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Teacher Practice Specific Resources (for sharing data with students, parents, admin)

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Teacher Practice Specific Resources (for sharing data with students, parents, admin)

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Strategies for Teachers to Use Data with Students

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Strategies for Teachers to Use Data with Students

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B.3.2. Create

opportunities for

students to examine and manage their own data.

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Do's and Don'ts of Data in Schools (for teachers, administrators, and instructional coaches)

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Do's and Don'ts of Data in Schools (for teachers, administrators, and instructional coaches)

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The Do's and Don'ts of Data - ppt download

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What We've Learned. . . Do: Don't: Get buy-in from teachers and administrators. Include horizontal and vertical teams in data discussion. Discuss student data in terms of what students need to be successful. Discuss student data in terms of why the student is not responding to instruction.

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Student Self Assessment of Data and Setting Goals

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Student Self Assessment of Data and Setting Goals

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B.3.2. Create

opportunities for

students to examine and manage their own data.

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Tracking STAAR Data and Growth from a Student's Perspective

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Tips for a Parent-Teacher Data Sharing Partnership

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Tips for a Parent-Teacher Data Sharing Partnership

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B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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How It's Done

Sharing Data With Parents

Humboldt decided to send home the data that teachers were seeing so that parents could be informed about how their children were doing and the progress they were making. "Sometimes grades don't show progress," says Maureen Holt, Humboldt's Title I teacher and reading specialist, "but data shows even the little progress that is being made." The goal was to increase parental involvement, because informed and engaged parents have a better chance of helping their kids at home.

Creating a Data Folder

Data drives every area of instruction at Humboldt, so Holt has a wide range of tests and assessments that can be included when creating the student data reports. She shares every indicator and test given in the report, so that parents are seeing the same data as teachers, "because then everyone is on the same page." She breaks each test out into its own chart or graph, and always prints the first copy in color, helping parents easily see how their child is performing on each indicator.

Holt also gives parents a cheat sheet of teacher acronyms, with the complete assessment title spelled out and a short paragraph explaining the acronym in layman's terms. This not only helps parents understand the data report, but also aids in getting everyone speaking the same language around the child's learning.

The data folder also includes examples of what each assessment is testing and, when possible, a worksheet or handout that will allow parents to practice that skill at home with their kids. Holt also shares tips and tricks for using the worksheets, such as practicing reading in the car on the way to school or working on letter naming in the evenings. This way, parents know exactly what their children are being tested on and feel empowered because they now know how they can help.

Parent Data Night

Scheduling a Parent Data Night allows parents a chance to ask questions and understand the interventions being done to help their child. At the beginning of the year, Holt schedules a large group Data Night after the school completes its first DIBELS test. Parents whose children will be receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions are invited. This is a chance to explain to parents their students' scores relative to their peers nationwide. The meeting is scheduled after the end of most parents' workday, and Holt uses a projector to walk them through the data folder she created, explaining each piece of it.

After that initial Data Night, Holt holds smaller one-to-one data meetings throughout the year as needed or as requested. She sends home data every three weeks and usually meets with a few parents after those reports go home.

For parents that can't make it to the data night, Holt also makes herself available to do one-to-one meetings after school, and schedules her prep period to free up the first half hour of her day in case parents come in with questions about their child's data. She also shares the data report with teachers in a meeting where she explains the folders and graphs to the entire staff. That way, teachers can share the folder with parents who missed Parent Data Night, and they'll know how to field questions about the data. "When I send it home, then they'll start calling and they'll start coming in," Holt says.

Tips for Successful Parent Meetings

Holt says that she learned from her first attempts at a data night how the key to getting parents to come is to first make them feel comfortable in the school. Humboldt has Family Math, Reading, and Science nights throughout the year, where parents play games with their kids and learn about what they're studying, which helps parents feel more at ease with coming into the school and start seeing it as a happy place.

When meetings go wrong, Holt says, it's important to stay positive. She'll talk about a student's strengths and lay out clear steps for moving him or her forward. Setting expectations is also useful in helping parents understand that progress will come in baby steps and their child is not expected to completely turn around their performance in an unreasonable period of time. Holt also asks those parents what kind of communication they want, whether it's email, phone, sending notes home with their child, etc., so that parents are made to feel like collaborators and partners in helping their student improve.

Resources

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Humboldt decided to send home the data that teachers were seeing so that parents could be informed about how their children were doing and the progress they were making. "Sometimes grades don't show progress," says Maureen Holt, Humboldt's Title I teacher and reading specialist, "but data shows even the little progress that is being made."

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Video about testing and keeping data for K - 2

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Video about testing and keeping data for K - 2

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B.2.1. Analyze student performance data to identify students’ strengths and challenges; looks for trends and patterns to inform instructional moves.
B.2.4. Organize and regularly update a teacher- level portfolio that contains student performance data, in relation to the standards, at the individual, small group, and whole-class levels.
B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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Testing & Keeping Track of Student Data Made EASY! | thatonehappyclassroom

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Data Gathering Tools and apps for the classroom while teaching (formative or summative)

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Data Gathering Tools and apps for the classroom while teaching (formative or summative)

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B.1.1. Constantly monitor

by moving about the

room—routinely and consistently—to listen in and look at student work.
B.1.2. Implement a specific student-watching system to strategically gather data for learning.
B.1.3. Use formative assessment to quickly assess whole-class progress or learning
B.1.4. Ask focused questions to check for understanding and to “sample” the classroom.

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Teachers use data on a daily basis to inform instruction, measure student performance, and determine the next day's lesson. Check out our list of 10 apps that help educators work smarter not harder when it comes to tracking and analyzing data.
1. GoFormative
Completely free for students and teachers, GoFormative is an assessment tool that goes beyond multiple-choice responses (though that is an option). Students are able to respond to questions and assignments by typing, drawing, or submitting images to show their answers. The great thing about GoFormative is that it offers real-time intervention so teachers know exactly what their students need and can take immediate action. Assignments can be aligned to any standard for easy tracking of student progress.
2. MasteryConnect
MasteryConnect helps teachers identify student levels of understanding to target interventions and inform instruction. The Mastery Tracker disaggregates data by student performance and standard mastery, making formative assessments easy and efficient. Teachers can quickly score bubble sheets using any webcam, upload their own rubrics for easy scoring, and determine mastery standards for any performance-based assessment, so any teacher of any subject can use this tool! My favorite part of MasterConnect is the common assessment sharing and teacher comparison analysis-perfect when comparing data during PLC meetings. This app has free and paid versions available.
3. Plickers
Plickers, short for "paper clickers," is a great free formative assessment tool for classrooms that are not one-to-one or when teachers want to avoid pesky log-ins. Using paper responses, plickers provides quick checks for understanding to determine whether students are grasping big concepts and mastering key skills. Teachers can import student names into classes, quickly scan the room for responses, and voila! Plickers provides an instant graph view of answers and allows teachers to view individual student and question reports.
4. P BS LearningMedia
Offering over 200,000 free digital resources for all subjects and grades, this website is an educator's treasure trove. But PBS LearningMedia also provides free tools, allowing teachers to create their own lessons, storyboards, puzzles, and quizzes. All resources created under the tool page can be assigned to students via web link, email, or Google Classroom. The quiz maker tool offers the ability to pose constructed responses, true or false, or multiple choice questions. To get started and learn the basics of PBS LearningMedia, check out our self-paced webinar below.
5. Quizalize
Similar to Kahoot, Quizalize-a gamified learning approach-is user-friendly and allows teachers to easily identify students who need help and with what they need help. Teachers can see live data as students play, allowing them to intervene immediately when there's a struggling student. Additonally, Quizalize delivers in-depth results for students, including strengths and weaknesses by standard. Unlike Kahoot, however, students can compete as part of a team, engaging students of all abilities together. Options also include delivering quizzes to the whole class or specific students in order to differentiate their learning. Quizalize offers a basic package for free, or you can upgrade starting at $5.75 to track progress of individual students and your class as a whole to see clear improvement over time.
6. Quizizz
Quizizz is a "work smarter not harder" tool that keeps students engaged using avatars, leaderboards, themes, music, and memes. Teachers can choose to make their own quiz, which can include text and pictures, or use one of the thousands of premade quizzes available on Quizizz. And while your class is having a blast competing against each other, you're provided with live detailed class and student-level data for immediate intervention. Quizizz can be assigned in class or for homework with a code to access the game, so no more forgetting login credentials! The best thing about Quizizz? It's 100% FREE!
7. ForAllRubrics
A completely free resource, ForAllRubrics gives teachers a paperless one-stop-shop for grading rubrics. ForAllRubrics offers three different scoring types: badges (great for elementary students), checklists, and rubrics. Simply create your class list with student names, select a rubric by either uploading your own or creating one within the platform using premade layouts, and start grading! In addition to the language of the rubric, teachers can also add comments for more specific feedback. The best part of ForAllRubrics is it offers a number of ways to look at data, including class reports, weekly progress reports, pre/post reports, student items analysis, and more. Results can be emailed, downloaded to Excel, or converted to a PDF. For the administrators out there, this is also a great tool for observations.
8. Socrative
This free tool was one of my favorites when I was in the classroom. The three different assessment options within Socrative-space race, quiz, and exit ticket-are easy to use and provide excellent feedback for instruction and student comprehension. With space race, encourage friendly competition among students with an intergalactic quiz bowl. Teachers can turn any assessment into a crowd-pleasing activity as individuals or groups race across the screen with correct answers. The quiz option provides live results and thorough data (which is automatically saved to your account) that can be emailed, exported, or downloaded. One of my favorite features in Socrative quiz is that you can provide an explanation for a correct answer if the student gets it wrong. This was especially helpful for assessment reviews and practice. Another great feature of Socrative? Teachers can share assessments with others, allowing seamless data comparisons during meetings.
9. The Answer Pad
The Answer Pad, a free app with optional premium features, offers an assessment platform for students and immediate response feedback for teachers. With options like aligning questions to standards, a space for instructions, formula charts, and proficiency level settings, teachers can easily create detailed assessments. The Answer Pad also allows teachers to view live student results and the option to share responses with the rest of the class-a great way to show off the correct answers of shy or self-conscious students. The best thing about The Answer Pad is that teachers can break down data in a number of ways, including individual student, standards/skills, and group results.
10. Nearpod
With Nearpod, teachers can create their own or enjoy free premade interactive lessons for all K-12 subjects and grades. Nearpod does away with the mundaneness of traditional PowerPoints, allowing each student to go at his own pace or follow along with a synchronized teacher presentation on his own device. As an educator, I loved using Nearpod in my 1:1 classroom because students didn't have to worry about not being able to see the board or asking me to go back to a previous slide. Teachers have several options within the Nearpod platform, including slides, virtual field trips, quizzes, polls, short answer or drawn responses, and so much more. Teachers receive real-time feedback and post-session reports on student comprehension. Nearpod is perfect for any lesson: introductory, enrichment, and remediation.
For more information on data collection apps and other edtech tools, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Don't see your favorite digital data collection tool? Tell us about it in the comment section!

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10 Data Tracking Apps You Can Use In Your Class Tomorrow

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Teachers use data on a daily basis to inform instruction, measure student performance, and determine the next day's lesson.

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B.2.1. Analyze student performance data to identify students’ strengths and challenges; looks for trends and patterns to inform instructional moves.
B.2.4. Organize and regularly update a teacher- level portfolio that contains student performance data, in relation to the standards, at the individual, small group, and whole-class levels.

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We want to track our students' progress and growth - it's the very heart of education. However, tracking progress effectively can be a challenge, especially when you're managing tens or dozens of students.

Effective progress tracking happens when your data and your system work in harmony.

In other words, your student data (results) and your benchmarking (what these results compare to, eg individual improvement, position in class, classes performance against a greater area) need to be complementary.

This was discovered in a landmark study by researchers Fuchs and Fuchs (2002), which found that:

When teachers use systematic progress monitoring to track their students' progress in reading, mathematics, or spelling, they are better able to identify students in need of additional or different instruction; they design stronger instructional programs, and their students achieve better results.

Reaching this harmony requires a trial and error, but we think we can help you with the latter. Here are four missteps to watch out for when tracking student data.[/fusion_text][fusion_text]

1. Not Having a System

Without a system, results are just numbers. But the reasons for not having one are all too familiar - it can seem complicated, implementing the data meaningfully takes time, and it's hard to keep track of a whole class.

Solution: Start small. It can be tempting to map out a grand strategy, but little steps will lead to longer, confident strides. It also gives you the flexibility you need to develop a system that will work for you and your students.

2. Over-complicating Your System

Data is exciting - sometimes it's too exciting. Over-complicated systems happen when we try to achieve a lot with limited data or use an abundance of data to try to and do something simple.

