Lesa Cain Writes... How You, the Principal, Should Use Your Data

The following is some advice LYS Coach and Common Assessment Pioneer, Lesa Cain, shared with some of the Principals that she mentors.

Good morning all,

I cannot say this enough, you must pre-plan for your data meetings. That means plan for when the meeting will occur, who will attend, what will be discussed and what you want to happen after the meeting. 

You must get the data first (before meeting with teachers). You must analyze the questions and determine the TEKS (learning standards in Texas) of concern.

For each TEKS that is a concern, look at each teacher in that grade level and see what their scores were on those questions. If there is a teacher that is having relative success, you must find out how they taught the standard. That becomes a conversation point in the data meeting and a potential intervention strategy.

Only after instructional practices have been identified and discussed do you use the data to sort students.  But sort for the purpose of deciding who will teach what, to whom, and when. These are RTI decisions and the data determines what you do and how you do it. And whatever you decide to do, track your results.

YOU as campus leaders have to have an idea BEFORE you meet with your teachers, this give you context during the discussion and allow you to better evaluate recommended instructional tweaks shared by the attending teachers. If you don’t have a plan, then you will be wasting precious time PREDICTING your future scores instead of RAISING them.

Yes, I am putting pressure on you... not on your students, not on your teachers, but on YOU. Think about what you are seeing in classes every day when you are observing instruction, what you know should be happening and is not happening. Get ahead of this by preparing for your data meetings and knowing the data BEFORE you meet with your teachers.  

We have just completed a third of the school year.  This is not the time to slow down.  This is the time to hit our stride.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook