Description: I conducted a data project for the Summer Mailbox Book (SMB) program for the Title 1 office. I used Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) data to show change in reading levels from spring to fall, broken down by grade, in two different formats. I shared the data at the Title 1 meeting on March 8, 2016, and participated in the discussion around making changes to the SMB program based on what the data showed.
Reflection: The activity mostly met my expectations. The Title 1 office was involved in an audit process for most of the time I was working on the data project. This meant that I needed to work independently, with very little feedback sometimes. I found myself frequently reflecting on the fact the although the project was very important to me, that clearly there were more important things going on in the Title 1 world. I know that I can back off when I know it’s necessary, or work without much direction. Infrequent check-ins were enough to keep me on track.
Connection: The first related leadership proficiency is 5.1: acting with “integrity and fairness to ensure that schools are accountable for every students academic and social success.” The SMB program promotes equity for students within Title 1 schools. It ensures that students who might not otherwise have the means are provided with reading materials throughout the summer. It is intended to act against the “summer slide,” which so often impacts lower income students. The others are 5.3: the school leader must” safeguard the values of democracy, equity, and diversity,” and 5.4, because of the decisions involved in dividing up resources and implications those decisions have on students.
My takeaway for myself as a leader came from listening to the Title 1 representatives from the various schools discuss the data, and how they could change the SMB program based on what the data was showing. I am a firm believer that data helps us make sense of the world, and I was really pleased to listen to the discussion in Title 1. As such, the work the Title 1 team did reflects using data to “identify school goals, assess organizational effectiveness, and create and implement plans to achieve school goals. (Standard 1.2)” Although this was for a program instead of a school, the decisions around changes could have similar impact within the various Title 1 schools. I believe it is important to use data to try to make changes; “good enough” can usually be made better. In terms of questions, I wonder about what the expectations are that various people/ departments have for really using data, and how one goes about promoting a data-literate climate. I think I could find some answers by looking at different entities within the school system with these questions in mind.
The two attachments are spreadsheets that show the SMB data in two different ways.