Solution: Know your goals. It might be students achieving subject mastery, individual growth, improved performances on yearly assessments, and so on.

Understanding your outcomes determines what data you need to gather and what kind of system will make that data meaningful.

3. Not Setting a Starting Point

You don't know where you are if you don't know where you've been.

Setting a starting point establishes your baseline, and it's important - it shows you when you've been successful or what you need to do next to reach success.

Solution: Assess current knowledge. Again, this can be simple; a test or quiz to show what your students understand so you can shape their future learning.

4. Forgetting Context

This one is two-fold.

First, when we get caught up in the data, sometimes we forget to look at the bigger picture. What's going on with a particular student? Is there something that can explain the classroom's lag in progress during a particular week? When you combine the power of data and the power of context, the results can be amazing.

Second, don't forget to align your objectives with your bigger lesson goals. While progress is amazing in any area, we should always work towards a learning plan.

Solution: Context is crucial for student learning and while your data will leave you with a lot to consider, remember to align your goals and take in all the human elements of progress.

Key takeaways

A good tracking system should be:

Aligned with your teaching style

Organised and simple

Analysed and read within context

By setting up an effective system, you can determine what students are and aren't getting from your lesson plans, when to slow down, when to speed up, when to re-teach, when to move on, when to celebrate, and when to ask yourself: What teacher action is causing these gaps/strengths? Which students need more individualised lessons? How can I differentiate learning in my class?

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4 Mistakes Teachers Make When Tracking Student Progress | 3P Learning

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We want to track our students' progress and growth - it's the very heart of education. However, tracking progress effectively can be a challenge, especially when you're managing tens or dozens of students. Effective progress tracking happens when your data and your system work in harmony.

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B.1.2. Implement a specific student-watching system to strategically gather data for learning.

B.2.4. Organize and regularly update a teacher- level portfolio that contains student performance data, in relation to the standards, at the individual, small group, and whole-class levels.
B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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B.2.4. Organize and regularly update a teacher- level portfolio that contains student performance data, in relation to the standards, at the individual, small group, and whole-class levels.

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This fully editable student data binder will help you with progress monitoring and data tracking in your classroom.

This is another free resource for teachers from The Curriculum Corner.

This fully editable student data binder will help you create a system for data tracking and management in your classroom.

As showing student growth has become an important aspect of teaching, creating student data binders or folders is becoming more common.

We know there are many student data collection methods, we are sharing one we created.

We have updated our previous collection of forms and expanded their reach. You will also find that all of our forms are provided as a PDF and an editable PowerPoint file.

How to Set up your Student Data Binders

The wide variety of forms we have included should help you begin to pull together meaningful folders or binders for student data tracking.

Use our pages to set up your own simple data binders or adapt our materials to create a more complex data system that follows students through school.

As a teacher you might decide to have students be responsible for tracking their own data or you might be in charge of tracking data and share with your students when appropriate.

The decision is yours depending on the purpose of having data folders in your room.

Choosing Forms for your Student Data Binders

To decide on the forms that will fit your class best, begin by thinking about why you are creating these data folders. Make sure the pages choose fit your needs.

Thinking through the purpose before beginning will make sure the binders are meaningful. If helping children master sight words is not a goal in your classroom, skip these pages and find a different reading tool that works better for you.

Using Data Binders in your Classroom

These folders can be used as important pieces of a parent teacher conference. Compiling student work samples can help you share with parents how their child has grown or what struggles they are working on overcoming.

Data binders can be a meaningful tool during PLCs. Use your binders as a place to collect evidence that a new strategy is or is not working.

These can be an important part of helping students set and reach goals. Charting growth can give students the visual they need to see how they are progressing.

These data tracking sheets might also be useful for special education teachers looking to track IEP goals.

Notes about these student data tracking pages:

Student Mission Statements Have students begin the year by writing their own mission statements. Use the first form to help students make notes and form their ideas. They can then create a poem like mission statement by transferring their ideas to the outline form.

Long Term Goal Setting- Reading Use our graphs for student goal setting. Pick the system you use and copy one for each student. Students color in the bar graph to show their current level.

During a reading conference, set a goal with students for the following month. Mark the goal with a colored line. At the end of each month, have students update their goal sheet with the current level.

100s Chart: This form can be used for math facts or Fry words.

After taking a 100 problem timed test, students can color the number of problems they answered correctly. The following month they can choose a different color to color in their new total.

The same can be done with a list of 100 Fry Words.

RTI Forms: You will find forms that are designed to help you plan and track interventions in the classroom.

Reflection Forms: These include simple forms with faces to color in for younger students and more in depth forms that involve more writing for older students.

Ideas for Dividing up your Binders

Use dividers with tabs to create sections in your binder.

Some sections you might include could be:

Goal setting

Student work samples

Teacher observations

Progress monitoring

RTI documenation

Notes

For this collection, we are providing the PowerPoint and PDF versions so you may edit as needed. Download here:

We have a commercial use license for KG Fonts but you will need the following fonts downloaded on your computer if you plan on editing the PowerPoint version: Janda Closer to Free and KG Primary Penmanship.

Add colorful binder covers to your data binders with these: Editable Binder Covers.

You will find conferencing forms, running record forms and other reading workshop materials here: Editable Reading Management Binder.

You might choose to include calendar pages to document growth. Different versions are available here: Printable Calendar Pages.

You will find Fry Word checklists for monitoring student Fry Word progress here: Fry Word Checklists.

We have also created Fry Boxes for students to self assess their Fry Word knowledge. These can be found here: Fry Word Checks.

If your state still uses Common Core, you may also add our "I Can" Checkboxes to data folders: Everything "I Can" Common Core.

You will find our additional teacher binder materials here:

As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!

You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.

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Student data tracking is becoming a more important part of the classroom. Use this free collection of binder pages to make data easier to manage.

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B.3.2. Create

opportunities for

students to examine and manage their own data.

B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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Expeditionary Learning is now EL Education. Please visit our channels to find EL Education videos: vimeo.com/elschools/channels For videos related to Common...

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B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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Author's note: CAP uses "Black" and "African American" interchangeably throughout many of our products. We chose to capitalize "Black" in order to reflect that we are discussing a group of people and to be consistent with the capitalization of "African American."
Sidney Lanier Senior High School in Montgomery, Alabama, once churned through 10 different principals in 10 years-including four principals in a single year. But today, Dr. Antonio Williams boasts a six-year tenure as Lanier's principal.

Along with several of his relatives, Williams is a Lanier graduate. He lives just down the street from the school, where he took his first teaching job and where his own children will be students. Williams' commitment to the community and his job led him to initiate important changes through Lanier's "Reclaim the Castle" campaign, named after the school building's prominent turret. As a parent himself, Williams has put parents front and center in his school-home engagement strategy. He created a parent center inside the building, where any parent can use school computers to browse literature about school resources and opportunities and can engage with other members of the community. Williams also hosts monthly "coffee and chat" sessions with interested parents.

The authors met Williams and saw his parent center during a visit to Alabama in October 2019. In a follow-up email interview, Williams said he believes that there are no ineffective ways to communicate with parents. Rather, he believes that different methods work for different families, and it is the school's responsibility to find a way for every family to engage.

Given the rise of public school choice-which relies on parents seeking out other schools and comparing them with their neighborhood public school-in many urban school districts, there is a burgeoning field of research on schools' communication with prospective families. Many researchers and advocacy groups have examined what information helps parents select a school that is most likely to maximize academic outcomes, as well as the most effective ways to present that information to parents. However, recent research has not extensively explored how schools communicate with parents whose children are currently enrolled. The available data, however, suggest that there is room for improvement.

Many families do not receive consistent communication from their child's school. The nationally representative Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of more than 14,000 parents found that only 42 percent reported receiving a school-initiated phone call about their child in the 2015-16 school year, and only 62 percent had received an individualized email about their child.

Analysis of schools' communication and engagement with parents

Through new, original analysis, the Center for American Progress sought to understand the current state of school-parent communication and family engagement through two lenses: (1) parents', teachers', and school leaders' perceptions of communication; and (2) the engagement policies that are already in place across different school districts in the United States.

CAP created and distributed a survey to K-12 public school parents, teachers, and school leaders that asked about the content, frequency, and importance of multiple types of information parents receive, as well as the methods schools use to communicate this information. The authors also reviewed current parent and family engagement plans-required under Title I, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act-choosing plans from three districts in Colorado and three districts in Pennsylvania and highlighting observed trends. (see "Title I review methodology" in the Appendix for more information about why these districts were selected)

Key findings from the survey include:

Overall, parents, teachers, and school leaders reported that schools' communication of various types of information is actionable, and parent engagement is strong.

Across parents, teachers, and school leaders, individual student achievement was most commonly rated as the most important type of information to communicate to parents, but no one type of information received a majority of votes from any of the stakeholder groups.

Parents, teachers, and school leaders reported that the school communicated information frequently but said ideal communication would be more frequent and more consistent.

All three groups reported high value in the communication systems they used, and individualization-regardless of how technologically advanced-mattered the most in value perceptions. Parents reported using fewer methods than teachers and school leaders, suggesting that parents may not find all available systems at their school effective.

There are grade-level differences in the frequency and importance of different types of information, but there were few differences among parents by race and ethnicity or income.

The authors' review of six Title I parent and family engagement plans found that each assessed engagement activities and provisions to include parents in plan development, but the most comprehensive plans acknowledged the need for multiple communication entry points.

Based on these findings, CAP believes that policymakers should take a community-informed approach to updating parent engagement plans by soliciting parent input and comparing results across different groups of families-for example, by race and ethnicity or by the primary language spoken at home. Federal and state policymakers should also provide technical assistance and Title I parent engagement funds. School districts can leverage these resources to conduct parent surveys, implement teacher training, and hire technology advisers in order to increase both the quality and quantity of school-parent communications.

At the turn of the century, the success of early childhood initiatives that prioritized parent involvement, such as Head Start, as well as the expansion of public school choice inspired extensive research that tied parent engagement to a number of positive academic, social, and behavioral outcomes for students.

However, research in this area has waned in the past decade, with many recently published studies relying on data from the 1990s. Still, meta-analyses continue to find a robust relationship between parent involvement and academic success across all students, especially for African American and Latino students. Parent-teacher relationships may also influence students' behavior and peer relationships, and teachers in one survey reported that students with more engaged parents performed better in class, although evidence for these outcomes has been less consistent.

Defining parent engagement

Parent communication is just one element in the broader field of parent engagement. There are six commonly recognized forms of parent engagement, as popularized by scholar Joyce L. Epstein's 1995 framework. These include the ways in which schools help establish supportive home environments; the design of communications between school and home; the recruitment and organization of parent help at school; information about how parents can help with homework and other curricular activities; the development of parent leaders and the inclusion of parents in school-level decisions; and the leveraging of community resources to strengthen school programs. This report adopts Epstein's framework in order to examine the role of school-parent communications in supporting multiple forms of parent engagement and in keeping parents informed about their child's academic performance.

There are many barriers to family engagement, including limited time and resources available for teachers and families alike; a lack of professional development focused on how teachers can best engage families; and different levels of family understanding about how or why they should engage with their child's education. Certain groups of parents also face unique challenges: For example, immigrant parents may not speak the same language as school teachers or leaders, while LGBTQ parents may not be fully recognized by schools as a family unit. A focus group of predominantly Black parents found that a negative school climate, including hostile interactions with teachers and poorly organized communication channels, was the primary barrier to effective communication.
"Engagement means that a parent has pretty open communication with their child's teachers." - Sharice Stevens, a parent at Sidney Lanier High School
As mentioned earlier in this report, schools can support family engagement in many ways. Epstein's framework includes five methods of engagement that include helping establish supportive home environments and teaching parents how to help with homework. Epstein considers communication to be the sixth method, but this report explores how communication can be used as a critical, all-encompassing tool to strengthen the other five.

Yet the existence of communication channels alone is not enough. Some recent reporting suggests that the information families receive-especially regarding student achievement-can be unclear or feel unactionable. Confusing proficiency descriptions such as "nearly meets standard" can mislead many parents into believing their children are on track when they are not, a problem exacerbated by report card grades that often paint a more positive picture than standardized test scores. Still, parents continue to rate report cards as the most important tool for understanding student achievement, while teachers rate them third-most important behind regular communication between parents and teachers and graded work. This discrepancy may be one of the reasons why in Learning Heroes' national surveys of K-8 parents since 2016, 9 in 10 parents believed their children were at or above grade level-a stark difference from the 33 percent of eighth graders who are actually considered proficient in math and reading. Even well-performing students may benefit from more communication about their progress. One recent study found that Black students who scored in the top category of the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program and received a congratulatory letter about their achievement outperformed Black students who scored the same but did not receive a letter.

