Description: Our program spotlights new ways of viewing evidence of schools’ and districts’ vital signs: staffing, finances, outcomes, discipline, and assessment results. It enables educators to look at state generated accountability findings with an independent eye. Using modern analytic methods and software designed for exploratory data analysis, school and district leadership teams will learn to use evidence effectively to guide decisions. Participants can expect to advance their capabilities in the following areas:
- Discovering new evidence about their school’s and district’s strengths and challenges;
- Finding new perspectives on gaps in outcomes and opportunities to learn;
- Applying comparative and historical methods in framing a district in a context of those most similar;
- Avoiding misunderstandings of assessment data;
- Presenting analytic findings persuasively; and
- Understanding the flaws and limits of prevailing views of K-12 data.
The habits of mind and analytic skills participants learn during this program are relevant to planning, budgeting, collective bargaining, financial management, resource utilization, and assessment analysis.
Format: We shape this program to fit each district’s requirements. Whether we present in the form of a workshop, seminar, or coaching engagement, participants can expect interaction, dialogue, data lab experiments, group and individual projects, and readings from relevant research.
Participants: District leaders with responsibility for curriculum and instruction, education services, business, human resources, student services, accountability or communications. Site leaders are also welcome.