Excerpt from letter draft by Virginia Middle School Research Alliance Member, Stephanie Haskins, Staunton City Schools, Staunton, VA.
Since first becoming a member of the alliance, the REL Appalachia team has supported our work by helping us examine our existing data and creating a catalog of accessible data, examining existing interventions, interviewing teachers and school leaders to determine how educators in our division use available data—what works, what poses challenges, and how we can further support educators in using data. The work we have done with REL Appalachia has made such a difference. In the summer of 2014, we shifted roles for sharing of data. Previously, central office had “delivered” data to principals during a summer meeting, but instead, we asked each principal to tell their story with data. This meant that we made sure principals had data in advance to prepare and present on the strengths and needs of the school.
Full letter below:
Staunton City Schools, located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, is one of Virginia’s small school divisions, enrolling approximately 2,600 students in grades K-12 across 5 schools (3 elementary, 1 middle, 1 high). In this small locality, we have made significant progress in improving the educational outcomes of our students. For example, on-time graduation has increased to 90 percent and early foundational literacy skills have increased steadily over the past three years. Despite these accomplishments, we have also experienced challenges. Concurrently with the introduction of the new rigorous state assessments, three of our five schools missed one or more of the 36 elementary/middle and 45 high/ division federal Annual Measurable Achievable Objectives (AMAOs), and two of our schools missed state accreditation benchmarks in Reading and Mathematics.
Staunton City Schools, through the leadership of our superintendent, Dr. Linda Reviea, has a clear vision of a data-informed culture and we are making progress addressing our challenges by using research-based strategies, implementation of best practices, and data-informed decision making. In my role as Director of Assessment and School Improvement, I have led principals in data activities during monthly principal meetings to help build their leadership and capacity for data use for the past three years. Earlier this year, I met Aimee Evan, research alliance lead for the Virginia Middle School Research Alliance, who shared such a passion and energy for data use and its application to student learning. Aimee invited teams of central office and school building staff to join the research alliance, and Staunton’s middle school principal and I began participating in monthly calls and discussions with REL representatives and other school leaders across the state involved in the same projects. Over time, we would meet several other people a part of this organization, all sharing an incredible knowledge and interest in the use of data.
Since first becoming a member of the alliance, the REL Appalachia team has supported our work by helping us examine our existing data and creating a catalog of accessible data, examining existing interventions, interviewing teachers and school leaders to determine how educators in our division use available data—what works, what poses challenges, and how we can further support educators in using data. The work we have done with REL Appalachia has made such a difference. In the summer of 2014, we shifted roles for sharing of data. Previously, central office had “delivered” data to principals during a summer meeting, but instead, we asked each principal to tell their story with data. This meant that we made sure principals had data in advance to prepare and present on the strengths and needs of the school.
Our middle school principal, Robert Craft, who had also spent the year participating in the REL Middle School Research Alliance, set the bar, as he unveiled his own Google site that he had created for his staff. The first page of the site included pictures of three students from his middle school. We want to keep in mind that behind every aggregate piece of data, is the most precious piece – a student. He told the stories of what he and his staff observed in mathematics and literacy – the correlations of data to one another, the trend observed for advanced scores, the progress but continued concerns for students not meeting benchmarks, and how their walk-throughs and other observations related to results.
The impact of our partnership with REL Appalachia and our journey with data doesn’t end there. In July, the entire group of principals plus some other school leaders and central office administration from Staunton City Schools attended a REL Appalachia sponsored workshop: Data Use Primer. This workshop further revolutionized the administrator’s work with data, as leaders came away with a renewed focus of transforming the use of data into results.
The 2014-2015 school year marks our continuation on the data journey with a renewed focus on results. The quarterly meetings with principals have shifted – less about looking at data and more about summarizing and acting, based on needs. The monthly meetings have helped connect the “bridge” from data to results. We have also been simultaneously participating in a book study, led by our Executive Director of Instruction, Dori Walk, related to professional learning communities, and the connections have been perfect, particularly as we look at ideas such as collaborative inquiry, learning challenges, and leadership. In all cases, a culture of trust and reliance on data for continuous improvement are present.
Through our work with REL Appalachia, Staunton City Schools is answering the tough and often overlooked questions, such as:
- Are we collecting the right data?
- What can we glean from looking at data?
- What are we doing to impact student achievement?
Are we there yet in answering each of these questions? Like many things, we never arrive, but thanks to our partnership with REL, we know we are headed in the right direction, and we’ll be much better equipped for our journey.