BPE News

Schools Rally the Whole Community with Data
 

We're pleased to share the latest issue of our FOCUS newsletter, which highlights four schools that are using data to rally students, families, and faculty to meet student-learning goals.

It takes more than teachers and school leaders
 

BPE's effort to help schools make data public grew out of our data-driven inquiry effort. Teams of teachers and administrators, working to close gaps in student performance, recognized the need to engage the whole school community to achieve strong results. BPE helped them create the tools to do that. With lively public displays of data and individualized reports for students and families, school teams have quickly generated momentum in addressing their goals. The best of that work is highlighted in this issue of FOCUS.

• Download FOCUS: Making Data Public. 

• Download additional artifacts and tips for sharing data from Boston schools.  

• Visit our website for more resources for making data public.

Adopting, adapting, and refining strategies across schools
 

Promising efforts to share data have begun to spread, as our partner schools have learned from and improved upon each other's practices. On February 10, teacher leaders and administrators from ten schools gathered to share their work. Some of the schools have been working with BPE's data team and inquiry facilitators, and others have been doing similar work on their own. All had ideas to share. For example:

• At Madison Park High School, Brook Farm Academy, and New Mission High School, staff have posted grade point average (GPA) data in hallways. The charts and GPA rankings (listed anonymously by student ID) have attracted swarms of students eager to know where they stand. "It's incredible how quickly students got it! They are gathering around those charts and asking each other and their teachers what they need to do to improve. There's an excitement and talk about academic success that is always encouraging to see." (Kathleen Dawson, Director/Principal of High Tech Academy at Madison Park)

• At the Condon Elementary School and Gardner Pilot Academy, teachers and administrators are sharing student data with Google Documents. The free, web-based tool allows them to track each student's performance on a variety of measures and share analyses with each other. "Teachers are both enthusiastic about individual growth but also challenged by students who are not growing. This forces us to look at every single student individually to ensure they are making progress. . . . I love that  teachers now come to my office with their own data charts. This is just how we do business now." (Erica Herman, Principal, Gardner Pilot Academy)

• At TechBoston Academy, the focus is on individualizing student supports before students get too far off track. The staff use a variety of data, including the BPS Leading/Lagging Indicators report, to look at the past performance of incoming students and plan ahead so students who've struggled before will be more successful. They invested in AP Web, a web-based student information system that helps teachers and

Join us. The next BPE school network session will be on April 12, 3:30-5:30, at Orchard Gardens K-8 School. Topic: Making Data Public. Please contact Sheri Kivekas if representatives from your school would like to attend.

How can your school get better at sharing data?
 

Katya Bezborodko, BPE Senior Data Analyst, shares a few tips for making data public:

Keep it positive: By tying data to goals, you can inspire action. Show students, families and others what they can do and how their efforts make a difference.

Make the data digestable: A bulletin board or report should convey a clear message (e.g, "When students attend school regularly, they receive more hours of instruction and become better readers.) Keep the charts simple with just one or two data points.

Make it engaging: Colorful displays and lively language go a long way. Consider, too, how you can make the data interactive by allowing students and others to update progress themselves or add notes about what they observe.

Keep it dynamic: Data should be updated regularly, so all involved can see that their daily and weekly efforts matter. Teachers, students, and parents alike get hooked on progress when they see data changing over time.

Celebrate success: Public displays are great places for showing off progress and inspiring healthy competition. Some schools give awards and trophies for perfect attendance, honor roll, or improvement in performance.

Work with what you have: Data sharing doesn't have to be high-tech. Schools can effectively engage the community with hand-drawn charts -- or, even, charts drawn by students themselves.

Download our Making Data Public rubric to assess your school's work and bring it to the next level. 

Using data to get the most from turnaround partnerships
 

The Blackstone Elementary School was recently featured on Boston Neighborhood Network News. The story highlights how Blackstone staff, working with BPE and City Year, have used data to help each student individually. City Year corps member and South End native Antonio Gutierrez shared more details with the South End News.  

A big part of the Blackstone effort is public sharing of data via an attendance wall in the main office and a reading progress wall in the staff room. Blackstone students' mid-year progress is impressive:

• In September, only 4% of third graders met the district benchmark in reading. Now, 48% met the (much harder) mid-year benchmark level, and 30% already met the end-of-year target.

• 80% of first graders entered below the start-of-year target on one measure of reading fluency, and 60% were far below. They re-assessed in January with only 20% far below and 43% now meeting the mid-year target -- more than double the number that were on-target in September.

• Third graders gained an average of 2.94 reading levels from September to January. Second graders averaged 3.3. On-pace gains would be 1 and 2 levels; these students are closing the gap.

   

Teacher Leadership Connections
 

The Boston Teacher Leadership Resource Center has just launched a new resource: a clearinghouse of professional development and funding opportunities that help teachers hone their leadership skills. Visit the new Teacher Leadership Connections webpage .

This work is a partnership of the Boston Plan for Excellence, Boston Public Schools, and Boston Teacher Residency.

School Committee In Brief
 

What's happening with the new budget and weighted student funding proposal? On the School Committee in Brief page you'll find summaries of recent Boston School Committee meetings, part of BPE's effort to keep the Boston community informed about recent developments in district policy and engaged in efforts that improve student outcomes.

Visit our website for a summary of the latest meeting.  

Graduation Rates Are Up!...and Other News.
 

Sign up for BPS This Week to learn about important developments in the district and where BPS is headed with student assignment, teacher evaluation, and other weighty topics.  

A recent issue announces the release of the new BPS graduation progress tracker, which will help high school students to know where they stand on the path to graduation.

How Do Boston Students Perform in Science?
 

Results of the 2009 Science Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) for grades 4 and 8 were released at UMass Boston last week. Results were mixed, with better news for 4th grade than 8th. Get the report.