Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Prepared by Douglas R. Hazlett, Ph.D. Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement The Importance of Data Instead of adopting one innovation after another in education, data can help us: Replace hunches and hypotheses with facts concerning what changes are needed Identify the root causes of problems, so we can solve the problem and not the symptom Assess needs to target our services on important issues Determine if we are “walking our talk” Understand the impact of efforts, processes, and progress Answer the question for our community: “What are we getting for our investment in our children?” Continuously improve all aspects of the learning organization

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement ACTIVITY Take a few moments, and create a list of the various types of data that you collect in your school district.

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement TYPES OF DATA THAT ASSIST SCHOOLS IN PLANNING FOR AND SUSTAINING SYSTEMIC REFORM INCLUDE: Demographics Attendance/enrollment Drop-out/graduation rates Assessments of current teaching practices Teachers’, students’, graduates’, administrators’, and parents’ perceptions of the learning environment In-house testing Student achievement Business and community needs Problem analyses Cost-benefit analyses Ongoing assessments of progress

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement DATA BARRIERS Schools do not ignore data deliberately. We often are just not aware of the wealth of information that could make our jobs easier (through knowing what works and what doesn’t) and more satisfying (by learning how to get the results we want).

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement THOUGHTS TO PONDER If you don’t know where you are going, anything you do will get you there. Anonymous The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust People without information cannot act. People with information cannot help but act. Ken Blanchard

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement MULTIPLE MEASURES With student achievement, more than one method of assessment allows students to demonstrate their full range of abilities. Collecting data on multiple occasions allows students several opportunities to demonstrate their abilities. So it is with schools. If staff want to know if the school is achieving its purpose and how to continually improve all aspects of the school, multiple measures – gathered from varying points of view – must be used.

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement FIGURE 1 – MULTIPLE MEASURES FOUR MAJOR CATEGORIES I.Demographics II.Perceptions III.Student Learning IV.School Processes

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement The four major categories of measures are shown as overlapping circles. This figure illustrates the type of information that one can gain from individual measures and the enhanced levels of analyses that can be gained from the intersections of the measures. One measure, by itself, gives useful information. Comprehensive measures used together and over time provide much richer information. Ultimately, schools need to be able to predict what they must to do meet the needs of all the students they have, or will have, in the future. The intersection of these four measures gives us that information.

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement DATA ANALYSES Each of the four measures – demographics, perceptions, student learning, and school processes – can be looked at in terms of a snapshot in time or analyzed over a period of time. The four measures of data can also be looked at as they interact with each other. See Table 5 – Interaction Analyses

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement THOUGHTS TO PONDER Interaction analysis helps us to understand what is going on in all parts of a program, and to assess the impact of our actions on the people we are trying to serve. Victoria L. Bernhardt Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. John F. Kennedy Evaluating a program is like shooting at a moving target – it’s hard as hell to hit and requires precise anticipation. The rare bull’s eye brings uncommon satisfaction. Improving your aim means lots of practice and careful study of the non-random movements of the target. Michael Quinn Patten

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER A PROBLEM SOLVING CYCLE Identify the problem Describe Hunches and Hypotheses Identify Questions and Data Analyze Multiple Measures Analyze Political Realities Develop Action Plan Resolution Implement Action Plan Evaluate Implementation Improve the Process

Victoria Bernhardt Research Overview Bernhardt, Victoria L. (1998). Data Analysis for Comprehensive Schoolwide Improvement THOUGHTS TO PONDER Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. Benjamin Franklin It’s easy to make judgments – that’s evaluation. It’s easy to ask questions about impact – that’s evaluation. It’s easy to disseminate reports – that’s evaluation. What’s hard is to put all those pieces together in a meaningful whole which tells people something they want to know and can use about a matter of importance. That’s evaluation. Halcolm