Parent perceptions about how much communication they receive may predict the extent of their engagement. One 1997 study found that parents' perceptions of the amount of information they received from teachers, more so than the actual amount, predicted their self-reported involvement in their child's learning. Unfortunately, there is some evidence of a disconnect between schools' and parents' perceptions of communication. The same study found no correlation between parent- and teacher-reported amounts of information, even within the same school.

Technology has created new opportunities for schools to stay in touch with families. Parents and teachers agree that technology can be useful to foster proactive engagement, and some recent school interventions have found success in leveraging technology, such as by texting parents reminders about reading and attendance. In 2011, National School Public Relations Association President Ron Koehler observed: "The backpack folder is no longer the primary source of information for parents. They want and prefer instant electronic information." Heejae Lim, who created an app that translates teachers' texts to a parent's preferred language, believes that texting can be especially useful for engagement because of its ability to create a two-way conversation.

Family engagement is crucial to student success, and school-parent communication can bolster engagement. However, there is still much to learn about the types of communication that parents seek and what kinds are most effective.

In 2019, the Center for American Progress surveyed more than 900 parents who were mostly representative of the public school student population, more than 400 teachers, and more than 400 school leaders, including principals and other administrators. The survey aimed to better understand what type of information the respondents believe is important for schools and teachers to communicate to parents; how often they currently receive or share that information; how often they believe that information should ideally be shared; and what types of platforms or communication tools are most helpful for sharing information. (see Appendix for more detailed information on the full survey sample and methodology)

According to Principal Williams of Sidney Lanier High School, "Parents must understand your mission, vision, and goals in order to be active participants in the educational process." Williams' words suggest that robust communication should occur with families even before there is academic progress to share. Schools should use communication to build a community with shared values that will frame students' eventual academic achievement.

Findings

The survey findings painted a more positive picture of the perceived value and effectiveness of parent-school communication than other recent research that focuses on parent-school communication about student achievement. Overall, parents, teachers, and school leaders all reported that the different types of information schools communicate are important, although parents and teachers would ideally like this information to be communicated more frequently and consistently.

All three groups also reported that the specific communication systems they use are valuable, but there were different perceptions across participants about which systems were in use by the school. There were minimal differences by school characteristics or parents' race and ethnicity, but there were statistically significant grade-level differences.

Key trends from the analysis include:

Parents, teachers, and school leaders perceive communication to be actionable and reported that parent engagement is strong.

The survey asked parents, teachers, and school leaders to gauge their perceptions of communication. Most parents, teachers, and school leaders reported that communication was clear and actionable and that schools provided the right amount of information. (see Figure 1) Specifically, more than three-fourths of parents, teachers, and school leaders agreed or strongly agreed that communication was actionable, and more than one-half responded that the amount of information shared with parents was "just right," as opposed to too much or too little. In line with previous research, school leaders were the most positive in their reported levels of engagement, frequency of communication, and the value of the systems that are used.

Relatedly, the majority of each group reported that communication allowed parents to engage with their child's learning and that parents are engaged in learning and the school environment. Notably, however, there were differences in reports of how engaged parents really are. Parents overwhelmingly agreed that they were involved with their children's learning: 92 percent of parents agreed or strongly agreed, compared with only 64 percent of teachers and 84 percent of school leaders. School leaders were more likely to agree that parents were involved with the school community: 85 percent agreed or strongly agreed, compared with only 72 percent of parents and 69 percent of teachers.

There were also differences in reported engagement by grade level. Elementary school parents, teachers, and school leaders were more likely than survey respondents from middle or high schools to agree that the information their schools shared helped promote parent engagement. This is similar to Learning Heroes survey data that found a severe drop in parent engagement in middle school: Middle school parents are more likely than elementary school parents to use less personal methods of engagement, such as accessing a web portal, and are less likely to use more personal methods, such as attending a parent-teacher conference.

Parents surveyed reported more positive perceptions of parent-school communication than in other recent reports, including surveys and stories from Learning Heroes and EdNavigator. The difference may be a result of the fact that the CAP survey asked about many more types of communication than school report cards and communication around academic progress. In addition, in an effort to keep the survey brief and prevent survey fatigue, the authors did not define "actionable" or "engagement." Given research that shows that different populations define engagement and communication differently, the results of the survey cannot be directly compared with other findings that provided parents or teachers with more specific examples or definitions of these terms.

CAP's survey design also did not allow the authors to test the strength of the respondents' convictions. In other words, parents, teachers and school leaders may not know what they do not know. So, while all groups may perceive engagement to be strong, there still may be room for improvement. The significant differences seen between parents' and teachers' reported frequency of communication versus their ideal frequency of communication support this idea. It is possible that the surveyed groups may report differently if they are provided with an objectively ideal picture of engagement.

This discrepancy has been shown in previous reports about parent knowledge and information. For example, in a 2017 Learning Heroes survey that asked parents if their child was performing at, above, or below grade level, only 8 percent of parents initially reported that their child was performing below grade level. The survey then presented national proficiency data showing that many students fail to meet proficiency standards in reading and math, which caused the number of parents reporting that their child may not be meeting proficiency standards to rise to 25 percent. These findings could extend to the authors' engagement research, and more research is needed to understand whether the generally positive findings in CAP's survey are because actual engagement is high or because perceptions of engagement are limited.

The CAP survey results provide information about current subjective perceptions of school-parent communications and how these perceptions differ among parents, teachers, and school leaders. However, as with any belief, perspectives might change if individuals have more information.

Individual student achievement was considered the most important, but not the only important, type of information.

All three groups rated most of the types of information listed in Table 1 as "mostly" or "extremely" important. The types of information with the highest importance ratings across all three groups included individual student achievement, patterns of behavior, disciplinary action, curriculum, and logistics such as early dismissal. Teacher qualifications, opportunities to volunteer, and information on how the school uses its budget received lower average importance ratings across each of the groups, although 8 percent of parents selected teacher qualifications as their most important type of information.

The most important type of information across all groups was individual student achievement, which was more than three times as likely to be selected than the next most frequently selected type of information for parents, teachers, and leaders alike. Still, no one type of information received majority support. Teachers also differed from parents and school leaders in the information they considered most important. For teachers, disciplinary action and patterns of behavior were the next most commonly selected, while curriculum and resources about college and career readiness gained more support from parents and school leaders.

Although most research in school-family engagement focuses on communication exclusively about student achievement, these survey results show that parents are interested in more than just academic information from their child's school, as are teachers and school leaders.

Parents and teachers think that ideal communication would be more frequent and more consistent, with differences by grade level.

The survey asked parents, teachers, and school leaders to report both the current and their ideal frequency of parent-school communication about various types of information. All groups reported that most types of information from the school were communicated between weekly and monthly but said ideal communication would be more frequent and closer to every week. (see Figure 2) Parents and teachers especially wanted communication about almost all types of information to be delivered more regularly, regardless of how often, rather than on an irregular schedule or "only when relevant."

Overall, homework was communicated between weekly and daily, while most other types of information were communicated between monthly and weekly. Opportunities to be involved in decision-making and information about schoolwide achievement were communicated approximately monthly, and information about how the school uses its budget was communicated slightly more than once a year; however, parents reported wanting all three types of information on a more frequent, monthly basis.

Disciplinary action was the most likely type of information to be communicated irregularly, with more than one-third of parents, teachers, and leaders saying it was currently only communicated when deemed necessary. However, only one-quarter of parents and less than one-fifth of school leaders believed this information should ideally be communicated irregularly. There was also a large gap regarding opportunities to be involved in decision-making; twice as many parents and three times as many school leaders reported that communication was currently irregular as those who wanted it to be irregular.

Notably, elementary, middle, and high school teachers in CAP's survey did not differ in their perceptions of how much information their school shared with parents; teachers reported that it was consistently "just the right amount" across all three grade levels. On the other hand, while school leaders thought the overall amount of information shared was increasingly too much as they moved from younger to older grades, parents reported the amount as increasingly too little. (see Figure 3) This suggests a disconnect between leadership practices and parent interests, which may influence the amount of time or resources teachers feel they have available for parent communication.

All groups agree that the communication systems they use are valuable, but there is a wide variety of types of systems used.

The survey asked respondents to indicate which systems they use from the list indicated in Table 2. The majority of respondents reported that the communication systems that they used were valuable, although there was a relatively wide distribution of the types of communication systems used by the respondents within each group. Interestingly, almost all of the systems received relatively high value ratings.

The most commonly used methods were parent-teacher conferences and personalized emails or calls-all methods that rely on individualized attention and teacher time. Eighty-nine percent of parents, 85 percent of teachers, and 97 percent of school leaders reported that parent-teacher conferences are mostly or extremely valuable, with similar results for personalized emails and calls. The next most commonly used methods were websites and paper notifications. Despite their common use, these were rated less valuable than more personalized approaches: Only 69 percent of parents, 65 percent of teachers, and 77 percent of school leaders reported that their school's website was mostly or extremely valuable, while 71 percent of parents, 60 percent of teachers, and 68 percent of school leaders said the same for paper notifications.

A 2011 survey found that few parents looked to social media for information from their child's school, even though their interest in using other types of technology for school communication was relatively high. Nearly a decade later, even as social media has permeated more aspects of daily life, CAP's survey found similar disinterest in social media as a school-parent communication tool. Only one-third of all participants reported that their school used social media, and it received lower value ratings than other systems: 58 percent of parents, 47 percent of teachers, and 67 percent of school leaders said that social media was mostly or extremely valuable. Notably, far more teachers and school leaders-46 percent and 38 percent, respectively-listed social media as a system their school used than did parents, at 24 percent, suggesting that parents may not even know about existing social media channels.

Overall, however, the survey results do not suggest that systems relying on newer technology are used more or less than other systems, or that they are considered more or less valuable. The systems found most valuable were those involving individualization-whether they use technology, such as a web portal with individual student information, or do not use technology, such as parent-teacher conferences.

Teachers reported both the systems that they personally use and systems their school uses, even if they personally do not. These results provide important insights into teacher perceptions of communication. The prevalence of parent-teacher conferences and the focus on individual student achievement can sometimes make it seem like teachers entirely drive school-parent communication. However, there are actually many ways in which schools communicate-such as through websites or automatic text messages-that are often outside of teachers' control. Furthermore, teachers may not have a clear picture of how communication happens outside of their classroom. A higher percentage of teachers than parents or school leaders reported that their school used most communication systems, suggesting that teachers may think that parents have more access to information than they actually do. More coordination between school administrators and school staff can address this discrepancy.

Since the survey design only asked respondents to rate the value of systems that they or their schools use, the value ratings for some of the communication systems might be lower if all respondents were asked to rate all systems. Even so, this analysis demonstrates that all of these systems have some value to a certain proportion of the sample.

School-level differences are more prevalent than differences at the individual level.

CAP set quotas for the parent sample based on the demographics of the current U.S. K-12 public school student population in order to compare differences in communication perceptions across racial and ethnic groups. CAP also asked respondents about their school characteristics in order to disaggregate by school type. School-level differences had a bigger impact on communication perceptions than did differences by parents' race and ethnicity.

As mentioned above, grade level also affected perceptions of the amount of information shared and the ability of that information to help parents engage. There were also some differences by self-reported poverty level of the school, such that parents, teachers, and leaders from higher-poverty schools reported less frequent communication and slightly less engagement; however, these differences were relatively small. Other school differences, including differences in urbanicity, charter status, and racial composition of the student body, did not have a significant effect on the responses.

Parents' race and ethnicity also did not seem to determine perceptions of communication or overall engagement. Asian American parents reported the lowest levels of importance of information and value of systems used, while Black or African American parents' ratings were typically highest. There were no differences in current or ideal frequency by parents' race and ethnicity. There were also no significant differences in engagement with student learning, although Black or African American parents did report slightly higher engagement with the school community as a whole. Previous research about parent engagement does suggest that there may be differences among the types and quality of communication for parents of different races and that teachers' and school leaders' perceptions of engagement may be influenced by parents' race, so more exploration in this area is needed to better understand the survey findings.

Teachers and families are often the center of school-parent communication, but federal policymakers and federally funded education programs often play a significant role in facilitating effective family communication and engagement.

Current school district parent engagement plans

School districts that receive an allocation from Title I, Part A of ESSA develop a written parent engagement plan, with required input from parents, and incorporate it into the district's overall Title I plan that is approved by the state. While not intended to be a comprehensive nationwide analysis, CAP reviewed six of these parent engagement plans. As shown in Table 3, the authors selected plans from three local education agencies (LEAs) of varying sizes in two states-Colorado and Pennsylvania-to provide geographic diversity and analyze how the plans differ based on the size of the LEA. The authors found that although the plans varied in detail, all of them covered the federal requirements for parent engagement and, as a result, had similar underlying strategies.

