Journal of the Effective Schools Project, Volume 4, 1997 Page: 23
53 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Data Doesn't Have To Be A
Four Letter Word
BY KATHLEEN MOORE, KILLEEN ISDEvery aspect of record keeping requires a beginning base line
to which data is entered and progress can be monitored.
School districts have a significant volume of statistical data
which they can utilize to chart student progress and needs. The
following is a suggestion on how to begin gathering and using
data to chart the progress of the students, teachers and district.There seem to be two types of people
in the school business today: those
who like to quote statistics and crunch
numbers and those who don't. It may
have something to do with learning
style, but I think it has to do with an
aversion to income tax deadlines. April
the 15th is finally past, so the topic of
numbers and statistics can once again
come to the limelight.
When you start on a diet, figure your
golf handicap or start tracking the
long distance bill for your college
student, you are using data driven
information to draw conclusions. Us-
ing the same idea of base-line infor-
mation to start from, you can track
class, campus or district improvement.
The state has made this task a great
deal simpler by supplying the wealth
of free statistics and numbers that
accompany your TAAS results. If you
are confused by all the printouts, don't
despair... I, too, was data illiterate at
one time. Let me tell you a happy tale
of how to find your way through the
labyrinth of numbers.
In the age of accountability, Killeen
Independent School District sought to
make more user friendly the wealth ofstatistical data available for school
improvement. To do this required a
great deal of hands on staff develop-
ment, the prodding of an assistant
superintendent and the expertise of a
computer wizard to make it all hap-
pen. The lesson learned is that data
can be user-friendly and that mean-
ingful results can be used to improve
the instruction of any individual
teacher, campus or district.
Like most districts, we struggled to
make use of all the data supplied with
the TAAS. We compared years,
tracked kids over time and learned to
read the TLI. It took a great deal of
time and patience to just read the stuff.
Although administrators and consult-
ants knew the secret language of "dis-
aggregation", it often did not get de-
lineated to the classroom. What hap-
pened all too frequently was the infor-
mation, along with data supplied by
our district on grade reporting, sat
gathering dust on a shelf. What we
needed was a quick and easy way to
get all the types of diagnostic data
available (TAAS, end of course ex-
ams, grade distributions or even
teacher developed exams) returned to
the teacher. There the informationThe lesson learned
is that data can be
user-friendly
and that meaningful
results can be
used to improve the
instruction of any
individual teacher,
campus or district.23
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Tarleton State University. Effective Schools Project. Journal of the Effective Schools Project, Volume 4, 1997, periodical, 1997; Stephenville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201681/m1/30/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.