The Data Coach's Guide to Improving Learning for All Students. Katherine E. Stiles
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About the Authors
Nancy Loveis director of program development at Research for Better Teaching in Acton, Massachusetts, where she leads this education consulting group’s research and development. She is the former director of the Using Data Project, a collaboration between TERC and WestEd, where she led the development of a comprehensive professional development program to improve teaching and learning through effective and collaborative use of school data. This program has produced significant gains in student achievement as well as increased collaboration and data use in schools across the country. Love has authored several books and articles on data use, including Using Data/Getting Results: A Practical Guide to School Improvement in Mathematics and Science (2002) and Global Perspectives for Local Action: Using TIMSS to Improve U.S. Mathematics and Science Education (2001) with Susan Mundry. She is also well known for her work in professional development as a seasoned and highly engaging presenter and author of articles and books, including Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics (2nd ed., 2003) with Susan Loucks-Horsley, Katherine E. Stiles, Susan Mundry, and Peter Hewson. In 2006, she was awarded the prestigious Susan Loucks-Horsley Award from the National Staff Development Council in recognition of her significant national contribution to the field of staff development and to the efficacy of others.
Katherine E. Stilesis a project director and senior program associate at WestEd. She is codirector of WestEd’s National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership and several other projects designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of leaders. She is coauthor of books and articles focused on professional development and leadership, including Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics (2003) and Leading Every Day: 124 Actions for Effective Leadership (2005), which received the National Staff Development Council’s 2003 Outstanding Book of the Year Award for its first edition (2002). She is also the lead author of the Facilitator’s Guide to Leading Every Day (2006). In 2002, Katherine was awarded the Paul D. Hood Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Field from WestEd. As a senior staff member on the Using Data Project, a collaboration between TERC and WestEd, she codeveloped the professional development program and provided technical assistance to participating schools in Ohio and Arizona as they engaged in collaborative inquiry into data. Katherine has more than 10 years of experience evaluating science education and professional development programs, including NSF-funded Local Systemic Change projects and State Systemic Initiatives, California-funded MSP projects, technology-based science education programs, and science curriculum development projects. Prior to joining WestEd in 1995, Katherine worked at the National Science Resources Center in Washington DC as a science curriculum developer and authored four curriculum units for the Science and Technology for Children program. With degrees in psychology, special education, and education, and teaching experience in elementary programs, she brings 20 years of experience to her current work in science and mathematics education and professional development.
Susan Mundryis associate director of mathematics, science, and technology programs at WestEd. She directs national projects focused on developing leadership in education and improving professional development programs. Susan codirects the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership and is principal investigator for a National Science Foundation project developing instructional materials for leaders in education. She has contributed to numerous publications on leadership and teacher development. She coauthored the best-selling book Designing Effective Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics, as well as Working Toward a Continuum of Professional Learning Experiences for Teachers of Science and Mathematics: Designing Successful Professional Meetings and Conferences in Education and Global Perspectives for Local Action: Using TIMSS to Improve U.S. Mathematics and Science. Susan coauthored the toolkit Teachers as Learners, a videotape collection of 18 professional development programs, a guidebook, and Web site activities that illustrate diverse strategies for teacher learning. Susan coauthored the award-winning book Leading Every Day, which was named the National Staff Development Council’s 2003 Book of the Year. Prior to joining WestEd, she served in many roles, from staff developer to associate director, at The NETWORK, Inc., a research and development organization focused on organizational change and dissemination of effective practice. There, she developed two popular simulation games on organizational change: Making Change for School Improvement and Systems Thinking/Systems Changing. Susan was the recipient of the National Staff Development Council’s annual Susan Loucks-Horsley Award for her distinguished contribution to the field of professional development. She also was recognized with WestEd’s Paul D. Hood Award for her contributions to the field of education in 2002 and again in 2006. Susan is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts–Amherst and Boston University and lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Kathryn DiRannais the statewide director of WestEd’s K–12 Alliance, which focuses on school- and department-wide change by providing programs that address content, instructional strategies, assessment, and leadership. She has served as a principal investigator or project director for several NSF-funded projects, including the California Systemic Initiative, the Center for the Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning (CAESL), and Science Partnerships for Articulation and Networking (SPAN). For the past 20 years, Kathryn has helped shape California’s science education programs by creating strategic alliances between educational institutions and programs, as well as between business and education. On the national level, Kathryn served as the mentor coordinator for the National Academy of Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, the co–project director for the BSCS/WestEd National Academy for Curriculum Leadership, and a senior staff member and codeveloper of the Using Data Project’s professional development program, a collaboration between TERC and WestEd. She has been a featured speaker at state and national conferences and served as the program coordinator for NSTA’s 2006 national convention. Kathryn received the California Science Teachers Association’s Margaret Nicholson Award for Distinguished Service to Science Education and the Paul D. Hood Award from WestEd for distinguished service to the field.
Introduction
Despite endless pessimistic messages about the state of public education, the authors of this book find much to celebrate. As staff of the National Science Foundation–supported Using Data Project, we have worked with schools that are serving children who are among the poorest in this country—students from Native American reservations in Arizona, the mountains of Appalachia in Tennessee, and large and mid-size urban centers in the Midwest and West. A few years ago, some of these students were simply passing time in school with “word search” puzzles or other time fillers; some were permanently tracked in an educational system that doled out uninspired, repetitive curriculum. Some of the schools in which we worked had not one single student pass the state test, and the vast majority were performing at the lowest proficiency level.
Today, students in these schools have a more rigorous curriculum, and they are reaching proficiency on assessments in record numbers. Schools implementing the Using Data Process narrowed the achievement gaps between students with exceptional needs and general education students in all content areas and grade levels; tripled the percentage of African Americans proficient in middle school mathematics; demonstrated significant and steady gains in mathematics in elementary, middle, and high schools; and cut the failure rate of Native American children in half. These schools are not only experiencing significant and continuous gains in local and state assessments in mathematics, science, and reading, but also changing their culture. Our project evaluators documented increased collaboration and reflection on practice among teachers; frequent and in-depth use of multiple data sources, including high-stakes, formative, and benchmark assessments as well as data about practice; and instructional improvement (Zuman, 2006).
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