Specifically, all six plans discussed how the district would assess the quality of parent engagement activities annually, mostly through surveys and annual meetings. In addition, each school district has provisions in their plan to include parents in the development of their Title I programs. Most districts have a similar requirement for individual schools to include parents in Title I program development. All districts require schools with Title I programs to engage parents in the school's annual review and improvement process and to establish a school-to-parent compact outlining how they will work together to improve student achievement.

Best practices

Of the six plans, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) has the most detailed and comprehensive plan. It also describes multiple types of communication approaches geared to improve district and school communication with families.

Beyond the common practices found in most of the other school district plans, SDP reports using technology and virtual resource centers to better communicate with parents, increasing the amount of information that is available to parents without overburdening schools or individual teachers. SDP has established a district call center that offers one-on-one case management support, an online knowledge management system with FAQs, and a new parent and family portal that allows families to personalize the level of detail and method of school communication. The district has also discussed using Facebook and Twitter to increase the amount of information available to parents.

SDP describes the need to "provide multiple entry points" to ensure that more families can participate in their children's learning. In addition to the district's use of technology, it also hires family and community engagement coordinators to help work with parents and build trusting relationships.

Other school districts also have interesting family engagement activities and policies, though they are not directly related to communication approaches. Bensalem Township School District in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, for instance, requires that the annual evaluation of parent engagement activities examines differences across all racial and ethnic subgroups and articulates the unique barriers faced by different families, such as limited literacy, economic disadvantage, or limited English proficiency. The Bensalem plan highlights that it will ensure coordination in parent involvement activities across other federal, state, and local programs.

The Mesa County Valley School District in Grand Junction, Colorado, does not discuss leveraging technology in its plan but commits to using federal parent engagement funds to hire a parent involvement coordinator within the district office. The plan also requires each school that receives Title I funds to establish a parent liaison.

CAP's analysis provides new context for the existing research and recommendations on school-parent communication. It demonstrates that while communication about student achievement and progress is important, parents also highly value other types of information. As a result, communication systems and strategies should include information and data about areas other than student achievement.

Moreover, parents' interest in different types of information changes across grade levels. As a result, communication systems and strategies should cast a wide net and offer parents multiple points of entry. The federal government should encourage districts and schools to adopt different strategies and approaches based on the needs and interests of parent populations.

Federal policymakers should consider parents as partners in federal education programs and maintain Title I parent engagement funds. States and school districts should leverage this money and help develop systems, platforms, or expectations; advise on strategy and provide adequate funding to improve parent communication; and foster greater parent engagement. Communication should be more frequent, more consistent, and, most importantly, exist through multiple channels. As SDP's plan acknowledges-and as CAP's survey results confirm-not all forms of communication work for all families, so offering multiple points of entry is crucial to ensuring that parents both know of and engage with the information they receive from their child's school. The authors identify specific recommendations to help improve overall school-family communication based on existing research and CAP's survey analysis.

Federal recommendations

Federal policymakers can encourage states, districts, and schools to value parent partnerships in the development of policies and in the planning and execution of education programs. Specifically, federal policymakers should:

Focus on parents and families as crucial partners in federal education programs. Parent involvement is frequently discussed at the student or school level, but parents have long advocated for educational change at the state and national levels. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act stipulates that parents must consent to an evaluation for special education, have the ability to request an evaluation, and participate in the development of an individualized education program for their child, if needed. In addition to ESSA's Title I, which sets aside funds for parent engagement, ESSA also requires that parents are consulted during the development of state and district plans and that state report cards are provided in a language that parents understand. The U.S. Department of Education should help districts adhere to this requirement, and federal education policy should consider parent input and advocacy in the creation of new programs; strengthen language about parent partnership to signal to states and districts that engagement is a priority; and provide resources and guidance for both parent engagement and parent involvement in the development of new state or district initiatives.

Maintain funding specifically for parent engagement under Title I of ESSA. Effective communication with parents requires time and resources. The federal government can highlight its support for these activities and help school staff implement communication policies by setting aside funding specifically for this purpose. ESSA currently requires school districts that receive Title I, Part A funds to reserve 1 percent of their allocation to carry out parent engagement activities. As evidenced in CAP's review, these plans have allowed all districts to conduct annual reviews of their parent engagement policies, and several districts have added unique and creative practices such as parent liaisons and technology centers. Maintaining this stipulation and providing additional guidance about how to use the funds, such as through a bank of current best practices in different districts, will help ensure that schools with limited resources are still able to implement effective parent communication strategies.

Provide technical assistance for parent engagement. The No Child Left Behind Act, in effect from 2002 to 2015, included a grant program for nonprofit Parental Information Resource Centers (PIRCs), which appropriated approximately $40 million on a yearly basis until 2012. ESSA revitalized these grants through the Statewide Family Engagement Centers (SFEC) program, which gives "financial support to organizations that provide technical assistance and training to State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) in the implementation and enhancement of systemic and effective family engagement policies, programs, and activities that lead to improvements in student development and academic achievement." Thirteen states have been awarded grants through the new program so far. Still, the SFEC program receives less than one-quarter of PIRC's previous funding. Reinvesting in this grant program and providing additional federal guidance through the U.S. Department of Education's family and community engagement team could further help all states maintain comprehensive training and support.

State-level recommendations

State policymakers can also encourage districts and schools to prioritize school-parent communication, family input, and family engagement. Specifically, state policymakers should:

Provide technical assistance to develop parent engagement plans. As required by ESSA, every school district that receives Title I funds must set aside 1 percent of their overall funding to support parent engagement. Districts must develop and articulate a plan to use those funds in the Title I plan that they submit to their state education agency. States should provide technical assistance to help school districts develop engagement plans to meet the needs of their population. For instance, the state may help analyze survey data, if available, to identify specific schools that are effectively engaging parents as well as schools that need to significantly rethink their parent engagement efforts. Also, states could connect school districts within the state that have similar demographics or dynamics to share strategies that have been successful. States should engage a diverse committee of parents as they develop these types of support in order to improve parents' communication and engagement and receive a wide range of opinions.

Encourage parent surveys to look at parent attitudes toward schools and disaggregate data as much as possible. States should consider administering statewide parent surveys to better understand parents' attitudes toward schools, specifically including questions to assess the quality of school-parent communication. States can disaggregate the information by school and student characteristics-including by race and ethnicity, income, home language, and disability status-to help districts identify which schools may benefit from strategic changes and to focus technical assistance in areas that need it most. For example, Illinois conducts an annual survey of teachers, students, and parents to gather information on effective leaders, collaborative teachers, involved families, school environments, and rigor of instruction. The Illinois State Board of Education makes these data publicly available, reports the information by school, and uses the information to better support school districts.

Offer professional development opportunities for districts and school leaders on how to effectively engage families. In addition to the SFEC grant program, the National PTA and other organizations offer grants for states to implement programs that assist district and school leaders in developing parent engagement plans. States can develop expertise internally or work with their state universities and nonprofits to create training opportunities. Several states have begun to pass legislation to increase capacity-building school practices: Nevada, for example, provides training for teachers to work with parent liaisons, while New York conducts training programs to help parents participate in local governance structures. These training opportunities help build familiarity and confidence in engagement strategies and effective communication systems; moreover, they guide educators to work with their communities in order to adapt policies to unique family and student populations. For example, Massachusetts' SFEC grant proposal was developed by the Federation for Children with Special Needs; Minnesota put students from racially diverse and low-income backgrounds front and center in its proposal; and South Dakota emphasized a focus on engagement strategies for English language learners.

School district recommendations

School districts can help build systems and policies to simplify communication efforts at the school level. They should:

Effectively use Title I parent engagement funds. A strong district plan can help set strong, consistent school-parent communication expectations within a district and create the infrastructure to facilitate communication within individual schools. The authors' review of six parent engagement plans across two states was limited but found that school districts show various levels of detail and strategy and that there is room for improvement. Some districts go beyond federal requirements and have tested new strategies for effective family engagement. For instance, using technology in partnership with targeted personnel such as parent liaisons or coordinators can provide parents with multiple options for engagement. Parent-oriented websites and social media can also transcend the need for updated individual parent contact information, which can be especially difficult for schools with high turnover.

Hire technology advisers to support family engagement efforts. As evidenced by the CAP survey, most parents believe that certain technology platforms, such as websites and web-based platforms, are valuable for parent communication. Schools may not have the resources or expertise to explore, select, and customize tools, so LEAs should consider working with technology advisers. One parent whose children have attended schools in multiple districts said she appreciated having the ability to log into a web portal with individual information about her children. She noted that the absence of such a portal in her current school district required more effort from both parents and teachers to find and create personal communication channels, as they could not take advantage of existing ones that updated automatically online. Technology advisers may be able to recommend technological changes to meet the needs of various schools or communities. They also may be able to help schools select communication tools that fit their capacity and community. Alternatively, these advisers may develop a tool or build a platform to meet the needs of various groups of schools with similar needs.

Reinforce parent communication as a central responsibility of every teacher and every school, and allocate sufficient resources to ensure that teachers and other school staff have the capacity and tools to communicate with parents. Effective parent communication can be time-consuming for school leaders, teachers, and other staff. According to a 2019 Learning Heroes report, less than one-third of elementary, middle, and high school teachers felt very satisfied with the support they received from their school to communicate difficult information to parents. In fact, many middle and high school teachers did not believe that parent communication was a central job responsibility. The Data Quality Campaign has found that while parents crave more data about student achievement, teachers do not feel prepared to use or communicate data effectively. School districts can prioritize the importance of parent communication and ensure that schools allocate adequate resources to support teachers and facilitate the sharing of information. For instance, school districts can set norms for all schools; adopt communication systems to share information; create professional development opportunities to help teachers provide key information; and adjust staffing to ensure that teachers and other staff have time to use effective communication methods. According to a 2018 Learning Heroes report, about one-half of teachers report having had no training to communicate difficult information to parents, and only 30 percent of teachers report being very satisfied with the support they receive for these difficult conversations. Staffing is especially important, given that parents expect teachers to provide regular emails and calls and to frequently update online portals-tasks that teachers with large class sizes or few prep periods may not have time to do.

Connect information back to individual student achievement. The CAP survey found that information about individual student achievement was extremely important-if not most important-to most parents. Specifically,9 percent of parents reported that information about their child's individual academic achievement was at least somewhat important, and 37 percent of parents said it was the most important type of information to communicate-the item parents most commonly named most important by a factor of three.
Given these results, school districts should connect information about individual student achievement to other information that districts, schools, or teachers want parents to consider. For instance, while 95.3 percent of parents rated information about schoolwide achievement as at least somewhat important, only 3 percent of parents said it was the most important type of information. Connecting schoolwide information to individual student information more directly could help communicate these insights to parents.

Disaggregate data intentionally and provide context. The Data Quality Campaign found that parents are especially interested in information about how their child's school educates students from similar demographic backgrounds. To provide parents with this information, data should be disaggregated as much as possible, including by race and ethnicity, disability status, income levels, and English proficiency.
However, it is also critical to provide context. In interviews with parents, Learning Heroes found that noncontextualized disaggregated results can feel stigmatizing to some families. Many parents, especially parents of color, shared that they felt this information proved their "kids can't learn." As a result, data showing results by race and ethnicity, income, or any other subgroup should use language that explains why the data have been disaggregated. In a sample report card based on this research, Learning Heroes provides template language about how information "is broken down by group to show whether or not a school is serving all of its students well" and clarifies how schools will use the information accordingly.

Ask parents what they want and offer different ways to get it. While it may sound obvious, all school districts should engage parents in the development of parent engagement plans. Parents should help schools determine what issues are most important to communicate, the most valuable or actionable methods and tools, and the desired frequency of communication to develop policies that are specifically aligned to the needs of the community. School districts can engage parents by surveying them, conducting focus groups, establishing a parent committee, or creating systems and providing funds that allow parents to meet across schools or districts so they can learn about effective practices that have been implemented elsewhere. For example, CAP's survey did not include school safety plans as its own type of information; the National PTA, however, has found that this is a primary concern for parents and has accordingly created a resource for parents to ask questions and find out more information. More proactive work from schools and districts would ensure that all parents have access to this information, not only the parents who seek it out. School districts should also consider working with other community or advocacy organizations to help parents learn what to ask for and how to suggest different, out-of-the-box methods of communicating information.

Principal Williams' successful approach at Sidney Lanier Senior High School illustrates a key takeaway of CAP's analysis: "Different strategies are conducive to support from parents with different situations," he mused. "As a result, I do not believe any strategy is ineffective."

