Data Analytics Make Schools More Effective!

Is this program working? What about that software? Data tells the story of how successful the processes you’ve put in place are. A recent report from the Data Quality Campaign shows K-12 school districts need to invest in training administrators in data analysis.

Why Examine Data?

The report shows using data improves students’ academic outcomes and should be a goal for administrators as well as teachers, parents and even state policymakers. Administrators that can effectively use data can understand trends, examine professional development and personal needs, and marshal resources to support student achievement. 

To do this, administrators need to have the right tools including access, time, training and common understanding. Once they have the skills they need for data analytics, they can use their existing technology make the entire process come together.

Spreadsheets

Both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel can aggregate data on student learning, administrative tasks and other types of classroom performance factors. The data can be sorted, divided, highlighted and filtered in an endless array of possibilities.

OneNote

OneNote can help teachers track all-important student data with Classroom Notebooks. Administrators can use it the same way with Staff Notebooks. Not only does OneNote put all the information into a collaborative space, the information can easily be shared with parents. Engaging parents in the story that data tells about the school, helps with both successes and challenges, according to the report.

Presentations

Providing teachers and district staff  with ongoing training on effective data use helps them recognize how valid it is for their schools. Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides were both made for presentations. Besides being able to easily add information into these programs, they make everyone – from novice to expert – look like a pro.

Security

When gathering all this student and staff information, it’s imperative to keep it safe. The privacy and confidentially of each student and adult is a priority that Microsoft OneDrive’s security measures can handle. It offers a two-step verification protect and support to help protect your information.

Schools and districts are most successful when adults have the data to see the full picture of their students’ learning needs, according to the report. It is suggested school and district administrators need to model and support effective data use at every level, including as part of classroom instruction. What are you doing to support data analytics in your school? Share with us below.

Professional Development 101

Professional Development is hardly one-size-fits-all because every one of your teachers has different needs that must be met. Tackle professional development in a new way by thinking outside of the box. Try these ideas, based on what districts across the United States are doing: 

• Unconferences
  An unconference is a grassroots conference where the content is provided by the attendees, not outside experts. Don’t think of them as unofficial events, rather bring unconferences in-house as the official professional development.

TIP: Have the MIEE and GoogleEIs at your institution do the talking, not the administrators. Have breakouts using Google Sheets and Google Hangouts.

• Personal Learning Community

Personal Learning Communities, or PLCs, are a group of teachers with a shared interest or mutual commitment. Administrators can choose the focus, like hybrid teaching models, and allow teachers to sign up for the PLCs they align with most.

TIP: Use Google Team Drive, to keep everyone in the loop. You can drop information in about each PLC and share with your team.

• Choice Boards

Choice Boards offer a menu of professional development options for teachers to pick and choose from; the amount would depend on your district. This method allows you to meet your teachers’ individual needs, instead of addressing them in a group setting.

TIP: Create a DIY bingo board with Google Sheets or Docs. Or, go old school and draw it up on a white board then use Microsoft Office Lens to digitize it. This app trims and enhances to make notes on whiteboards and blackboard readable on your mobile device.

• Personal Action Plans

Personal Action Plans allow individual teachers to set their own learning goals, including an action plan to achieve them.

TIP: Try Microsoft Sway. This digital storytelling app helps create professional, interactive designs with images, text, videos that can be easily shared with just a link.

• Peer Observation

With peer observation, your teachers take advantage of the best source of professional development available to them, each other. Teachers shadow then follow up with colleagues about applying what they’ve learned in their own classrooms. The best part is if they have questions, the answer is down the hall. 

TIP: Suggest Microsoft OneNote to take notes or draw up quick ideas. This tool has a variety of ingenious uses and each note is stored on a phone, pad or laptop and accessed from anywhere

Got some great professional development ideas? Share them with us and include which tech tools you used to knock it out of the park.

Google Sheets In The Classroom

The Google G Suite platform maximizes the 1:1 classroom scenario for schools, teachers, and students. One program in particular, Sheets, is beneficially used in the classroom as a data collection and organizational tool. We’ve compiled a variety of ways to use Sheets in the classroom setting to display Sheets’ positive qualities for education.

1. Digital Portfolios With Google Forms

Combining Google Sheets with Google Forms can create a digital portfolio. The student creates the Google Form and the responses are collected on a spreadsheet. This student portfolio can be easily shared with a teacher for review and can provide feedback for the student.

1. Digital Rubrics And Rubric Portfolios

Once a Sheet-based rubric is created, a master rubric sheet can be duplicated for future use. Additionally a master rubric tab can be duplicated to evaluate each student submission. The result is that teachers have one rubric sheet for each assignment evaluated with the master rubric. Additionally, because the rubrics are digital, teachers can utilize different formatting tools to create their rubrics. Cells can be created with formulas and can be color coded to the teachers liking.

1. Class Resources Sheet

Sheets can be used to create course calendars with columns for dates, units, and chapters. Teachers can efficiently organize entire courses into calendar sheets and then share them with their students. The created sheet can be added to the course website if possible and can be sent to parents as well to include all parties involved in the communication.

1. Research Planning And Archiving

Every teacher knows the challenge of assisting students in organizing, categorizing, and tracking large amounts of research. Creating a Google Sheet can streamline this process into topics and subtopics. Also with Google Sheets, students have the opportunity to share this document easily with teachers.

Want to know how you can implement Google Sheets and other Google G Suite programs in your school or classroom?