1. A Date With A….. g aph Thursday April 21, 2005 “In God we trust. All others must bring data.” (Robert Hayden)

2.  Open Excel by going to Start (bottom left corner), highlight Programs, highlight Microsoft Office, highlight Microsoft Excel  You now have a blank spreadsheet-Save your spreadsheet and give it a name you will recognize  Enter names of “variables” or attributes from your survey going across the top from right to left  Enter data from the survey using the codes  -Save data by pressing Ctrl and S or clicking diskette icon on toolbars  Rename Sheet 1 with your data by right clicking and typing in new name: Data To start…. Open Excel “ Beyond-Take my word for it!” Mike Schmoker 1999

3.  Once you have entered your data……  Look at the column “Gender”; you will see there are 8 participants (1 male, 7 female)  Below your Data, Type the word “Gender”  Under that, type the words “Male” and “Female”  Under “Male” enter 1  Under “Female” enter 7  This is the data you want to put in a graph Getting Data in order “ Beyond-Take my word for it!” Mike Schmoker 1999

4.  ***OR….highlight the “Gender” column  go to Data– Filter-- Auto-Filter  You will see an arrow in the “Gender” column  Click on the Arrow and select “1”  Look in the bottom right hand corner of your screen to see how many “1s” there are in that column (“7 of 8 records found” means 7/8 responses were “female”)  Do the same…select “2” for number of male  This method is great for finding frequencies of answers in large numbers of data Using “Filter” Function “ Beyond-Take my word for it!” Mike Schmoker 1999

5. Making the 1st the G aph Begin by selecting the data you want to graph-go to your data and highlight the cells with your data. Include the labels in your highlight. (E.g. highlight “Male, Female, and numbers below) Tip: hold down left side of mouse while you are highlighting. Release only when finished highlighting. Once highlighted, you now go to the toolbars and click on the icon for the graph. This is the Chart Wizard

6. Steps to Follow for Graph #1 Step 1: Chart Type-clustered column Once done, click on word next Step 2: Chart Source Data-shows the data range or cells with data. Select series in rows (this separates data) Once done, click on word next

7. Step 3 Chart Options Title: may see the title from spreadsheet but you can modify and put in your own title X-axis-horizontal across bottom of the graph Value y-axis is the vertical scale on the left side-type Legend: delete or click do not show it Data Labels-select show values (this puts the values on your graph) When people say they work at a good school. What do they mean? (C.D., Glickman, 1993 )

8. Step 4 Saving the Chart Select save as a New Sheet in Chart and type in name of graph (make sure it reflects your graph) Click finish and you will see your 1 st graph on a full page Your data is in Sheet1 that you renamed “Data” and you can go back and forth between the data and the graph in the Chart folder. Now will want to edit your graph to make it perrrrfect! Do you want random acts of improvement or focused acts of improvement?

9. Editing the Chart Point with your cursor to the part of the graph you want to edit….. Title: when the title is highlighted (boxed) you can go to Format-font and change to your own preference-type, size, and colour. Scale Y Value Axis: For percentages, the scale should show a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 100 with a major interval of 20, do not modify the minor interval- type in the new changes. Your scale could also be for Levels (1, 2, 3 and 4) or other types of scales.

10. Editing the Chart Background or Plot area-this usually shows gray but to make printing easier- select white plot pattern area Data Labels: double click on the labels so they all are highlighted at the same time-bold them and increase font size. X Axis-click on the axis and change the font size to 12 The ultimate success of the school improvement process is measured by advances in student knowledge, skills, behaviours and attitudes. (www.ncrel.org)

11. Make a Pie Chart (You can choose from Chart Type different options) 1.Highlight data 2.Hit Chart Wizard icon and select Chart Type-pie chart 3.Select Data Labels- select show values 4.Type in chart titles “Data are only as good as the questions you are asking.” (www.aasa.org/cas/usingdatatoimproveschools.pdf)

12. CONGRATULATIONS! You had a date with a graph and WOW did you ever perform! Give yourself Level 4 If you went all the way and made a graph in Excel today! “Data help determine whether perceptions match reality.” (www.aasa.org/cas/usingdatatoimproveschools)