Policymakers at the federal, state, and district levels need to continue to focus on increasing parent engagement, using communication tools as a lever. To be sure, effective communication between parents and schools relies on trust and personal connections; Williams' "coffee and chats" at Lanier are not for nothing. Still, system-level changes can help teachers and schools better share information that is important to each stakeholder group in efficient ways that are tailored to the needs of school communities.

Meg Benner is a senior consultant at the Center for American Progress.

Abby Quirk is a research associate for K-12 Education at the Center.

The authors would like to thank several individuals for their insights, feedback, and review of this report. Catherine Brown, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, had the initial idea for the report. Scott Sargrad, vice president of K-12 Education Policy at the Center, and Khalilah Harris, managing director of K-12 Education Policy at the Center, provided valuable feedback throughout the process. Jessica Yin, a research assistant for K-12 Education at the Center, reviewed the data analysis. The following people provided feedback on the survey results and drafts of the report: Tim Daly, founding partner at EdNavigator; David Keeling, founding partner at EdNavigator; Seth Litt, chief executive officer at Parent Revolution; Helen Westmoreland, director of family engagement at the National PTA; Jacki Ball, director of government affairs at the National PTA; Rebecca Bauer, specialist in family engagement at the National PTA; David Park, senior vice president of strategy and communications at Learning Heroes; Erica Gray, advisory of research and content at Learning Heroes; Bibb Hubbard, founder and president of Learning Heroes; Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, president and CEO of the Data Quality Campaign; and Blair Mann, director of communications at the Data Quality Campaign.

This appendix details the survey methodology and limitations as well as the authors' review of Title I parent engagement plans.

Survey methodology

In fall 2019, the Center for American Progress used CloudResearch-a crowdsourcing data acquisition platform, formerly called TurkPrime, that conducts panel studies with Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers-to administer a study comparing teachers', parents', and school leaders' attitudes toward school-parent communication.

CloudResearch's panel service, Prime Panels, integrates many different platforms for the purposes of research. Each platform has its own participant pool, referred to as an opt-in panel. Participants on these panels are profiled on hundreds of variables, and invitations for this study were sent via email and dashboard notifications to specific participants based on their demographic profiles.

Parents were identified as people who previously indicated that they were parents of children who were of K-12 school age; these people were then prescreened to ensure that their children attended a public school. Teachers were identified as people who previously indicated that they were a K-12 teacher and were then prescreened to ensure that they were currently teaching in a public school. School leaders were identified as people who previously identified that they were in a K-12 school leadership position and were then prescreened to ensure that they were currently working in a public school.

Participants first answered questions about the importance of types of information and then had a forced choice to select the single most important type of information. Next, they reported on the frequency of those same types of information. One-half of all participants were randomized to see questions about current frequency first, while the other half of participants were randomized to see questions about ideal frequency first; question order did not significantly affect the findings. Next, participants selected every system their school used to communicate with parents-with teachers instructed to select every system they personally used, as well as systems their school uses but they personally do not-and then rated the value of each system they previously selected. The survey ended with questions about participant demographics and school characteristics.

Participant demographics and school characteristics

In order to ensure a racially representative sample of parents, Prime Panels set quotas using the 2015 public school enrollment estimates for Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, and white parents, as well as parents from another or more than one race. No quotas were set for teachers or school leaders. Of the initial sample, 44 parents, 11 teachers, and 25 leaders were excluded for failing an attention check, indicating that they did not actually work in or have a child attending a public school or did not successfully complete the survey.

Across all parents, teachers, and school leaders, participants in the final sample included 932 parents, 419 teachers, and 408 leaders from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, who were predominantly white (61.5 percent) and female (58.0 percent). The schools where participants worked or sent their children were somewhat evenly split across grade levels, with 39.4 percent from elementary school, 23.4 percent from middle school, and 28.8 percent from high school. The schools were also mostly traditional neighborhood schools (88.9 percent) in suburban (46.1 percent) or urban (34.5 percent) areas.

Survey limitations

The survey had several limitations. First, while the authors set quotas for race and ethnicity in the parent sample, the way the survey was administered limited the diversity and validity of the sample. Most importantly, only parents who speak English and have internet access could be included. In addition, parents with multiple children who attend multiple schools may have conflated their experiences or not have known which one to consider in their responses.

Additionally, the use of self-reported measures may not necessarily capture actual school practices. For example, participants were only asked to rate the value of the systems they reported using. This may have artificially inflated value ratings, as parents may not use the systems they find least valuable. For the sake of timing and in an effort not to bias responses, the survey also intentionally did not define terms such as "engagement" or provide examples of systems such as "web-based platforms" or "paper notifications," which may have confused some parents or led to different interpretations. Additionally, demographic information relied on self-reported estimates for the racial composition and poverty level of schools, only capturing respondents' perceptions of the percentage of white students and the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch.

Title I review methodology

The authors of this report reviewed three plans from districts in Pennsylvania and three plans from districts in Colorado to gauge the context and specificity of their Title I parent and family engagement plans; identify any themes; and develop recommendations for improvement based on the findings of the online survey. The authors chose districts that ranged in enrollment numbers to consider changes in approaches based on district capacity and the number of schools. The sample is very limited, and the authors do not presume that it is representative or inclusive of the policies that exist in states and districts nationwide. Moreover, the authors did not consult district staff, parents, or schools within any of the districts to verify if the districts were implementing the policies indicated or had implemented additional activities or to evaluate the effectiveness of the policies.

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One Size Does Not Fit All - Center for American Progress

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Author's note: CAP uses "Black" and "African American" interchangeably throughout many of our products. We chose to capitalize "Black" in order to reflect that we are discussing a group of people and to be consistent with the capitalization of "African American."

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B.3.1. Have a public, yet confidential, system in place for celebrating whole-class achievement that demonstrates progress over time.

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At Inkster Preparatory Academy outside Detroit, students track their scores on the high-stakes NWEA Map test on the walls of their classrooms. Their names aren't on the board-instead they have their own code-but at a glance they can see how well their peers are doing. The practice is known as "data walls," and is designed to serve as a motivational tool. Students are told that "everyone is working to move their number" even higher, says Demetria Tumpkin, a second grade teacher at the school.

At South Newton Elementary School In Newton, N.C., educator Rebecca Vass, who teaches informational technology with science and social studies integration to fourth graders, uses a data wall so her students can track their progress on a quarterly benchmark assessment the district uses. Scores are color-coded by class, and students' names aren't attached to the data (nor do they have a unique code). That allows her to see data trends from one class to another. Vass says typically, her data walls aren't tied to individual students.

Perform a Google image search for "classroom data walls," and you'll see many examples of how teachers are displaying kids' scores and results in the classroom. As the school year gets back into swing, teachers might be already planning their own student-facing data walls, perhaps with student names attached. However, the practice has its share of critics, who believe publicly displaying results does more harm than good.

Are They Effective?

One such critic is Launa Hall. Back when she was a third grade teacher at a school in Virginia, Hall put up a data wall in her classroom. But the data wall, which tracked students' scores on state standards, didn't stay up for long.

Hall, who chronicled her experience for the Washington Post back in 2016, wrote that the first morning after she put up the data wall, one of her students had a negative reaction. She "lowered her gaze to the floor and shuffled to her chair" after she saw where she was placed on the math achievement chart, she wrote. Since then, Hall has come to believe that the "public marking of where people are" is ineffective.

"It doesn't give them the actual tools to fix the problem," she says.

And what's more, she doesn't think public displays of their data tells students anything they don't already know about their performance. Instead, she says data walls emphasize the wrong thing.

"We need to be emphasizing what the child is doing right, and what the child is doing great, so that we can build on those strengths and help that child make progress, versus spending time with the comparisons," Hall says.

Motivation

Julie Marsh is a researcher at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education. She has studied the use of data in schools, including data walls. Based on the interviews she's conducted with educators in her research, she thinks many proponents really believe data walls are a positive thing that motivate kids. In particular, she has studied their use at the middle school level.

"We heard a lot that kids at this age like competition, and so knowing how you do relative to another person or another classroom might motivate you to kind of try harder and take more seriously the assessment," Marsh says.

Marsh explains that some literature does suggest that data walls can motivate certain kids, in particular, those who are high performers. However, she notes that there is not a lot of research that suggests that data walls can be positive for kids who are low performers.

Marsh looks at the effectiveness of data walls through lens of previously-conducted research on motivation and goal orientation. There is a difference, she says, between performance orientation (your achievement relative to others) and mastery orientation (achievement relative to where you started).

"I think the public display of data allows for students to compare themselves to others-in some ways, [it] promotes that performance orientation," Marsh says. "And some of that research actually suggests that a performance oriented goal could be really associated with negative outcomes for kids." While some kids might be motivated by seeing how they compare with peers, she says, others might simply concede it's difficult and give up.

By contrast, research has shown that a mastery orientation is often more associated with positive outcomes for kids.

"If you give the kids the data individually, privately, relative to either where their baseline was or where the standards want them to be, that would foster more of a mastery orientation," Marsh says.

But what about the route Inkster Preparatory has taken, where student names aren't attached to the data? Marsh says while that might alleviate public embarrassment a bit, individual students can still see their score relative to others, and compare themselves.

Hall, the educator who briefly flirted with data walls in her classroom, is skeptical of the practice of using numbers or other codes in place of names. "The kids get that figured out in a hot minute," she says.

Tumpkin, the teacher whose school uses data walls in every classroom, says her students do talk about their scores. However, she notes that even if students identify who's who on the data wall, the class has conversations about how their minds work in different ways-a concept related to growth mindset.

"Just because your number is in this color red, doesn't mean that you can't move to the next color," Tumpkin says. "Your goal is to move on your own to the next color by working hard, asking questions and following through with the homework and different activities that we're doing in school."

Vass, the teacher in North Carolina, says students typically know where their dot-or score-is placed on the chart, and if they don't remember, they can typically refer back to their student data notebooks, which keep information on things including personal goals and test scores. She says whether or not students talk about their scores is up to them.

Potential Trouble with FERPA

Some privacy experts say that data walls can violate FERPA because they publicly display certain student data. Nicole Snyder, a lawyer whose areas of practice include special education and general education law, writes to EdSurge in an email that data walls could potentially violate the federal privacy law, depending on the "information detailed on the wall itself," such as student names, as well as "whether the parent has requested an opt out of directory information," which limits what a school can share about a student.

"Particularly if it highlights a student's exceptionality or if codes can be traced to specific students, a school district may face claims that the district violated applicable federal or state regulations, including but not limited to FERPA," Snyder adds.

The walls may also run afoul of state laws. Kim Nesmith, the data governance and privacy director for the Louisiana Department of Education, has first-hand experience working with data at the state level. She tells EdSurge that data walls could potentially violate Louisiana's Student Data Privacy law "in the same way that they could violate FERPA. The data could be linked to an individual student."

However, even if a particular data wall does violate FERPA, Cameron Clark, a legal fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, notes that parents can't sue the school district or an individual educator. "A scorned student or parent can't sue for a FERPA violation."

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Tear Down That Wall? Why Data Walls May Cause More Harm Than Good. - EdSurge News

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At Inkster Preparatory Academy outside Detroit, students track their scores on the high-stakes NWEA Map test on the walls of their classrooms. Their names aren't on the board-instead they have their own code-but at a glance they can see how well their peers are doing.

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Example of ways for students to track their progress on learning

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Example of ways for students to track their progress on learning

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B.3.2. Create

opportunities for

students to examine and manage their own data.

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Special Education Teacher
B.2.1. Analyze student performance data to identify students’ strengths and challenges; looks for trends and patterns to inform instructional moves.
B.2.4. Organize and regularly update a teacher- level portfolio that contains student performance data, in relation to the standards, at the individual, small group, and whole-class levels.

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B.3.1. Have a public, yet confidential, system in place for celebrating whole-class achievement that demonstrates progress over time.

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Do you use data walls in your classroom to help your students meet classroom and individual goals? Does your district require you to do goal setting with your students? Data walls can be a great resource to motivate students if they are used the right way. And, there's definitely a right way.

I recently read two blog posts about data walls that got me thinking about how I help students monitor their progress and see improvements, both academically and behaviorally.

If you have a data wall in your classroom, you must read these two posts (post one (no longer available), post two).

As you probably know, I do a lot of work around goal setting, specifically setting SMART goals and helping students monitor their progress. This is good stuff people. Goal setting helps students see their progress and focus on their learning. As a teacher, it helps me see where a student needs assistance and where I can focus my attention.

Let me make this very clear: NEVER SHAME A CHILD. Though the use of goal setting, NEVER make a child feel like they aren't measuring up. That is not the purpose of goal setting.

If a child is not reaching his goals, think about the goals that are being set. They're probably too high for the student. Reset the goals to something more appropriate and within the student's zone of proximal development, or ZPD.

