The Data Coach's Guide to Improving Learning for All Students. Katherine E. Stiles
We went to the people in the districts and had multiple conversations. We went to the school boards. When the superintendents changed, we went back and retraced our steps. You need to stay the course to build real commitment, not just a signature.”
Table 2.1 lists the audiences involved in launching this work and provides suggestions for how to work with them to build interest and engagement. In this book, take advantage of materials in Chapter 3, Task 1, including PowerPoint slides and handouts on the CD-ROM, to raise awareness and build support for the Using Data Process. The third column of the table describes each audience’s role in sustaining collaborative inquiry. Ultimately, the program’s success hinges on each of these stakeholders helping to create a system within the district that supports continuous improvement. You can use this column to guide your conversations with stakeholders, make requests, and as the basis for cooperative agreements that each stakeholder signs. The vignette on page 33 illustrates how one district leader went about building stakeholder support for the Using Data Process.
Table 2.1
Vignette: Clark County, Nevada, Builds Stakeholder Support at the District and Building Levels
In Clark County, the Mathematics and Science Enhancement (MASE), K–5 Using Technology project director and coordinator of K–5 mathematics and science, Thelma Davis, built stakeholder support for implementing collaborative inquiry in a variety of ways. She showed district leaders how using collaborative inquiry was closely aligned with the district’s goals to increase data use, improve student achievement, and meet accountability requirements. She communicated to leaders of the MASE project how this collaborative approach to using data furthered the work of the project, which focused on implementing inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning in collaborative settings. She made sure that MASE schools were included among participants. She met with regional superintendents and codeveloped an implementation plan with them. The plan included three participating schools in each of the district’s regions, helping to build the regional superintendent’s support, and also required that principals, as well as teacher-leaders, participate fully in training and implementation. Finally, she recognized that keeping stakeholders committed to the project required ongoing communication. She invited key district and building leaders to events and stayed in regular communication with them about the project and its progress (see Clark County, Nevada, case study in Chapter 8).
As indicated in Table 2.1, there are several strategies suggested for different audiences to build their understanding of the Using Data Process and collaborative inquiry. Think carefully about who needs to be involved in your local sites and how much time they can be involved, and make choices accordingly. For example, the principal, curriculum directors, teachers, and other key stakeholders must reach agreement on the parameters of the project. How are you going to facilitate this agreement? Set up a time to talk with them one on one, and invite them to participate in an outreach session.
Who are the formal and informal leaders in the school or district? Have a conversation with them to find out about their interest and ask who else they think should be involved. Collaborative inquiry is intended as an inclusive process, so even though you may only have a half-dozen people on a Data Team, the rest of the faculty need to value the process enough to respect the conclusions, results, and recommendations of the Data Team. To help develop awareness and “buy-in,” provide them with information and clarify expectations about the process. Anticipate the concerns about innovation overload—“we can’t do one more thing”—and be ready to explain why this initiative is important and complementary to other initiatives. Use Chapter 2: Resource 2 on the CD-ROM to develop your own outreach plan.
As you conduct your outreach, monitor how you are doing at reaching your key audiences. For example, are there new people involved who need to be briefed on the process? After launching the work with the Data Team (see Task 1), routinely ask the members to identify other people to reach out to about the Using Data Project and collaborative inquiry. A good rule of thumb is to ask everyone on the Data Team to talk with at least one other person every week to share what you are doing and how it will enhance the school’s success. You can also send out regular (e.g., weekly or monthly) e-mail updates on your progress to everyone in the school community to keep them informed of activities of the Data Team. As you build stakeholder support, keep the following outcomes in mind:
All key stakeholders understand what the Using Data Process is and how it will be used to enhance student learning.
There is a process in place for ongoing communication about the project.
You have a list of people who may be interested in serving on the Data Team(s).
The building principal and/or a key administrator such as a curriculum coordinator or department chair agree to be actively involved in the process.
The assessment or data coordinator understands the project and is lined up to assist with access to data.
Resource R2.2
Assess and Take Steps to Strengthen a Collaborative Culture
The Using Data Process both builds and benefits from a collaborative culture. If your school and district is new to collaboration, you will need to spend more time up front helping team members learn to work together; build a shared vision and the knowledge, skills, and habits of collaboration; and tackle school or district structures that get in the way of collaboration. There are several tools in this book for helping you assess your culture, including the Program Elements Matrix (PEM) for a Using Data Culture and the Consensogram (see Toolkit). If your setting does not have a history of collaboration focused on improving practice, you will probably spend much of the first six to nine months working to build that culture. The tasks in Chapter 3 are a good place to start. If, on the other hand, there is already a strong norm for working together, examining student work and data, and examining practice, you can move faster, but you will still want to make sure everyone is clear and comfortable with the Using Data Process, so use the tasks in Chapter 3 to strengthen skills of collaborative inquiry.
Select, Prepare, and Empower Data Coaches
Effective [Data Coaches] are key to the long-term sustainability of the Using Data Process.
—Zuman, 2006, p. 12
Chances are there is no one at your school or the schools you work with right now who is officially known as a Data Coach. This is a new role that is emerging as schools become more focused on using their data effectively to improve results. One of the most important findings from the four years of implementing the Using Data Process in schools across the country is that Data Coaches are the linchpin of successful collaborative inquiry. Without them, participating schools would not have achieved the gains in student learning, the increase in collaboration and data use, the instructional improvement, or the changes in the school culture.
Data Coach: An education leader who guides Data Teams through the process of collaborative inquiry and influences the culture of schools to be one in which data are used continuously, collaboratively, and effectively to improve teaching and learning.
The Data Coach Role
If you want to take control and make it run your way, just do it yourself. If you want to build a team, you have to let that team evolve—with some parameters.