensive internal review of, and reflection on, our own data for learning practices. Over time, we have worked with the LAC to develop a number of engines to support and empower our faculty with the data tools and inquiry processes

Sharing Data to Create Stronger Parent Partnerships

I am continuing the thread from a previous post about Humboldt Elementary School that tells the story of a school’s data journey. This is a short video that dives into how the school has decided to engage Parents by using data. By sending home detailed data reports that foc us on a specific skill, Humboldt Elementary School opens a two-way line of communication with parents about their child's learning. This move has not only enabled parents to have a deeper understanding of their children's performance but also empowers them to do something about their learning. The video includes interviews with parents and how they interact with the school’s data reports and how it helps them understand their child’s growth and progress. It’s very inspiring to witness that simply by seeing the progress on simple charts has give both the students and parents further motivation to continue the work they have been doing at home. Quality data, visualized in an accessible, intuitive way, are not

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