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Mission

The mission of the Massachusetts Reading Association is to promote literacy for all learners through professional development, research, publications, and advocacy. MRA serves educators across the state with 10 local councils that meet throughout the school year and one special interest council for higher education literacy educators. The MRA Board, made up of local and special interest council members and other literacy professionals, meets six times during the school year. Throughout the year MRA committees and local/special interest councils offer workshops, presentations and other events. The largest of these events, the MRA Annual Conference, takes place in April and features nationally known literacy speakers as well as home grown expertise presented by local educators. All members are encouraged to become involved with MRA through their local or special interest council and with the state-wide MRA board. MRA board members explore their specific areas of interest or expertise through involvement with board committees.

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Home " Massachusetts Reading Association

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The mission of the Massachusetts Reading Association is to promote literacy for all learners through professional development, research, publications, and advocacy. MRA serves educators across the state with 10 local councils that meet throughout the school year and one special interest council for higher education literacy educators.

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Book clubs in first grade?! It may seem like a stretch, but the Spring is such a great time to get your students ready and used to reading, thinking about, and discussing books with their peers instead of me, the teacher! When done right, it can be such a fun learning experience for both ...

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What do we know about literature circles now that we didn't understand eight or ten years ago? What new resources and procedures can help teachers organize their classroom book clubs better? What are the most common pitfalls in implementing student-led discussion groups?

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The students are now completing their book report.

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Years ago I was lucky enough to attend a Linda Holliman workshop. It.was.AWESOME!! She is such a hoot and her ideas are SO inspiring!!! While she was explaining a few different ideas to us, one of them really got my attention. She talked about how her kids would complete a readers/listening response on a lunch bag and then she'd fill the bags with popcorn and have the kids partner up and share what they wrote. I LOVED that idea!!! Since I'm such a big fan of book clubs, I decided to incorporate this idea and turn it into a book club...hence the birth of the "Brown Bag Book Club". Y'all...my kids are OBSESSED. And I gotta say...I'm LOVIN' it, too!!! Here's a little peek at this week's Brown Bag Book Club...our first of the year!! So here's how the book club works... Choose a story to read at the beginning of the week. This week, we read The Mitten. { We did a few whole group reader's responses throughout the week...venn diagram, flow chart, story elements, etc.} At some point during the week, have the kids fill out a graphic organizer/thinking map and glue it to a brown paper bag { lunch sack}. I had my kids fill out a graphic organizer focusing on characters, setting, main idea, and author's purpose. Any kind of graphic organizer/thinking map/response to reading will do! The kids held on to their paper bags until this afternoon {Friday}. We ended up having an odd number of kids in the class today, so I grouped the kids into 3's. We talked about book clubs and their purpose...the kids were SO on board! As I was passing out the popcorn for their bags, I had the kids talk to their groups about whether or not they liked the book, why, and what part of the book was their favorite. I heard some GOOD discussions! Once they had their popcorn, Brown Bag Book Club was in session! I used these questions to guide discussion... I gave the kids about 3-5 minutes to discuss each question and then have one group share their thoughts. They were SO into it! I couldn't believe how well the discussions really went. It was so fun to hear my kids really "dissect" the book. Of course, the popcorn pick-me-up really helped, too :) I plan on having the Brown Bag Book Club meet every Friday afternoon. I'll use a different set of guiding questions every week { depending on the book} and the graphic organizer will change, too! I think we'll be using a beginning/middle/end graphic organizer this week because that's one of our week's objectives. And I'll always serve popcorn! The kids just LOVE it!!! This might be my most favorite Friday activity!!! It's an awesome way to end the week and the kids get SO into it all. I HIGHLY recommend starting a book club of your own!! And if you do start one, let me know!!! I'd LOVE to hear how yours is organized!!

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Brown Bag Book Club - The First Grade Parade

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Years ago I was lucky enough to attend a Linda Holliman workshop. It.was.AWESOME!! She is such a hoot and her ideas are SO inspiring!!! While she was explaining a few different ideas to us, one of them really got my attention. She talked about how her kids would complete a readers/listening response on a lunch ...

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Book clubs may be based on a certain series.

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Well, it's time again for my first graders to be introduced to chapter books through book clubs. They are getting over the reading hump now that the holidays are over. Now we are in the "Git R Done" mentality and fine tuning our reading skills before the school year comes to an end. What better way than with the Henry and Mudge series!!

