GSU Blogger - Dr. Sauers
Monday, November 2, 2015
What's the purpose???
Twice a month, the Leadership Team at my school have leadership meetings. It comes up all the time that all content teachers are not on the same page with giving common assessments. There are certain contents that give common assessment every 4 to 6 weeks as expected, those contents that give them once a year, and those that don't give them at all. This is very frustrating to me, but I blame admin for not making everyone accountable. If there are no checks and balances, why would teachers do what is expected? I know that valuable information can be gained from these assessment, but why is it that some teachers don't care. I have to admit that I have been on a team that did not consistently give common assessments, and I always go feedback from my IST (Instructional Support Teacher) about not having common assessment in my data notebook. I could do my own common assessment, but that would defeat the purpose of knowing how my students perform against other students. How do we change this mindset of teachers that data like this drives instruction?
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Lataucha,
ReplyDeleteWe have had this problem with teachers not meeting to discuss and use MAP data. When we have teams present out highlights from their data, identifying trends and creating strategies and goals for the next administration, teams have been much more responsive. Some teams still take it more seriously but when they know they are held responsible for the data use, all teams cooperate. I can imagine if nobody will ask them about the data or expect for them to do something specific with it, they wouldn't. Hope any of that helps.
Thanks for posting, Lataucha. Our school is just beginning the journey to using data in meaningful, growth-oriented ways. We have 1 staff member who is very vocally "anti-data" because she has worked in a previous school where data overshadowed actual teaching/learning. We are having monthly meetings (as part of my Major Project) to collaboratively establish our own data usage processes, and I can see her gradually coming around. I think any time you can incorporate teacher voice and collaboration in decision-making, the better. Also, we have a motto at our school: WHY before HOW. Always start with the reasons behind a decision: establish a sense of need/urgency, and buy-in is more likely to follow.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely going to sound like a broken record here (as compared to the 2 previous posts), but I also think that teachers don't care, because they don't see the value it brings and how it will actually lighten their loads. Gathering data on the front end makes for easier work on the back end. Teachers just don't get that sometimes, so they don't participate. And, as with everything else in life, it matters how it's packaged. If it comes down as a mandate, teachers are almost certain to resist. Some will resist just for the mere point of resisting. But, like Jen said, buy-in is the key. When teachers see value in something, they buy in almost immediately, and will often do more than what's expected. At least I know that's how I work! And I'm willing to bet that if your team repackages the entire idea and then re-rolls it out, but with teacher input about the process and how it should flow in your particular school, you'll get buy-in!
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