A good rule of thumb is a 10% increase, whatever that looks like for the skill you're working on. You'll need to adjust that for some students, depending on their need and your standards. Be continually adjusting the goals to meet the needs of your students.

If you use a data wall in your classroom a few recommendations that get to the heart of goal setting with elementary students.

Set whole group SMART Goals

DO NOT put student names or numbers on rubrics. Don't identify which students are at which level. One, students probably already know where they are at, and if they don't, that should be done during individual conferencing. Two, identify who is losing creates an unhealthy learning environment. You NEVER want to tell a student in front of the class that she is not making it. This doesn't motivate them to do better.

Use amounts of students, not specific students

For instance, I created a chart for Kindergarteners when setting a goal with letter sounds that included three levels. We focused on the number of students who knew a certain amount of sounds and those who were close and those who had far to go. We set a SMART goal that X number of students would know their sounds, which is a sum of those who already know their sounds and those who were close.

Here are a few examples from my 1/2 combo class a couple years ago. In the first example, my groups of students were working toward reaching a certain benchmark. At the time, our district was still measuring reading rate. Everyone worked toward the goal, but we counted our success based on the "we did it" and "almost there" groups. We all celebrated when those two groups met the goal (which they did every time because the groups were specific enough to the students who could do it).

This is a very blurry photo (sorry!), but each strip has the numbers 1-24 on it, which is the number of students in my classroom, and the addition strategy underneath it. As students mastered a specific addition strategy, I colored in one more student space on the strip. No names and no numbers are attached to it, but it shows us working toward ALL students reaching the goal of learning that strategy.

If you only have 1-2 students in the lowest rubric area, fudge you numbers. Again, you don't want to single students out. It's okay to tell students where they should be at a point in the year, but don't single out those who aren't there yet. Most of the time, students know if they aren't making the grade. Putting it on a wall is not new information.

Here is another example for a math assessment. We created the rubric together, based on our grade level's rubric. I put the student paper's pinned to the wall facing back, so students couldn't see the names; however, we could see the number of papers.
This was a pre-assessment, so we could see what we needed to do to improve. Again, it displays a level of anonymity. I didn't leave these up on the wall, by the way. It was used as a teaching lesson about rubrics and what we needed to learn.

Create a Super Improvers Wall

A Super Improver's Wall is a great resource to showcase student improvements. It is wholly focused on improvements. Each student is working on his or her own goal and making improvements on becoming a better and better student.

This is a little harder to monitor, but this way, all students are moving forward at the same rate because all students have goals that are within their ZPD. Nothing is too hard for a student and they're all making improvements and becoming a better learner. You can read more about a Super Improver's Wall in this blog post.

Focus the class goals on non-academic goals

Behavior, organization, participation, or something else that doesn't exclude students based on their academic ability make great goals. Almost anything can be a goal, as long as it is specific and measurable.

Here are a few SMART goals my students set for behavior. Although these are individual goals, they emphasize the ability to set non-academic goals. This is especially helpful for those kiddos who have a hard time learning and making progress academically.

Each month, our school has a different character trait theme, like responsibility, citizenship, fairness, etc.. We will often use that trait as a whole class goal, brainstorming things we can do that illustrate that trait.

Don't make it a competition or a race

Set up the wall so that all students are winners. There is no one ahead of the other. Competitions have a lasting negative effect on how students see themselves, either positive or negative. We don't want students' self-worth to be based on external factors, but help them develop a positive self-worth and community within the classroom.
Here's another example from my 1/2 combo and those students reading at a first grade reading level.

This chart was after our January assessment cycle. I showed students where they had been in the September, where the same student was in January and the goal for June. Notice that not all students had the same goal. Some were to get to G and some to L, depending on where they started. I also showed students how many levels they had improved in the months they had been in school (the June goal was based on a similar amount of improvement).

Encourage collaboration and teamwork

Make it a class goal for ALL students to meet the goal. Even if one or two can't for whatever reason, fudge the data and reward everyone for trying their best. Have those who can, help those who can't and give the lower students credit for the collaborative effort. Whatever you do, encourage a sense of teamwork and an idea that you're all in this together. It's not me against you to win a prize. Show students that everyone needs to succeed.
Are you required to have a data wall in your classroom? How do you do it? Do you help your students set goals? I'd love to hear about how it goes in your classroom.

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Do you use data walls in your classroom to help your students meet classroom and individual goals? Does your district require you to do goal setting with your students? Data walls can be a great resource to motivate students if they are used the right way. And, there's definitely a right way.

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Teacher Evaluations in Baltimore City - Impact of Student Achievement Data and Student Learning Outcome (SLO) Data

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Teacher Evaluations in Baltimore City - Impact of Student Achievement Data and Student Learning Outcome (SLO) Data

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This evaluation for BTU classroom teachers reflects the complexities of teaching and was designed to help improve student academic outcomes. It includes multiple measures and components that, together, provide an authentic, comprehensive understanding of strengths and areas for improvement aimed at continuous improvement of instructional practice.

An overview of the evaluation is provided below. All BTU members and their supervisors are encouraged to watch these Plug & Play narrated presentations:

Although the mid-year review for classroom teachers occurs offline, we have provided some guidelines for holding mid-year conversations. The mid-year performance review conversation provides an opportunity for teachers and school leaders to discuss student and teacher progress to date.

UPDATED: Key dates and milestones

Because it includes several components, the teacher effectiveness evaluation unfolds over the course of the school year. Review these key dates and milestones for the teacher evaluation, which were updated in the beginning of the second formal observation window. If any date falls on a weekend or holiday, the due date is the next day.

Components
Professional practice: Formal classroom observations (40% total)
Formal observations provide evidence of a teacher's strengths and areas for development. When done purposefully and with discussion that includes actionable feedback, they are integral to improving instructional practice.

Teachers are observed on the seven key actions of the instructional framework's "Teach" component

Teachers should receive frequent informal observations during the school year

In order to sustain an annual evaluation, a minimum of two formal observations must be completed by qualified observers

The total weight of the formal observation component is 40% (e.g., if two observations, then each is worth 20%),

Each formal observation is considered a separate evaluation measure

Professional practice: Professional expectations (10%)
This measure considers the extent to which a teacher meets district expectations for compliance with district and school policies and demonstrates standard skills in communication, professionalism, professional practice, and district expectations.

Supervisors and teachers should review the professional expectations rubric. Teachers are encouraged to reflect and self-assess their performance on this form.
Student growth: Student learning objectives (35%)
SLOs are specific, measurable academic goals for a particular group of students in an academic year. Teachers create SLOs in collaboration with their school leaders and in alignment with the relevant district guidance. SLOs can be used to measure student learning for teachers in both tested and non-tested grades. For 2018-19, the evaluation includes one SLO worth 35% of the total evaluation. Note that without an approved exemption, teachers must have an approved SLO learning target and submit their student data in the appropriate electronic system. Failure to do so results in a score of 25 on the SLO component of the 2019-20 evaluation.

For more information and resources about SLOs, visit the district's Blackboard site, log in, and click the SLO icon.
Student growth: School performance measure (15%)
This measure reflects a whole school's yearlong performance for learning environment, student growth, and college and career readiness. Due to the timing when data is available, school performance measure data reflects the previous year's performance. There is insufficient performance data to calculate an SPM score for all schools due to the emergency school building closers last year. Therefore, the remaining evaluation components will be reweighted for SY 2020-21 evaluations. Please review the evaluation reweighting resource for more information.

Ratings

For most teachers, the end-of-year rating is determined by a composite score made up of individual scores from each component. Each individual raw score is converted to a 100-point scale, weighted, and combined to yield a single overall composite rating. This overall annual evaluation rating is based on where a teacher's composite score falls within the annual evaluation score ranges. This overview shows an example of an annual evaluation rating calculation; this overview clarifies how evaluation components are re-weighted when data is not available.

The final rating can result in awarding of achievement units which, in turn, contributes to teachers' advancement along their career pathway and their salary.

86 and above: Highly effective (12 achievement units)

70 to 85: Effective (9 achievement units)

55 to 69: Developing (3 achievement units)

54 and below: Ineffective

If a teacher receives a rating of ineffective, City Schools must, at a minimum, offer that teacher (if he or she is certificated) a meaningful appeal process in accordance with Education Article, § 4-205(c)(4), Annotated Code of Maryland. The burden of proof is on the teacher appealing the rating.

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Performance Evaluations: BTU | Baltimore City Public Schools

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This evaluation for BTU classroom teachers reflects the complexities of teaching and was designed to help improve student academic outcomes. It includes multiple measures and components that, together, provide an authentic, comprehensive understanding of strengths and areas for improvement aimed at continuous improvement of instructional practice. An overview of the evaluation is provided below.

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The Data that Matters Most to Parents and Stakeholders

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The Data that Matters Most to Parents and Stakeholders

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B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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Download the PDF here.

Today's school accountability systems are the primary tool education leaders use to understand the health of the education system and how well it provides all children an opportunity to learn the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. They accomplish this by measuring and transparently reporting students' yearly outcomes in academics and other areas. When schools do not meet benchmarks, states require that they take action to improve. However, this system of accountability fails to include meaningful metrics that take into account the context in which students learn, their communities, and the resources made available to them. Most existing school accountability systems do not give leaders-especially those at the local level-a recipe to follow that leads to better outcomes for students. That is, accountability systems are too often designed without critical information about the component parts and the most effective step-by-step process for education stakeholders to follow in order to reach the desired outcome: a quality education for all students.

And yet, local school communities, parents, and caregivers are hungry for this information. They want data that can guide their daily actions to support student learning, both in the classroom and beyond school walls. In 2019, the Center for American Progress embarked on a series of community conversations with caregivers, educators, school administrators, and other school stakeholders to learn what information they value and want to know about schools and student learning. This issue brief highlights what CAP gleaned from one round of community conversations. It includes powerful thoughts from participants that illuminate the need for schools to provide timely and useful data to caregivers, educators, and school leaders to improve the quality of education each child receives.

CAP community conversation overview

CAP initiated a series of education-focused conversations centering the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color across the country. Many of these communities have been systemically deprived of resources, resulting in their students receiving less of an opportunity to learn at high levels. Their schools receive less funding, are taught by less experienced teachers, and have less access to rigorous and high-quality instructional materials and practices.

This issue brief focuses on a series of conversations with caregivers, educators, and other school stakeholders centered on school accountability and what types of data are made available to community members to ensure that schools are preparing all students for college, career, and civic life. By hosting video calls with school communities in three parts of the country, CAP learned how they use data from accountability systems and what information they want to better support student learning and improve student outcomes. More details about the community conversations can be found in the appendix.

Brief overview of ESSA's K-12 accountability requirements

Each year, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to report how all students and different subgroups of students performed on standardized assessments and a series of additional metrics. The data that states report are necessary and useful for policymakers to target supports and additional investments to schools that need them. However, this design is insufficient to make real- or near-time decisions for students, does not offer any context for the conditions in which students are learning, and restricts determinations about school quality to these limited factors.

ESSA requires states to report how all students and subgroups of students performed in the following areas:

Percentage of students scoring at proficient or higher on statewide reading and math assessments given annually from third grade through eighth grade and once in high school

Four-year high school graduation rate

Individual student growth on statewide reading and math assessments, or other academic data for elementary and middle schools

Percentage of English language learners achieving English language mastery or proficiency

At least one additional measure of student success or school quality, such as school attendance

States must use these data to calculate and report how all schools are doing on these metrics, as well as identify a subset of their lowest-performing schools according to state-set goals for the indicators listed above. Schools identified as low performing must create and implement plans to improve until they meet minimum scores on some or all of the above data.

In addition, states must collect and report on a broader range of information, including access to advanced classes, college enrollment rates, student discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, per-pupil spending, and the professional qualifications of educators. While ESSA broadened the scope of what information is used in school accountability systems to include additional measures beyond standardized assessments, local leaders need benchmark data that provide insight into the outcomes observed.

Through community conversations with caregivers, educators, school leaders, and other school stakeholders CAP learned what data these key constituencies want access to and find most useful in making decisions for students in responsive and meaningful ways.

The information school communities say they want about students

CAP virtually convened parents and other caregivers, educators, district and school leaders, and policymakers to discuss what they want to know about student well-being, academic performance, and outcomes.

Parents and caregivers

Adults caring for school-aged children know the kind of education they want kids to experience, and they want to know that schools are providing it. Caregivers want data on students' opportunity to learn; specifically, information about school climate and the supports and services available to students, especially students with disabilities.