The kids have been learning about characters, setting, and main ideas in stories. Now they will be getting jobs to identify these in longer stories. With each book, there are 5 students with jobs to identify the character, setting, main idea, problem, and solution.

We hold our book clubs on Fridays and each group will have a different book. We rotate each week. I introduce them to book clubs by doing "Henry and Mudge: The First Book" with them together. After that the students alternate through 11 books total. This is an 11 week lesson plan that the kids really love!! It also helps them work together to understand what they read.

The students work on recording their answers to their "Jobs" on the worksheet and then do an independent worksheet by answering questions about the story.

We also had some fun with math to go with the Henry and Mudge theme.

The students are beginning to learn how to add 10 and subtract 10 from large numbers. This is one of the games where students uncover a number under the dog, add or subtract ten, and then find the match.

This is one of the games for adding 2 and 3 digit numbers BINGO style.

This is one of the fun games for students to learn to tell time to the hour and half hour.

For your literacy centers, this is one board game from a set of 18 with different phonics skills to choose from.

The students had fun writing about Mudge too!

For those of you interested in all the worksheets and activities, you can grab this unit by clicking the link below. It will be 20% off until Monday January 21st!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

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Fun with Book Clubs Henry and Mudge Style

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Well, it's time again for my first graders to be introduced to chapter books through book clubs. They are getting over the reading hump now that the holidays are over. Now we are in the "Git R Done" mentality and fine tuning our reading skills before the school year comes to an end.

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Explains roles within the book clubs

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Introductory video for first graders to literature circles/book clubs.

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Setting Up Book Clubs and Lesson Planning

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Setting Up Book Clubs and Lesson Planning

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Super Book Clubs in First Grade Why book clubs? I saw that my students were "stuck" and or struggling with reading fluency, and comprehension. I felt that my students were missing a key component in their reading instruction that the adopted reading curriculum was not providing.

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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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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.

As showing student growth has become an important aspect of teaching, creating student data binders or folders is becoming more common. We have updated our previous collection of forms and expanded their reach.

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

Choose the appropriate forms depending on your goals. These folders can be used as important pieces of a parent teacher conference or for evidence of successful strategies during PLCs. They are also an important part of helping students set and reach goals. If you have suggestions for additional forms, please share below.

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

Student Data Binder Editable Student Data Binder PDF

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.

Notes about some of the included 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.

You might also choose to add colorful covers for your students. You can find some of ours here: Editable Binder Covers.

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

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Student Data Tracking - The Curriculum Corner 123

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

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Data Driven Instruction and State Assessments

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**Additional Resources on the bottom of the article**

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Conferring is one of our most potent teaching tactics. It is indispensable when it comes to assessing a child's understanding.
-Ellen Keene, 2006

Teachers who confer value the time they spend talking with their students. These rich conversations allow are a special time where we get to know our students and gather information to make daily, flexible instructional decisions. However, teachers also value conferring as a rich data source. When a teacher confers, they change their stance. They become a fellow reader, but also an observer, assessor and data collector. The teaching purpose of conferring about students' independent is to collect information that helps you plan.

Regular Conferring about Independent Reading has many purposes and goals! Great teachers confer to:

Gain Knowledge of Students - There is no better way to get to know your students as readers and writers than to confer with them regularly.

Build a Reading Process - Wise readers develop over time. Conferring provides an opportunity for teachers to mentor students on their development.

Develop Strategy Knowledge and Application - We value the teaching of reading strategies, so it is important that we spend time fostering the development of reading skills.

Build Students' Confidence - Conferring provides students with the opportunity to show teachers what they have learned and how they can apply that learning in the context of their daily reading. Teachers can provide real-time feedback and guidance to celebrate, scaffold and support growth.

Reflect on Effective Instruction - Teachers can see if their instruction is resulting in students' learning. Teachers can learn the degree to which students are developing toward mastery in the standards, skills, and strategies they are teaching through real reading and writing experiences.

Plan Instruction - Data collected from frequent conferring assists teachers in identifying student development in the standards. Data can guide planning for whole group and flexibly grouping for small groups, as well as scaffolding, intervention, enrichment, and extension.

Set Learning Goals - Setting goals with students at each conference fosters a goal setting, continuous improvement mindset that supports children as lifelong learners.

