THE ROLE OF DATA IN THE SCHOOL

THE ROLE OF DATA IN THE SCHOOL!!!

In order to really move the academic needle, you must know where you are at academically. Not only should the principal know their data, but the entire staff as well. The only way to know where you are at academically, is to put the data on the table and deal with, what I call, the brutal facts. There are a lot of schools that really don’t want to deal with or discuss the brutal facts, but in order to move the academic needle they must know where their starting point lies. After you get a clear idea on where you are at, then you must set academic goals for the year. The academic goals that you set must be realistic, measurable, and attainable.

Many schools that I have worked with, will set goals that they know deep down inside are probably not attainable. For example, if 25% of your students are proficient in math, don't say the following year we want to have 75% of our students become proficient. This is not realistic, and you are setting yourself and your school up for failure. I am not saying that this can not happen within one year, but a more realistic goal would be somewhere around 35%-45% percent proficiency. Now you have an attainable goal for the year that the school can work towards. This should be done in every grade, for each subject, at the beginning of the year, or no later than the end of the first month of school.