I try to do data meetings about once a month so that we can synthesize as a whole school what our learning needs are.  I recently did a professional development on these data meetings that you can find here

 Data Meetings

Running Records:

• Create one SCHOOL WIDE system for collecting running record data that shares the same format
• Determine how many times you want to collect data before the year begins
  • Once every 6 weeks?
  • Once a quarter?
  • Will it be the same for all readers (emergent readers? Above reading level readers?)
  • Determine how to make it sustainable for teachers J
    • (NOT SUSTAINABLE!!!) Doing it in your classroom (sorry- it’s really hard!)
    • (Sustainable, but data is mixed) Each guided reading teacher collects data and shares with reading teachers
    • (Sustainable, but harder on the team) Reading teacher gets a day to collect data every six to eight weeks
  • It’s not about how fast the kids move up- don’t push them to “On Beyond Z”

1. Running Records Data Meeting – 45 to 60 minutes

• After each running record cycle, schedule a running records data meeting with reading teachers on each grade level
• Ask, “How did the running records go? How can we make it better for next time? How can I help?”
• Sort data from lowest to highest on excel.
• Ask, “What stood out?”
• “Who are you concerned about?  Why?” (Make a critical reading list)
• Create an action plan for each student .
• Ask, “Are we moving the highest readers too fast?  What can we do to meet their needs? How can I help?”
• Ask, “How can we celebrate their growth? How can we make it visible?”
• What’s our goal for the students that we are concerned about by the next time we meet?

 

1. Standardized Assessment Data Meeting

Reading Test Prep Tracking: Standardized Test Growth
5th Grade Reading: KIPP Infinity
STUDENT	Summer 1		Summer 2	September 1		September 2		September 3			October 1
Edisanya	40%		35%	55%		50%		40%			35%
Genesis	65%		40%	70%		75%		70%			65%
Kimberly	60%		60%	65%		85%		85%			80%

 

In addition to running record data, ask teachers to bring their weekly standardized testing data to the data meeting (which you can hold simultaneously to the running record meeting or the following week).

Ask:

• What do you notice?
• What do you predict?
• What are your concerns?
• How are you making their efforts visible?
• What are your end of quarter % goal for each kid? How will you convey that to the kids?
• Are there any kids on your critical reading list? Do they overlap with the critical reading list for the running records?
• What are your plans for the students who are on the critical reading list?

As a coach, the hardest part is staying on top of the action plans.  Be the note taker in the meetings, so during follow up conversations you can keep folks on top of their action plans.  In terms of action plans, prioritize:

1.  How do you plan on making their successes visible? (Turn around should be under a week.)
2. Do we need to change the intervention groups? (Intervention groups should be changed according to the most recent data.)
3. Individual student plans- make sure that they are getting the support they need on a consistent basis.  This support can include:
   1. For emergent readers: Additional guided reading, additional conferences (more later), test preparation conferences
   2. For students not moving up: individualized goals, habits conference
   3. For students above-standards: Literature circles, book clubs, independent reading analysis conferences

So far, there have been a few things that we’ve discussed:

1. Creating monthly data meetings for running records and test data
2. Making student data visible
3. Creating action items for “critical readers” and using one-on-one time to follow up in coaching meetings

What has resonated with you?

 

Continue Doing

 

Start Doing

 

Stop Doing

 

 

 

 

 

 

Data Meetings During One on One Coaching Sessions

1.         Teacher creates conference log. 

 What’s the criteria of the best conference log?

I like conference logs that allow you to see all students at once so no student slips through the cracks. These looks like an excel spreadsheet with enough room to write a quick jot like “pause at punctuation” or “don’t do bumper sticker theme”.

How’s it Going One on One

Materials: Teacher brings conference log only.

Ask:

1. How are the conferences going?
2. What do you want to keep doing?
3. What hasn’t been working? Why?
4. How are conferences going with your highest readers?
5. How many minutes do you spend per conference?
6. How can we help?
7. Which 3 students do you want to focus on for the meeting?

Then, the teacher walks through three students that s/he need help with.  By coaching the teacher in the previous questions, you are pushing the teacher (and yourself) to not only focus on the lowest readers- who often get the most attention.

The teacher talks through her dilemma with each kid.  The coach isn’t there to give answers.  Instead, try to get more information by asking:

1.  How is the reader at reading aloud? Decoding? Comprehension? How do you know?
2. What are the reader’s at home habits?
3. What is the reader’s listening level?
4. Describe the reader’s oral language.
5. What are the reader’s homework habits?
6. When is the last time you heard the reader read aloud?
7. What’s the reader’s favorite book? Favorite thing to do?
8. When does the reader get frustrated?

With the teacher, create end of the month goals (limit to three) for the reader.  These goals could look like:

1. To read-aloud with 97% accuracy a level L book
2. To pause at punctuation with 90% accuracy
3. To listen to a 2^nd grade level text and answer 2/3 comprehension questions
4. Using AR, to read 3 books at __ level and answer 90% comprehension questions with the book in front of you
5. To write 4-5 sticky notes per chapter for the next 3 books you read
6. When you get to a word on a page, to write it on a white board and chunk it at least 1 x per page
7. To describe your day in one minute without speaking in run-ons
8. To start your homework in school, by listening to a book on tape for 30 minutes
9. To read three books from the Diary of Wimpy kid series

Notice how these goals hit up oral language, listening and their habits!

1.  Reading Log/Class work/Reading Journal One on One

Materials: Student book log samples from high, medium and low student (teacher chooses the work sample)

Ask:

1.  Why did you choose these three students?
2. (Start with highest student)
   1. What does this student do well? (Make list)

-          Reads series books

-          Reads a lot of different types of books

-          Reads a lot of pages (for the most part) a night

1. Have you read any of the books that your student is reading? Which one is your favorite? Why?
2. What do you know about books that are similar to the books that your student is reading?
3. What’s something you could do to push them to the next level?
4. What choices are you giving your high readers? Are they being pushed to the same level that your lowest readers are?
5. What can you commit to doing with your higher readers by the next time we meet?
6. Repeat the same process with the medium and low student.
7. What are your possible next steps (Push toward the following à Whole class mini lessons that all readers can use & possible intervention and/or conferences) 

Using Real-Time Data

Real –time data comes from your classroom.  Each day, you teach your students a new mini lesson, and then you walk around to see who mastered the mini lesson using Criteria for Success OR you check their mastery using exit slips.  Real-Time Data could look like:

	Identifying a Theme in a short passage	Going  beyond a “bumper sticker” theme	Seeing how a theme changes	Tracking how a theme affects a character
Ashley	Ö	Ö	Ö	Ö
Juan			Ö
Toky	Ö	Ö		Ö
Melissa	Ö		Ö

What do you need to re-teach? ________________________________________________Who needs intervention? _____________________________________________________ Who would benefit from a spiraled aim conference? _______________________________ What other conferences could you do?

Other Ways to Share Data

• Using data from the most recent assessments, to schedule the next week’s worth of aims either in a one-on-one or in a group
• Videotaping a student’s running record whom you are concerned about ( including retell and questions that are answered) and bringing the video to the group
• Each reading teacher (in each grade) asks kids to do the same aim (i.e. ‘To ask questions as you read in order to access new knowledge or opinions about the book’) and then collect the high, medium and low from each class.  Post on board and reflect on what kids collectively are doing well, and what kids need to be pushed on.