Develop Rich Relationships - Taking time to listen and discus students' self-selected texts and their reading interest shows that you care about reading enough to devote a regular time to sit with each and every student.

What Data Do I Collect?

Deciding what data to collect depends on your focus for teaching. In a reading classroom, we are developing the six components of reading; oral language development, phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. We are also developing students' competency in meeting the standards and developing specific reading skills and strategies. In addition, we want to know students' interest and what motivates them to read.

Teachers can work with grade level colleagues to develop their own method of data collection. You may also use resources and data collection forms from researchers and other teachers. But, the best data is data you will use, so it is important to consider what you need and want to learn from your students.

A simple way to begin data collection during conferring is to schedule the first five sessions around these goals:

Reading Level Range, Interest and Engagement - Talk to students about their independent and instruction reading levels. Share a few examples of texts within their range. Discuss how to choose texts that fall within their range.

Good Fit Books - After teaching several mini lessons about selecting good fit books, confer with each student to ensure that they can self-select texts within their range.

Book Bin - In Blog #&, we talked about develop a Book Bin process or protocol in your classroom. Meet with each student to talk about what is in his or her Book Bin. Review the class protocol together.

Focused Strategy of the Week - Most reading lessons have a learning target or goal for focusing on a reading skill or strategy. Meet with each student and ask how that skill or strategy is used while reading.

General Fluency AND Comprehension - Sit with a child and ask them to read a segment of the texts they are currently reading. Do a mini running record, recording the possible miscues. Note their fluency. Ask one or two comprehension questions about the section they read. Discuss their understanding of the text so far.

After you have met five or six times with each student in your classroom, you will begin to identify the elements you wish to collect data about while conferring. Discuss what you are learning with your colleagues or grade level team and create a conferring format as a group. Meet every week or two to talk about the data and make revisions in your process.

Developing your method and use of data from conferring takes time, but it is worthwhile. The data you collect from conferring with students, combined with other anecdotal data and student work products, can give you ongoing knowledge of each student as well as your classroom as a whole.

Resources:

Allen, P. (2012). Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop. New York, NY: Stenhouse.

Boushey, G., & Moser, J. The cafe book: Engaging all students in daily literacy assessment and instruction. New York, NY: Stenhouse.

Keene, E. (2006). Assessing Comprehension Thinking Strategies. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.

Kleine, R. (2015) Rick's Reading Workshop: Silent Reading. The Teaching Channel. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/silent-reading-lesson-plan

Miller, D. & Moss, B. (2013). No More Independent Reading Without Support (Not This But That). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Serravallo, J. & Goldberg, G. (2007). Conferring with readers: Supporting each student's growth and independence. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

This article is a part of the "Getting My Classroom Ready for Balanced Literacy Instruction: Classroom Culture and Environment" series.

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Conferring is one of our most potent teaching tactics. It is indispensable when it comes to assessing a child's understanding. -Ellen Keene, 2006 Teachers who confer value the time they spend talking with their students. These rich conversations allow are a special time where we get to know our students and gather information to make daily, flexible instructional decisions.

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Routines for partners in reading and writing

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Routines for partners in reading and writing

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Grades

3 - 5

Lesson Plan Type

Recurring Lesson

Estimated Time

Introduction: 50 minutes; thereafter: 10 minutes per session

Lesson Author

Publisher

Student Objectives Instruction & Activities Extensions Student Assessment/Reflections
STUDENT OBJECTIVES

Students will

establish community rules for group formation and interaction.

choose what to read and establish their own schedule for reading and discussing books, thus taking responsibility for their own literacy learning.

read for the sheer joy of it, learning to value one another as readers and learners.

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Instruction & Activities
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1. Explain the Book Clubs process to students:

1. Students decide what to read and with whom they want to read it. While the groups are generically named book clubs, you may wish to widen the options for reading to include such resources as magazines, Internet sites, short stories, and reference articles. For example, a group of students might read and discuss Sports Illustrated for Kids or a group interested in fairy tales might read the various versions of Snow White available at D.L. Ashiman's

2. Students read the book, discussing it along the way. The book clubs happen outside of school, at recess, and at times during small-group reading. Students meet every other day or so (or as often as they wish) to briefly discuss what they have read and to map out how much to read next. They may discuss what will happen next in the book, how they feel about what they've read so far, or how the book compares to other books that they have read.

3. Students share the book with others or sign up and meet with you for a "lunch bunch" conference. A "lunch bunch" conference is an informal chat about the book that the club has finished reading. These sessions are held at lunch or recess, and you and students discuss the reading just for pleasure.

4. (Optional) Book club members can post their reactions to their reading on an Internet book club site or add the book to the class's favorite books file (You may provide a review form for favorite books).

2. Ask students to set ground rules for interacting in Book Clubs. As students brainstorm rules, write them on chart paper so that they can be posted in the classroom.

Ideally, students will come up with rules that support community. The most important rule to establish is a "No 'ugliness' rule: "No 'ugliness' about who's reading what with whom." The rules should establish that there is no room for comments like "Sam's not allowed in our book club." All students should work hard to support one another's reading efforts. If students help set these rules themselves, they'll feel a sense of ownership that will give the rules more strength than a set of rules that you post without their input.

3. Additionally, you and students may brainstorm "group-building" activities such as the following:

Groups may name themselves, decide on a club mascot, and so forth.

Each club may keep a group reading notebook or journal where they track their readings. They could decorate the journal as they desire.

Groups may decide on inquiry-based projects. For instance, a group might form to explore a special interest and search out specific information (for instance, a book club interested in soccer might seek out specific books related to that interest).

4. After you've explained the process, allow some class time for students to discuss the activity and establish their first groups. Any students who are not interested in this voluntary activity can read on their own during this first session.

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EXTENSIONS
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After students have met several times, ask them to think back over their readings. You might ask them to complete this reflection after they have completed a single book or after they have completed several books. Ask students to discuss their reaction to the readings and to reflect on how they enjoyed (or didn't) their reading. Students might write individually in their notebooks or journals or discuss as a group. Next, ask them to record their responses using the Graphic Map to map the highs and lows of their readings. If students have completed a single text, they can map significant events or chapters in that text. If they are mapping their reaction to several texts, each item can be compared as a whole or significant points in each item can be compared. Remind students to print their maps once they've recorded all their reflections. As their group meetings continue, this graphic organizer is a concrete product that students can return to. The printed Graphic Map can foster continued reflection and assessment on their reading and the project as a whole.

Ask students to create new book covers for the books that they explore, using the Book Cover Creator. The tool gives students options to add both text and images to their covers. The tool does not include an option to save the work, so be sure that students do enough planning that they will be able to complete their covers in one session.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT/REFLECTIONS

Book Clubs are a voluntary, student-centered activity. The reading is not evaluated in the traditional way. When book club members join you in a "lunch bunch" meeting, you can rely on kidwatching to note how students are developing as readers; but there should be no formal assessment.

"Lunch bunch" meetings should be voluntary, not required. The meetings are an "extra" to encourage students' independent reading and chatting about the books.

If your students keep a reading portfolio or reading log, you should encourage, but not require, students to write about their book club readings in these documents as well. You may provide a form for reading portfolios to simplify recordkeeping for students.

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Book Clubs: Reading for Fun - ReadWriteThink

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Grades 3 - 5 Lesson Plan Type Recurring Lesson Estimated Time Introduction: 50 minutes; thereafter: 10 minutes per session Lesson Author Publisher Student Objectives Instruction & Activities Extensions Student Assessment/Reflections Students will establish community rules for group formation and interaction.

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http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/06/15/35thomas.h30.html

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Commentary

Data-driven strategies alone won't boost student achievement

For over 20 years, I've been a data coach for hundreds of teachers, first as a top-level official in two Maryland school districts and now on the faculty of a university leadership center. I've had mountain-top experiences with school teams whose members really get what it means to use data to inform their instruction, and I've led sessions that were disasters.

Over the years, I have accumulated a set of what I first called "My Ten Commandments of Data Analysis." Then, I reconsidered one, and "nine commandments" just didn't sound right. So I now call them "My Nine Truths of Data Analysis." They are not necessarily the truths, but they are definitely my truths. I would be interested in how they compare with the thoughts and experiences of others.

My first truth. We don't need "data driven" schools. We desperately need "knowledge driven" schools. There is a big difference. Data are ways of expressing ideas, such as in numbers, sounds, and images, and they have very little value and usefulness in and of themselves. Data are merely the building blocks of the information age.

