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Illinois School Board Journal
September/October 2006
Using data enriches improvement efforts
by Frances Karanovich and Jennifer Ross
Frances Karanovich is superintendent of Macomb CUSD 185 in Macomb, Illinois; Jennifer Ross is president of School Data 4 All and senior vice-president of governmental affairs for J.D. Ross and Associates in Springfield, Illinois.
What do school board members need to know about using data and best practices to enrich academic improvement efforts within their district? More importantly, why would they even want to know it?
Let's begin with the end in mind: Board members want to hire the best superintendent they can to serve as their instructional leader. They want to set policies for their district and establish goals with the superintendent to meet the expectations of the community they represent.
School boards have a responsibility to be informed and make informed decisions about recommendations presented by their superintendent concerning policies, budget, personnel, curriculum offerings and instructional strategies.
The number one responsibility of a school board is to hire a superintendent to provide the instructional leadership to guide their district in preparing each student for a successful future.
In order to make those informed decisions that will guide the district, school board members will want to know:
And then there is always the school board member who just wants to know more about the performance of the district before approving annual school improvement plans.
During recent presentations at the Illinois Association of School Administrators Annual Conference and at the first High School Challenge Conference, Where Rigor and Relevance Meet Reality, educators and board members across the state were introduced to three free Web sites where anyone, including board members, can go to learn about the performance of their students by school, district, city, county or legislative district.
In addition to meeting the needs just listed, the Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC), Just for the Kids, and School Data 4 All provide information that can help board members develop "talking points" when hiring a new superintendent or working with a seated superintendent.
An interactive tool
The Illinois Interactive Report Card, available at http://iirc.niu.edu/, is considered a premier site for test results and other school accountability information for Illinois schools. This Web site presents test results for all public schools and districts in Illinois for the years 1999-2005 in easy-to-understand graphs and tables.
The site, created by Northern Illinois University with support from the Illinois State Board of Education has a number of tools to help educators, students, and parents understand how to teach and learn to rigorous state standards, including:
In addition, the site lists performance descriptors, standard sets and scoring rubrics as well as classroom lesson plans, classroom assessments and student work.
This may be more than any board member wants to know about test results, teaching and learning expectations in Illinois. But, it is there … free … to explore.
Learning about potential
Just for the Kids (http://www.just4 kids.org/), sponsored by the National Center for Education Accountability, is another Web site with a plethora of information about school data, high performing schools and best practices. At this site, board members can find an enormous amount of information about individual school performance over time, in various subjects and in numerous grades.
When accessing this Web site, allow time to surf the many venues for locating data in a format that meets individual needs. The data shows each school's "opportunity gap" — the difference between that school's current level of performance and the average level of performance of the highest-performing schools with similar student populations. The charts are designed to show each school's potential for improvement.
Wouldn't all school board members want to know the "potential" for improvement for the students they serve when setting district academic goals, curriculum and instruction policies, and/or the superintendent's performance goals?
Additionally, this program identifies those schools that are significantly out-performing comparable schools. With leadership and support from Illinois State University and the Illinois Business RoundTable, the program also conducts in-depth best practices research. This information is offered in an understandable and usable format.
One can easily search for practices at the classroom, school, or district level and contact practitioners who have experience in implementing those practices. In other words, this Web site will show you what is and what "can be" using proven instructional strategies
"So what?" you might ask. Well, if comparable schools are performing significantly higher on achievement tests, perhaps the district needs to look at the researched best practices being used at the high-performing schools. In fact, a district can use the Best Practices Audit and survey how the central office, building administrators or individual teachers feel about whether best practices are evident within their school. This could give teachers, administrators and board members valuable insight for providing resources and a direction for improving student achievement.
Following student achievement
The Web site most beneficial for following individual student achievement over time on state and/or local assessments is the School Data 4 All Web site at http://www.schooldata4all.org/. The key components of the Web site consist of student performance data that can be tracked over several years.
For a nominal fee, individual student data can be loaded for both the state ISAT and PSAE tests and locally chosen tests such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. With confidential passwords, teachers and administrators can track a student's academic performance through the grades and get a picture of that student's academic performance trend. Scatter grams of the performance of students within a grade, by subject area, are available, allowing teachers to build class lists and flexible student groupings to meet academic needs.
In addition to the student performance section, the site provides access to the performance of students on the WorkKeys Test. This data is provided to assess and compare the levels of job skills needed in today's workplace and the existing job skills students have. An Online Roadmap guides building-based educators in the School Improvement Plan process.
This site also provides information to students, educators, employers, interested citizens and policymakers in local communities to assist them in making informed decisions on education.
Just imagine the school board being able to access information that empowers them to formulate appropriate questions, seek answers, and make informed decisions about policies and budget recommendations to help support what is needed for the academic success of their students.
An informed board makes working with a superintendent easier for everyone involved and can lead to an instructional program that is richer for all students. And, isn't a rich academic program for all students what education is all about?
Web site resources
Achieve at http://www.achieve.org/
Developing Educational Standards at http://edstandards.org/Standards.html
Education Commission of the States at http://www.ecs.org/
Education Trust at http://www2.edtrust.org/edtrust
Education Week at http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
Illinois Interactive Report Card at http://iirc.niu.edu/
Just for the Kids at http://www.just4kids.org/
National Assessment of Educational Progress at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/
No Child Left Behind at http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml?src=pb
Public Education Network at http://www.publiceducation.org/
School Data 4 All at http://www.schooldata4all.org/
United States Department of Education at http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml