Building A Data-Focused Culture: Exciting or Intimidating?

By Dr. Christopher Graves, Ed.D., Principal at Jordan Community School

The word “data” can be an ugly, four-letter word in our schools if we’re not particular about how we cultivate it. We sometimes deny the results we’re seeing, either because we think they’re inaccurate, only telling part of the story, or not truly representative of the actual realities we experience daily. That’s all valid! Still, we know accountability in our schools comes down to how we respond to the results we receive. In this article, I touch on the why, how, and what it means to be data focused in school.

Building a culture that values data in a school is crucial for driving student success and overall improvement.

To achieve this, it is important to address potential resistance and build buy-in from all stakeholders involved. Drawing upon the works of prominent authors can provide valuable insights into effectively implementing this cultural shift.

A few examples include Kurt Lewin's change theory, Ron Heifetz's adaptive leadership approach, and Robert Evans' understanding of organizational change in schools along with the concept of "trust in schools," highlighting how school leaders successfully foster a culture that prioritizes progress monitoring and improvement through data-driven practices. One way to build buy-in is by emphasizing the benefits of data-driven practices. Highlight how data can inform decision-making processes and contribute to student growth in areas such as attendance, behavior, and academics.

By tracking progress through data analysis and implementing targeted interventions, we ensure continuous improvement. As part of this, defining what is meant by this four-letter word is key: Data is numerical, it’s observational, and it’s everything around us. Students skipping down the hall in their best moments and crying when sad are both data points, as well as the culture of our school and how it feels to walk down the halls. So, when we understand and acknowledge that we’re surrounded by points of evidence, which we can call “data,” then we can be less afraid of this daunting word.

Creating trust within the school community is another key element in fostering a culture that values data.

Trust plays a vital role in encouraging transparency and collaboration among teachers, administrators, students, and parents. When stakeholders trust that data will be used ethically and with best interests in mind, they are more likely to embrace its importance.

Additionally, it is essential to provide professional development opportunities for educators on how to effectively collect, analyze, and interpret data. This empowers them with the necessary skills to make informed decisions based on evidence.

Let’s approach this from a list of key tenets that, while not exhaustive, serve as a foundation for what it takes to build a data minded culture:

1. Communicate the purpose: Start by clearly communicating the purpose and benefits of data-driven decision making to all stakeholders involved. Emphasize that data is not meant to be used as a tool for criticism, but rather as a means of identifying areas for improvement and driving positive change.

2. Provide training and support: Offer training sessions and workshops for staff members on how to effectively collect, analyze, and interpret data. This will help build confidence in using data as a tool for monitoring progress and making informed decisions.

3. Foster collaboration: Encourage collaboration among staff members by creating opportunities for them to share insights, strategies, and success stories related to using data in classrooms or departments. This can help build buy-in as teachers see the value of data in improving student outcomes.

4. Involve students: Engage students in the process by helping them understand the importance of tracking own progress through data analysis. Encourage them to set goals based on academic growth, attendance records, or behavior improvements.

5. Celebrate successes: Recognize and celebrate achievements resulting from data-driven initiatives within your school community. Highlight success stories where targeted interventions led to positive outcomes for students.

6. Address resistance: Acknowledge that resistance may exist due to concerns about perceived criticism or accountability associated with the use of data. Create an open dialogue where concerns can be addressed transparently, emphasizing that the ultimate goal is continuous improvement and commitment to accomplishing goals rather than assigning blame.

Shifting gears, consider the opportunity that embracing a culture focused on data can welcome. It centers a school onto key indicators for success that are tailored to the unique needs of that community. While all schools are held accountable to the policies and assessments enacted in law, there are myriad other opportunities to embrace a grounding point of a goal to be accomplished that helps galvanize the community towards some more critical, local mission.

Whether the community cares about the characteristics of the ideal graduate, opportunities for specific identity groups, or pursuing initiatives such as partnerships or engaging programming, progress towards all of these action items can be tracked. Thus, they all involve data.

When it comes to tracking data points in schools and ensure that they are authentic and tailored to the specific needs of the school and its community, we necessitate a comprehensive understanding of the school's unique challenges and goals.

Surveys are an effective way to gather feedback from students, parents, teachers, and other stakeholders.

To determine the authenticity and tailoring of data points, we engage with community through various methods. These surveys can be designed to specifically inquire about needs and expectations regarding attendance growth, behavior growth, and academic growth. In addition to surveys, focus groups can provide valuable insights by facilitating open discussions among representatives from different segments of the school community.

This allows for a deeper exploration of specific issues or concerns related to progress monitoring and improvement. Other opportunities for input such as town hall meetings or parent-teacher conferences create spaces for dialogue where participants can express opinions on what data points should be tracked and how they should be utilized.

By actively engaging with the community through surveys, focus groups, and other opportunities for input, we gain a better understanding of needs. This information helps in refining data tracking processes so that they align more closely with the specific requirements of the school's students and staff.

All that being said, what data is relevant?

I oftentimes spend considerable energy creating spreadsheets of school-wide data trends over time: the same benchmark assessment, comparatively for each time it was administered, broken down different ways such as by homeroom, grade level, or by race or gender. Is this valuable and useful for the individual teacher? Likely not.

The assessment analysis at this level doesn’t show the most useful information for them, such as the individual skills or standards assessed. Nor is it as timely as results that are given the same day either following or within individual lessons.

So, when considering what we mean by a culture that not only values data but also uses it for practical purposes, this varies depending on the person and their role. Individual teachers likely find their student level, in-the-moment results the most useful. Leadership teams benefit from looking at data that shows trends, and then digging into specific use cases and scenarios that highlight different demographic groups, to help determine how to proceed with making changes that benefit students.

Lastly, when presenting data publicly, the data most interesting should also be considered with care and respect for the privacy of students and staff so that they are not vulnerably criticized for the results we receive. Leaders can commit to improving outcomes to external stakeholder groups without putting individual staff members on display.

Whether we admit it or not, since we know this four-letter word of “data” can be met with eye rolls and resistance, we’re interested in the results of our hard work. We want our efforts to show.

Thus, it’s critical that we think through how our culture of data usage is evolving either with or without our intentionality. Building and nurturing a culture that values rich conversations around data usage requires addressing any challenges by highlighting the benefits for student growth. Trust within the school community must be established while providing educators with professional development opportunities. While we should not be motivated primarily by data, it does serve as an indicator of success and progress towards accomplishing goals.