Data are useless unless they are first organized into meaningful patterns called information. This transformation is, largely, a technical process of summarizing and putting the numbers into usable forms like charts and graphs. Schools are acquiring some skill at this, and commercially developed instructional-management systems (or data warehouses) are facilitating this process. But many schools are still drowning in data and information.

The real breakthrough in increasing student achievement is to transform information into knowledge. Knowledge is applying information appropriately and productively in a contextual situation. In his classic text Leading in a Culture of Change, Michael Fullan maintains that generating knowledge is primarily a social process. This means that, in a school setting, knowledge emerges through a collaborative process as teachers and administrators engage in conversation, primarily in school teams. When knowledge is used sensitively and humanely to enable the school to continually improve, schools are becoming-as business guru Peter Senge envisioned-true learning organizations.

My second truth. Data analysis is not about numbers. It is all about improving instruction. All educators can be involved, whether they are number wonks or number phobics. I am a former middle school social studies teacher. If I can "do" data, anybody can "do" data.

My third truth. Data are not best analyzed alone, while you are sitting in front of a computer screen staring at Excel spreadsheets or colorful graphs. Data analyses are most effective when they are performed with other teachers who share the same standards and assessments, and who can discuss concretely and specifically, based on student results, what is working and what is not working to increase student learning in their context.

My fourth truth. Teacher teams need to be able to meet in "data dialogues" during the school day for 45 minutes to an hour at least once every two weeks, and more often, if possible. This time must be held sacred for data dialogues and not used for other purposes.

My fifth truth. The most productive data-driven teams follow established analysis protocols and enforce clear procedural and relationship norms. The Center for Leadership in Education at Maryland's Towson University, where I work, has developed the Classroom-Focused Improvement Process, an inquiry-based protocol for classroom teachers to use to analyze the results of district benchmarks and ongoing classroom assessments. These collaborative dialogues result in identifying classwide patterns of strengths and weaknesses for possible reteaching, students ready for enrichment and those needing interventions and what the focus of those interventions should be, and plans for improving instruction in the next unit. The protocol is being used successfully by teams throughout Maryland.

My sixth truth. The most important questions in data analyses are not "What did the students score?" and "How many passed?" The most important questions are: "What do the students know?" "What do they not know?" and "What are we going to do about it?" These questions are the focus of the Classroom-Focused Improvement Process.

My seventh truth. If educators are going to have a significant, long-term impact on student achievement, we must change the nature of the ongoing work of the adults in a school. We have achieved maximum impact from using student interventions as the primary improvement strategy. There is just no more time left in the school day, and no more energy left in the children. For accelerated progress, we need to center faculty members on strengthening the alignment of their curricula, instruction, and assessment around the standards-be they the current state standards or the common-core national standards on the horizon.

My eighth truth. We need to build the capacity of teacher teams to reflect on their work and to make ongoing instructional adjustments based on their analysis of what does and does not work for their students. Professional development alone is not enough to build this capacity. We will need greater program coherence, often called "increased focus," and the cultivation of educator learning communities dedicated to practicing collaborative inquiry.

My ninth truth. None of these steps is going to have any impact unless, as educational leaders, we clearly articulate compelling reasons why teachers should invest time and effort in data analysis. The message to teachers must be that their work is not about abstract concepts of state accountability or school improvement. We did not get into this business to increase state test scores or to implement federal mandates. We are here to help children learn.

So, let's end the talk of AYP and Race to the Top. Let's talk instead about our moral purpose, which is, as Fullan reminds us, twofold: to increase the achievement of all students and to eliminate learning gaps.

Daniel Pink's recent research in Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us confirms that each of us yearns to be of service to something larger than ourselves. What better moral purpose can there be than increasing achievement and reducing gaps? After all is said and done, isn't that why we are here?

Published in Print: June 15, 2011, as My Nine 'Truths' of Data Analysis

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Commentary For over 20 years, I've been a data coach for hundreds of teachers, first as a top-level official in two Maryland school districts and now on the faculty of a university leadership center. I've had mountain-top experiences with school teams whose members really get what it means to use data to inform their instruction, and I've led sessions that were disasters.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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http://www.gpb.org/blogs/education-matters/2016/12/13/10-data-tracking-apps-you-can-use-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. 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.