Key Action 5: Describe Students and their Performance
Breakthrough School Improvement
Activity #5.1: ID Data Sources completed Feb 2011
ACTIVITY #5.2: Using Data about Students
This activity guides tasks related to student characteristics and student participation in special
programs.
INSTRUCTIONS:
DATA COACH
Mining Data
The data coach organizes and summarizes the data, and creates data displays for the school improvement team.
1.
Organize the data about students for the Profile by:
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2.
Summarize student data by breaking it down or disaggregating it by:
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3.
Characteristics (e.g., grade level, race/ethnicity, gender, low income)
Participation in special programs (e.g., special education, gifted and talented, ESL)
All students
Grade levels
Create data displays of summarized data by placing it in a table, graphic, or text format which include:
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Characteristic or Participation Group (e.g., gender, special education)
Name of group(s) reported (e.g., 8th grade students, Craburn students)
Time period(s) that are reported (e.g., 2006-07 and 2007-08)
Type of data reported (e.g., percent)
Number of students reported (e.g., n=190)
Source of data (e.g., Craburn Student Information System)
4. Review the summarized data displays with the school improvement team for analysis.
NSSE, Breakthrough School Improvement: Resources and Tools, 2006. pages 76–99
Key Action 5: Describe Students and their Performance
Breakthrough School Improvement
ACTIVITY #5.2, Continued
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT TEAM
Analyzing, Communicating, and Using Data
Once the data coach completes the summary data displays, the school improvement team is ready to analyze
the student data. The following questions guide the analysis.
1. Using the summarized data displays, what are your first impressions about the summary data?
 Is the data accurate?
 Is the data up-to-date?
 Will the data be sufficient to describe the trends and patterns in the data?
2.
Use the following types of analyses and questions to guide your review and discussion.
Comparison Analysis – Comparing data from one or more groups
 What do you see emerging from the comparison among different groups (e.g., grade levels)?
What do you see when data are compared to relevant reference groups (e.g., percentage of students
participating in special education compared to district enrollment in special education)?
Longitudinal Analysis – Comparing data over time (three or more time periods)
 What trends do you see across time?
 Is the data trending up, down, or staying about the same for different groups?
3. Write a brief narrative summary for each key data display.
4. Based on an analysis of the summary data, identify trends and patterns in the data. This information will
be used in selecting target areas for improvement in Key Action 8. Record the trends and patterns
on Worksheet #5.4.
5. Add the key data displays and narrative summaries, along with the trends and patterns, to the Profile, Section
One, “Students and their Performance At the Onset of the Improvement Process,” by placing them on the
template on page 87. (Refer to Table 2.1 on page 20.)
NSSE, Breakthrough School Improvement: Resources and Tools, 2006. pages 76–99
Key Action 5: Describe Students and their Performance
Breakthrough School Improvement
Activity #5.3: ID Data Sources completed Feb 2011
ACTIVITY #5.4: Using Data about Student Performance
This activity guides the data tasks related to student performance.
INSTRUCTIONS:
DATA COACH
Mining Data
The data coach organizes and summarizes the data, and creates data displays for the school improvement team.
1.
Organize the data about student performance for the Profile by:


2.
Summarize student data by breaking it down or disaggregating it by:


3.
Learning area related to expectations for student learning
Student performance measure
All students
Grade levels
Create data displays of summarized data by placing it in a table, graphic, or text format which include:






Measure Name (e.g., Scholastic Achievement Test, State Assessment)
Name of group(s) reported (e.g., 8th grade students, Craburn students)
Time period(s) that are reported (e.g., 2006-07 and 2007-08)
Type of data reported (e.g., percent)
Number of students reported (e.g., n=190)
Source of data (e.g., State Department of Education)
4. Review the summarized data displays with the school improvement team for analysis.
NSSE, Breakthrough School Improvement: Resources and Tools, 2006. pages 76–99
Key Action 5: Describe Students and their Performance
Breakthrough School Improvement
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT TEAM
Analyzing, Communicating, and Using Data
Once the data coach completes the summary data displays, the school improvement team is ready to analyze
the student data. The following questions guide the analysis.
1. Using the summarized data displays, what are your first impressions about the summary data?



Is the data accurate?
Is the data up-to-date?
Will the data be sufficient to describe the strengths and weaknesses of the data?
2. Use the following types of analyses and questions to guide your review and discussion.
Comparison Analysis – Comparing data from one or more groups
 What do you see emerging from the comparison among different groups (e.g., grade levels)?
 What do you see when critical measures are compared to relevant reference groups
(e.g., state tests according to state, district, school, or grade level results)?
Longitudinal Analysis – Comparing data over time (three or more time periods)
 What trends do you see across time?
 Is the data trending up, down, or staying about the same for different groups?
Measure Analysis – Comparing across student performance measures
 Do you see trends across measures?
 Is the data consistent across measures?
3. Write a brief narrative summary for each key data display.
4. Based on an analysis of the summary data, identify strengths and weaknesses in student performance.
This information will be used in selecting target areas for improvement in Key Action 8. Record the
strengths and weaknesses on Worksheet #5.5.
5. Add the key data displays and narrative summaries, along with the strengths and weaknesses, to the Profile,
Section One, “Students and their Performance at the Onset of the Improvement Process,” by placing them
on the template on page 88. (Refer to Table 2.1 on page 78.)
NSSE, Breakthrough School Improvement: Resources and Tools, 2006. pages 76–99
Key Action 5: Describe Students and their Performance
Breakthrough School Improvement
Worksheet #5.5
Strengths and Weaknesses of Student Performance
What are our students’ strengths and weaknesses?
Learning Area
Strengths and Weaknesses
NSSE, Breakthrough School Improvement: Resources and Tools, 2006. pages 76–99
Key Action 5: Describe Students and their Performance
KEY ACTION 5
Breakthrough School Improvement
DESCRIBE STUDENTS AND THEIR PERFORMANCE
Profile Section One
Students and their Performance at the Onset of the School Improvement Process
Data displays about students and their performance
Summary narratives for data displays
Trends and patterns in the data
Strengths and weaknesses in student performance data
NSSE, Breakthrough School Improvement: Resources and Tools, 2006. pages 76–99