The Data Coach's Guide to Improving Learning for All Students. Katherine E. Stiles
about kids or make excuses. The only thing we can work on is what we have control over.
—Ann Wacker, Mathematics and Data Coach, Plain Local Schools, Canton, Ohio
You may have a clear picture in your mind of different kinds of coaches—instructional coaches or sports coaches. But what does a Data Coach do? As defined by the Using Data Project, the Data Coach plays three major roles in collaborative inquiry. As illustrated in Figure 2.1, in the inner circle, the Data Coach’s central role is modeling and spreading data literacy among all members of the Data Team. Data literacy is the ability to interpret and use multiple data sources effectively to improve teaching and learning. (See Task 5 for details on the knowledge and skills involved in data literacy and where in the book Data Coaches learn more about them.) Coaches are instrumental in gathering data for Data Teams, but they do not do the data analysis themselves. They lead the Data Team through the process of digging into the data to see what can be learned from it. Like a football or soccer coach, they are often on the sidelines while the Data Team is in the game, making their own sense of the data and using it to improve performance. But the Data Coach makes sure that the team has the resources—the data, the skills, the tools, and the practice—to get the job done well.
The next ring in the circle illustrates the Data Coach’s role as facilitator. Data Coaches convene the Data Teams, plan team meetings, facilitate the process of Data-Driven Dialogue, and guide the team through collaborative inquiry. While Data Coaches play the role of facilitator, they are not always neutral. They take a stand for promoting equity and effective learning for all students. They speak their truth and challenge assumptions and practices that get in the way of providing all students with a high-quality education. At the same time, they create an environment on the team where each member feels safe saying what he or she thinks.
Figure 2.1 The Data Coach role.
This book provides step-by-step guidance for Data Coaches to facilitate Data Teams as they implement the Using Data Process. As facilitator, your role includes the following:
Focus on equity: Be a champion for ensuring equity. Take a stand for all students and against racism and other forms of bias; encourage the team to do the same.
Support norms of collaboration: Guide teams to commit to, apply, and become skilled at group norms.
Build Data Teams: Create high-functioning teams that talk about difficult issues and take effective action together.
Lead data experiences: Guide Data Teams through the sequence of tasks and activities in the Using Data Process.
Develop team data literacy as well as their other knowledge and skills for high-capacity data use (uses that lead to improved teaching and learning), including:Data literacy and collaborative inquiry: Build the capacity of others to engage with data productively.Cultural proficiency: Encourage the team to better understand and interact respectfully with diverse cultures and respond to data in respectful ways.Content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and generic pedagogical knowledge: Keep the focus on improving instruction; guide the team to deepen their own knowledge of content, pedagogy, and pedagogical content knowledge as they analyze data and implement solutions.Leadership and facilitation skills: Develop others’ leadership and facilitation skills; grow more Data Coaches!
Facilitate Data-Driven Dialogue: Help the team separate observation from inference and examine assumptions (see Toolkit).
Assess and respond to context: Use data about the team, students, and school to tailor the Using Data Process to local realities. Shift as the context shifts.
The third major area of responsibility for Data Coaches is to provide leadership for sustainability of the practice of collaborative inquiry to continuously enhance student learning. Specifically, Data Coaches
Institutionalize collaborative inquiry: Data Coaches pay attention to what it takes to sustain the use of collaborative inquiry, including involving key people and leaders; building the culture to support the practice; working to infuse collaborative inquiry into ongoing structures such as faculty meetings, curriculum and other committees, and policy decisions; and making the use of student data to inform action an expectation for all staff.
Ensure learning for all: Data Coaches use their influence to convince people of the importance of intervening when data show low levels of learning for any students. They have the ability to shift conversations away from blame and toward collective responsibility for closing achievement gaps.
Apply change theory: Data Coaches understand that their role is to build awareness and support among all key players in the schools and districts. They provide ample opportunities for people to clarify what collaborative inquiry is and why it is beneficial for the school. They help as many staff as possible to develop data literacy skills, and they encourage administrators to sanction the use of collaborative inquiry and provide structures such as time to support its use.
Influence school culture: Data Coaches model the cultural shifts needed, such as use of data, dialogue, and collaboration. They engage Data Teams and other key stakeholders in building a vision of the culture they want to create for their school.
Keep the vision alive: Data Coaches look for opportunities to celebrate successes. They support the Data Team, administrators, and other key stakeholders to share the success stories and document how collaborative inquiry is helping to solve student-learning problems.
Support a comprehensive data system: Data Coaches know what a huge task it is to make data immediately available and useable. That is why they work with the Data Team, administrators, and others to support the school and district to use a comprehensive data system that provides timely and accurate information on student learning and other important outcomes.
Develop powerful habits of mind: Data Coaches walk the talk by demonstrating powerful habits of mind such as those illustrated in Table 2.2. For example, they are skilled at shifting conversations from resignation, complaints, and resistance to possibility. Subtle language shifts away from saying “I should” and “I must” toward “I can” and “I will” can be very powerful in moving teams from feeling victimized by mandates and high-stakes testing to making commitments and taking action (Ellis, 2002; Sparks, 2007). Data Coaches lead by their example. They ask others in the school to act on these habits of mind and build a shared vision for collaborative inquiry in the school. Table 2.2 SOURCE Adapted from Dennis Sparks, Leading for Results (2nd ed.), 2007. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Used with permission.
Build broad support: Data Coaches know that school improvement happens in the broader context of the school district. They meet with central office administrators to explain what collaborative inquiry is and why it is an essential tool for the district. They regularly update key administrators on what is being accomplished and what has to happen next. They make presentations at parent and teacher meetings to raise awareness of the use of collaborative inquiry.
Understand systems: Building on all of the actions listed earlier, the Data Coach understands that the school and district operate as a system that is also part of a broader community and state system. As such, the school is affected by policies and practices in the broader system. Data Coaches think about how to leverage state policies such as requirements for data reporting and student achievement to encourage the school to build a culture for data use and ongoing improvement. They know their context well and think strategically about how to build on strengths and diminish weaknesses.
To assess your own strengths related to the three dimensions of the role of Data Coach and set goals for growth, see Chapter 2: Resource 3 on the CD-ROM. Use this book as one source for your growth and development along with the experience you will gain as you act as a Data Coach. Monitor your growth periodically, using the self-assessment, and celebrate your progress.