Opportunity to learn, or OTL, refers to the academic and nonacademic programs, resources, and supports within a school needed for students to meet their learning goals and graduate prepared for success after high school. OTL includes student access to high-quality curriculum, instruction, and programs; supportive school and classroom environments; highly effective educators; student supports; class sizes; and access to technology. Letisha Vinson, a mother with two school-aged children, shared what opportunities to learn she looks for in her children's education:

I am really going to look at the curriculum with, like, Google eyes. I want to break down what resources do they have? Are they going to have a science lab? Are they going to learn languages? [Are] there any specials like music and other means of learning outside of the core curriculum?

School climate refers to the character and quality of life in schools, and it is based on how students, teachers, and caregivers experience the goals, norms, values, teaching and learning practices, and interpersonal relationships occurring in schools. This could include valuing diversity, social-emotional learning, and students' sense of safety. Jonida Spahija, a parent in Washington, D.C., conveyed the classroom culture she wants her daughter to experience:

I want [my daughter] to be supported socially. I want her to be supported academically. I want her to be supported emotionally. And I want to know that there is cultural competency or cultural humility in the staff, that there is an awareness that they know the demographics that they're dealing with.

Student supports refer to the academic and nonacademic instructional techniques, services, and resources provided in schools to promote students' well-being and academic success. Examples of student supports include mental and physical health services, counseling, college and career prep, tutoring, student-specific academic interventions, and services for students with disabilities. One parent wondered:

What community-based organizations have already been contracted to provide these services for our children? How will we ensure that all special [education] coordinators are equipped, trained, and ready to update IEPs (individualized education programs), to facilitate relationships with parents to ensure that services are happening, and to facilitate relationships with our kids?

Caregivers also want to see school data on report cards broken down by student demographic groups, laid out visually, and explained in plain language. Kerry Savage, an advocate for parent voices in education, recalled:

When we did our canvassing work...supporting OSSE (Office of the State Superintendent of Education in the District of Columbia) with the development of the statewide report card...the number one thing that came up [with parents] was disaggregated data.

A national survey of parents from the Data Quality Campaign, an organization that advocates for changing the role of data in education so that "every student is not only counted, but counts," confirms this desire. In the organization's 2019 national poll, 81 percent of parents reported interest in having access to information about how schools serve children like theirs-for example, students of the same race, gender, or special education status.

When families are engaged in their child's learning and have access to actionable, meaningful data, they can support learning at home and make the best educational decisions for their children. Caregiver involvement in education is vital. Students who have families engaged in their learning are more likely to attend school regularly, have improved social skills and behavior, and achieve high levels of academic performance. Vinson recalled asking her children's schools to engage and support caregivers more:

We've been asking [the schools] to do more videos and parent support so that parents can be more engaged and involved in their children's learning and their progress, so [educators] are not waiting till the end of a semester or half a semester to say your child is behind or your child needs to do X, Y, and Z.

It is not only important for families to receive information from schools, but also for families to serve as a valuable source of information. Caregiver feedback can help schools reflect on how they are serving students, how they can better engage families, and how to create schools that provide all children with the education they deserve. Another parent expressed the need for schools to collect feedback from caregivers in the hopes of preventing school closures due to low performance on state tests and accountability decisions:

If [schools] talk to the parents about what's happening [and] what's not happening before we get to the closing part, then we won't have to go through so many grand openings of schools and reopenings. And our kids [won't] go through trauma, after trauma, after trauma of schools just not working.

Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia offer some form of open enrollment or allow students to attend the school of their choice. For families to make the best school choice, they need to be informed about the quality of education their children might receive in each school. Russchelle Moore, a parent in Washington, D.C., shared how her son picked his high school because he knew about the science, technology, education, and math (STEM) programs offered there:

The fact that it's a STEM school, that's a big thing for him because he likes small classroom settings, and he wants to be a part of a lot of programs, clubs, and things that a lot of schools don't have, that [his school] does have.

Making information on opportunities to learn available to families allows them to fully understand what schools have to offer and helps ensure that students receive the education that is best for them.

District and school staff

Performance data gathered and used in state accountability systems, collected through end-of-year tests, measure student achievement on grade-level standards or learning expectations by the end of the year. Caregivers and school staff receive reports on whether students and the school met these grade-level learning standards. Still, the data provide little detail on where individual students are in their knowledge and skills above and below grade level.

School leaders found state performance data useful to inform school boards, compare school performance, and identify trends over time. However, they and many other participants did not see much use for the data when it came to guiding their daily actions to support student learning. District and school staff expressed wanting timely information that includes individual student responses on state assessments, student readiness data, and nonacademic data on students to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools.

States do not return end-of-year test data until after the school year ends, and most do not provide teachers with individual student responses. When educators have access to individual student responses, they are better able to support student learning and make informed instructional decisions. Brian Fitzgerald, a fifth grade teacher in Massachusetts, described the gap in information when it comes to the end-of-year state test:

Without being able to see the answers that my students give, I can't really identify how they're coming up with the marks or the evaluations. I can't match what they think a good answer is unless I see the answer itself.

District and school staff want to better understand what student readiness looks like and how to measure student readiness in real time, both academically and nonacademically. Understanding student readiness helps teachers differentiate instruction, goals, and expectations for each student. Zachary Morford, a school leader in Washington, D.C., explained:

If we could clearly define what readiness looks like, student readiness at each grade level-academic, social-emotional, all those things-and then have ways to in real-time understand student mastery of those things...that for me would be my little magical universe.

District and school staff understand the importance of nonacademic information about their students. This information includes attendance, students' critical thinking, mindset, social-emotional well-being, and interests, to name a few. School systems should integrate more nonacademic data into the teaching and learning process, especially because research demonstrates that tending to students' nonacademic abilities and wellness is foundational to ensuring that they are prepared for success in the classroom and beyond. Peter Anderson, head of Washington Latin Public Charter School, outlined the types of nonacademic information he values:

But there are things like student wellness and time management and teamwork and grit and emotional intelligence and citizenship and analytical thinking and aesthetic awareness. All those things are...interesting to me and things that I'd like to be able to measure.

Data like those outlined above are closely tied to student learning. This information helps teachers and school leaders make timely decisions to improve all students' educational experiences. Other sought-after information includes classroom best practices, how well schools support teachers' professional growth, community engagement, students' ability to persevere, and students' ability to ask for help. When educators, school, and district leaders are provided with more timely and useful information, they can improve the quality of teaching and learning happening in the classroom. Curriculum, effective classroom practices, teacher training, and development are just some of the systems that make up teaching and learning in schools that district administrators, school leaders, and teachers can improve with better student data.

For example, when teachers identify gaps in student learning, they can adjust the curriculum to meet students' needs. This approach can be used schoolwide to modify the current curriculum or select a new one. Adjusting curricula is one example where increased access to timely and useful information can help educators and school leaders improve their students' quality of education. A scenario could involve a significant portion of students entering fifth grade unable to multiply two-digit numbers proficiently, year after year. After teachers and school leaders identify the recurring gaps in learning, they can adjust the fourth-grade curriculum to help close learning gaps and help ensure that students arrive in fifth grade able to multiply two-digit numbers.

Community-centered policy development

Too often, policies are made without the input of the individuals they directly affect. Policies need community input because community members are most likely to know how they will unfold in practice. For example, students must know how to read and calculate math, measured by state summative exams. However, emphasizing test data as the most important measure of school quality has led to counterproductive strategies and incentives, such as teaching students to pass a test and reducing the amount of time spent teaching subjects other than math and reading.

This is not to say that state-level accountability systems do not play an important role in K-12 education. They are a vital tool to gauge the health of schools and determine whether they are providing all students with the opportunity to learn and preparing them for college, career, and civic life. However, school systems also need to collect and distribute data that are useful to the purpose of daily teaching and learning guided by families, educators, and school leaders. In order to identify what information local communities value, policymakers must create space to have conversations about what data they want and how it will serve them.

Conclusion

The data provided from state accountability systems are the primary tools policymakers use to determine the education system's health and measure educational equity. However, state accountability systems do not provide all the necessary information that caregivers, educators, and other school stakeholders need to guide their daily actions to support student learning. Each group of stakeholders has its own set of informational needs and ways it uses data to support students. Caregivers, educators, and school leaders are hungry for timely information closely tied to student learning to inform their decision-making and improve the quality of education children receive. CAP will continue to explore the issues raised in this issue brief with a future report on K-12 accountability.
Jamil Modaffari is a research assistant for K-12 Education at the Center for American Progress. Laura Jimenez is the director of Standards and Accountability for K-12 Education at the Center.
Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank everyone who participated in this series of community conversations for sharing their experiences and inspiring this issue brief. The authors would also like to thank the Colorado Education Initiative, the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, and Parents Amplifying Voices in Education for connecting CAP to their network of education stakeholders, participating in community conversations, and reviewing this paper.

Appendix

CAP believes in creating policies with communities as opposed to imposing policies on them. The authors' approach therefore relied on a series of community conversations centering the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other non-Black people of color from communities across the country.

Conversations focused on what communities want to know about student learning, how they interact with school accountability systems, and how accountability systems can be more useful to the families, schools, and students they serve. CAP partnered with three organizations working to improve local accountability in order to connect with and learn from their diverse networks of caregivers, educators, and school and district leaders:

1. Parents Amplifying Voices in Education (PAVE), based in Washington, D.C., is a parent-centric organization "dedicated to creating an environment where the vision for education in DC is created with children and families, not for them." PAVE helps families understand the education system, build relationships with policymakers, and provides opportunities for parents to become parent leaders in education who lead and organize other families. CAP held five community conversations with PAVE: three with parents, one with school leaders, and one with PAVE leadership.

2. The Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA) is a partnership of public school districts and their local teachers' unions working to create a fair and effective school accountability system in Massachusetts. MCIEA believes that communities should have a voice in deciding what is most important to know about school quality, teachers should lead the design of performance assessments and scoring of student work, and students should demonstrate their knowledge and skills through real-world application. CAP held two community conversations with MCIEA: one with educators, district, and union leaders and one with MCIEA leadership.

3. The Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) cultivates systems improvement and educational equity across the state. CEI's work centers on four focus areas: school accountability, high school redesign, competency-based personalized learning, and educator development. While CEI does not advocate for any single accountability model, it believes these systems should be tools of continuous improvement-adapted to the students and communities they serve-and that communities should be key partners in creating accountability systems. CAP held one conversation with CEI leadership.

Endnotes

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The Education Data That Matter Most to Parents and School Stakeholders - Center for American Progress

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Download the PDF here. Today's school accountability systems are the primary tool education leaders use to understand the health of the education system and how well it provides all children an opportunity to learn the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the 21st century.

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Using Data to Support Student and Teacher Growth

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Using Data to Support Student and Teacher Growth

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B.1.1. Constantly monitor

by moving about the

room—routinely and consistently—to listen in and look at student work.
B.1.2. Implement a specific student-watching system to strategically gather data for learning.
B.1.3. Use formative assessment to quickly assess whole-class progress or learning.
B.1.4. Ask focused questions to check for understanding and to “sample” the classroom.
B.2.1. Analyze student performance data to identify students’ strengths and challenges; looks for trends and patterns to inform instructional moves.
B.2.2. Use knowledge of student performance data to make real-time, in the moment, instructional adjustments as a direct result of environment, quality of instruction, or student readiness.
B.2.3. Use knowledge of student performance data to implement short and long- term instructional adjustments as a direct result of environment, quality of instruction, or student readiness.

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Using Data to Support Teacher and Student Growth

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EDUCOLOR twitter chat archive - engaging and supporting parents of color

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EDUCOLOR twitter chat archive - engaging and supporting parents of color

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B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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On September 30th at 730pm EST, EduColor members Melinda Anderson and Rusul Alrubail hosted the most recent EduColor chat on student engagement. To read the transcript, click here or read below.

Thank you!

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Engaging and Supporting Parents of Color [September 2016 Chat] - EduColor

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On September 30th at 730pm EST, EduColor members Melinda Anderson and Rusul Alrubail hosted the most recent EduColor chat on student engagement. To read the transcript, click here or read below. Thank you!

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Tracking Student Data - Student Data Should Belong to Students

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Tracking Student Data - Student Data Should Belong to Students

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B.3.1. Have a public, yet confidential, system in place for celebrating whole-class achievement that demonstrates progress over time.
B.3.2. Create

opportunities for

students to examine and manage th

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I'm a data geek. I have spreadsheets for almost everything: planning my wedding, comparing car leases, optimizing where I purchase contact lenses, inventorying items when I travel, etc.

Despite my love of data, two years into working as the data integration and reporting administrator at a public school district, I had grown disenchanted with how student data was being used. When I crisscrossed the district to talk to principals and administrators about their student data, I was often met with fear, confusion, and skepticism. On more than one occasion, I had to reassure and console a principal who thought they would lose their job because of one flat or downward sloping line chart.

A Different Approach

I was yearning for a fresh perspective around how student data could be used effectively when my friend and colleague, Rupa Gupta, invited me to her school to see how her students were using their own data. I was intrigued-in my role at the district I had worked exclusively with adults when it came to analyzing data. What would be different when it came to students using their own data?

At the time, Rupa's school was experimenting with several personalized learning products, but teachers were struggling to keep track of student progress across so many platforms. The solution Rupa had come up with was to have students track their own progress in individual spreadsheets, with a master spreadsheet for the teacher that aggregated the student data.

Having students enter their own scores into a spreadsheet was intended to help teachers by gathering the data in one place for them to view and analyze. But what we observed was that the process was having a profound effect on the students: They became very interested and engaged with their own data and tracking their learning.

For example, we saw students who refused to enter scores into their spreadsheets unless they could redo an online activity-they believed they could do better. To these students, the score they were about to enter didn't reflect what they thought their true ability was, and they wanted the record set straight.

When we asked students how they were doing on their work, they were also very aware of their own performance. Students would proudly whip out an iPad or Chromebook and show me all the things they had worked on, and what they would be working on next. I would have students tell me that they had scored a 70 on an exercise the day before, and were shooting for 90 that day. These students were not only using their data to set goals for themselves, but exuding confidence in their ability to meet those goals.

Watching students track and use their data, and seeing how it changed their mindset, I came to the realization that data isn't just for adults. The opportunity to regularly own and work with their data can be transformative for students. Students who consistently track their performance are better informed about how they're doing, hold themselves accountable to do better, and seem to be more confident learners.

Access to Data Isn't a Panacea

Tracking their data alone won't guarantee that students will become confident learners, and teachers still play a critical role in that process. When a student is repeatedly unsuccessful, a teacher needs to guide them in adapting their learning strategies. When students are successful, teachers need to push them to reflect on the strategies they used to get those results.

Using data to build confident learners also doesn't happen overnight-as with anything mindset-related, it requires patience and commitment on the teacher's part. In the most effective classes I visited, teachers use data tracking as part of their weekly or biweekly classroom routine, and reserve time for students to write reflections on how they've performed. The results are worth the effort: When I surveyed students who were tracking their data, they were substantially more likely to respond that they were trying their hardest and felt in control of their learning than students in other classrooms.

One question I'm often asked is: "Given the responsibility, will students accurately track their scores?" Among the teachers I've worked with, the answer is a resounding yes. For one thing, the teacher still controls the grade book-entering and tracking data in the spreadsheet doesn't change a student's grade. And it seems that when students no longer view scores as a label bestowed upon them by a teacher, but instead see them as something they own and have control over, the urge to fudge the data dissipates. Students realize they have the power to change their scores without having to lie-through their own efforts-and what I've seen is that they step up to the challenge and thrive.

Adults may still be figuring out how to engage with student data, but students are ready to do so now. For the sake of their growth and development, let's allow students to take greater ownership of their learning, starting with their data.

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Why Student Data Should Be Students' Data

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I'm a data geek. I have spreadsheets for almost everything: planning my wedding, comparing car leases, optimizing where I purchase contact lenses, inventorying items when I travel, etc. Despite my love of data, two years into working as the data integration and reporting administrator at a public school district, I had grown disenchanted with how student data was being used.

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B.1.3. Use formative assessment to quickly assess whole-class progress or learning.
B.2.1. Analyze student performance data to identify students’ strengths and challenges; looks for trends and patterns to inform instructional moves.
B.2.2. Use knowledge of student performance data to make real-time, in the moment, instructional adjustments as a direct result of environment, quality of instruction, or student readiness.
B.2.3. Use knowledge of student performance data to implement short and long- term instructional adjustments as a direct result of environment, quality of instruction, or student readiness.

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How to Use Common Formative Assessments to Help Teachers Reflect on Practice - Ken Williams

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What teachers and parents say about data

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What teachers and parents say about data

# data[].attributes.body
B.2.3. Use knowledge of student performance data to implement short and long- term instructional adjustments as a direct result of environment, quality of instruction, or student readiness.
B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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Teacher uses formative assessment to monitor and adjust pacing

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Teacher uses formative assessment to monitor and adjust pacing

# data[].attributes.body
B.2.2. Use knowledge of student performance data to make real-time, in the moment, instructional adjustments as a direct result of environment, quality of instruction, or student readiness.

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Teacher uses formative assessment to monitor and adjust pacing - Example 1

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Looking at Data Protocol VIDEO Example - Leadership Team

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Looking at Data Protocol VIDEO Example - Leadership Team

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Can be adapted to use with your teaching team!

B.2.1. Analyze student performance data to identify students’ strengths and challenges; looks for trends and patterns to inform instructional moves.

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Expeditionary Learning is now EL Education. Please visit our channels to find EL Education videos: vimeo.com/elschools/channels For videos related to Common...

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Data Sharing Tips for Administrators, Teachers, and Families

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Data Sharing Tips for Administrators, Teachers, and Families

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B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

# data[].attributes.body
B.3.2. Create

opportunities for

students to examine and manage their own data.

B.3.3. Share students’ learning targets and achievement data with their families.

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Kindergartner, Trinity, shares her academic progress, supported by evidence from her portfolio, with her parents and teacher, Jennifer Rocker, at Delaware Ridge Elementary School in Kansas City, KS.

This video accompanies the book Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools through Student-Engaged Assessment.

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For teachers to plan how to gather data on classroom interventions

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For teachers to plan how to gather data on classroom interventions

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B.2.3. Use knowledge of student performance data to implement short and long- term instructional adjustments as a direct result of environment, quality of instruction, or student readiness.

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We're living in the era of "big data." New technology and advances in processing power mean that we've got answers to questions we once didn't even know to ask. Schools have taken a while to catch up to master data collectors like Google and Facebook, but now, most teachers have access to all kinds of data on their students' performance. And groups like the Data Quality Campaign are showing educators how to use data to answer essential questions, such as "In which standards and content areas do I need to improve my instructional skills?" and "Which of my students are struggling and need more support?"

But the problem with big data for teachers is two-fold. First, the data don't always tell you what you want to know. Test scores don't help you pick and choose instructional strategies. Second, sometimes it takes a long time to collect data. By the time students have taken a test, it's often too late to change course in the classroom. This can be frustrating when you're looking to improve your practice in real time.

Fortunately, you don't have to wait for other people to give you data. Because you're "on the ground" every single day, you are best positioned to collect and learn from data gathered from the learning laboratory that is your classroom.

In May, the Institute of Education Sciences, in collaboration with the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central, published a toolkit designed to help teachers assess the effectiveness of their instructional strategies. It's free, online and just might change the way you and your colleagues think about data. Since it only involves data that you already collect as part of regular student evaluations, it shouldn't require any special research permissions from school administrators (though it's always good to check).

The toolkit begins with the idea of an instructional improvement cycle. From the teacher's point of view, this means setting up two groups for comparison. You teach one group (the control group) as you normally would. You teach the second group (the experimental group) with a new strategy. Then you compare the outcomes using a pre-programmed Excel spreadsheet and a reflection guide that teaches you how to interpret the results. (REL Central also offers the toolkit as Word and Excel files.)

Regardless of subject or grade level, you can use this toolkit to evaluate your instruction because the student-level outcomes are flexible. And what's more, the toolkit can be used to reflect on and improve anti-bias instruction. For example, if you are looking to improve student outcomes selected from the Teaching Tolerance Anti-bias Framework, you could experiment with different strategies from Perspectives for a Diverse America to see which works best.
Shuster is an independent education researcher and evaluator who has worked on multiple studies assessing curricular and co-curricular reforms.

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We're living in the era of "big data." New technology and advances in processing power mean that we've got answers to questions we once didn't even know to ask. Schools have taken a while to catch up to master data collectors like Google and Facebook, but now, most teachers have access to all kinds of data on their students' performance.

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Watch intro
10:00 - monitoring individual student progress on a goal
20:00 - reviews student binder
B.2.4. Organize and regularly update a teacher- level portfolio that contains student performance data, in relation to the standards, at the individual, small group, and whole-class levels.

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Special Education Setup - Progress Monitoring and Data Collection

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B.2.1. Analyze student performance data to identify students’ strengths and challenges; looks for trends and patterns to inform instructional moves.

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When analyzing data, educators should include students' identities and culture for a fuller picture of how they are doing.

Leigh Wells / Ikon Images

It's 8:40 a.m. on Monday, and a group of third-grade teachers are looking at a spreadsheet displaying student names and reading levels for each quarter of the year. Data fills the page. After the meeting, we feel confident about our analysis and next steps.

But something was missing in the discussion: We didn't spend any time considering students' identities and backgrounds, nor how we can improve equitable outcomes.

For teachers and administrators, it's easy to overlook culture and identity when analyzing data. However, ignoring students' diversity markers means pretending that their identity doesn't matter. In order to close gaps in student outcomes, we must name equity as an essential component to data analysis.

6 Steps to a More Equitable and Culturally Proficient Data Analysis

1. Research identity: We can't consider equitable outcomes if we don't know who students are. Using tools such as surveys, calls home, and classroom team-building activities, we need to hear students' stories.

One group of teachers at my school realized how little they knew about a small group of students who were struggling. They each made a research plan for getting to know three kids, designing questions and topics to explore in the coming week. When they next met, they shared their learnings. They were surprised about how much students shared about their home lives, career aspirations, and more. As one teacher said, "Wow-we need to start asking these questions in the first weeks of school."

Educators bring our own history and perspective to this work, so we also need to know ourselves and our implicit biases. In order to heighten your self-awareness, take Harvard's Implicit Association Test or complete the Diversity Awareness Profile. Research systemic racism and implicit bias, and reflect on your own identity and various forms of privilege. It also can be helpful to spend some time completing and reflecting on these activities with your team prior to looking at data.

2. Preempt implicit bias: Research suggests that priming your team with positive representations of different groups can influence their perspectives. For example, you might read an article by a Latina woman or look at pictures of successful black leaders prior to reviewing writing samples by students sharing similar identity markers. You can explicitly tell the team that we carry biases into data analysis, and that one research-based approach to counteract those biases is to read about, discuss, or highlight examples of, for example, a racial minority group that portray that group in a positive light.

Additionally, create a low-stress space where you'll do your data analysis. Although easier said than done in many buildings, when possible have snacks, calm lighting, the right temperature, and regular breaks. Happier conditions will mitigate the chance of implicit bias.

3. Frame and challenge: What are your team's ground rules for looking at data? Many teams I support use the norm, "Talk about students the way we talk about our own children." Be wary of the data analysis meeting where everyone reads through student writing samples and shares the "funny" ones aloud.

Facilitators need to be prepared to calmly challenge assumptions and stereotypes. We can't sit silently when we hear a colleague blame home circumstances, the previous year's teacher, or a learning disability as reasons a student can't make the same progress as everyone else. When possible, respond with "I don't see it that way" or "Can you explain what you mean by that?" to start a dialogue that unpacks people's perspectives. It will likely take time to dismantle a deficit mindset, but doing so is essential for promoting equity.

4. Set intentions: Have each participant name an intention prior to analyzing data to generate personal accountability. One team member might set the intention to "prioritize student strengths," while another might intend to "leave with a plan for better supporting the Latinx students in my class." Whatever the intention, this focus will help give direction and purpose to the analysis, as well as promote a positive mindset.

5. Pick the right data: Standardized assessments should not be your only metric. There's plenty of research reminding us that standardized tests were born out of the eugenics movement and to this day contain significant bias favoring affluent white students. Make sure your team spends time with varied types of assessment data, like essays, short stories, projects, science labs, and notes from classroom discussions. Additionally, consider flexibility when creating scoring rubrics-do they only include "have to" criteria, or do they provide space for student choice? The goal should be for all students to have the opportunity to shine.

6. Strategically sort: Disaggregate data so that it's broken down by race, gender, IEP status, home language, etc. You should be able to see outcomes for groups of students and quickly call out disparities, if any exist. Sometimes this is in a spreadsheet, and other times it simply means putting exit tickets into different piles.

Conversely, sometimes hiding students' identities at first can help. For example, cover up student names when reviewing writing samples in order to counteract assumptions based on what you already "know" about a student's academic level. This also helps us avoid applying a student's negative behaviors to their academic performance.

It's easy to depersonalize data, but every data point is a child. Ultimately, equity-driven data analysis means doing whatever it takes to remove bias and stereotypes. Taking even some of the small steps above will not only strengthen the quality of data analysis, but will begin to dismantle systemic inequity in the school community.

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When analyzing data, educators should include students' identities and culture for a fuller picture of how they are doing. Leigh Wells / Ikon Images It's 8:40 a.m. on Monday, and a group of third-grade teachers are looking at a spreadsheet displaying student names and reading levels for each quarter of the year.