Making the Data Work for Us

Like all of us at the moment, I’m in the middle of a process of assessing students and preparing reporting documents for them and their parents.

This has left me thinking for a while now about the massive amount of data we gather on students. Just some of the information we collect about their schooling includes:

• Work samples and their assessment for portfolios
• Term 1 standardised testing
• DIBELS testing results
• Basic Skills Test results (Years 3 and 5)
• Semester report grades
• Special education-related assessment
• Participation and performance in tests conducted by Educational Assessment Australia (UNSW Competitions)
• Behaviour records
• Referral to student services (counselling, special education, literacy support, etc.)

Our feeder high schools often report back to us with information regarding our former Year 6 students’ performance in the SNAP and ELLA tests. Next year we add to our list the Diocesan-wide assessment in literacy for Kindergarten and Year 1.

So what do we do with all this data? And how well do we use it? We all believe that assessment is integral to the teaching and learning cycle, and we all believe in using assessment data to inform future learning. But how effectively can we access and use the data when it’s spread across several different locations, and some of it is locked away in filing cabinets?

One challenge I’d like to pursue is harnessing the computer-based technologies at our disposal to collate and analyse this data more effectively through a single access point. Hopefully we can draw some support from the CEO for this idea, and make a lot of this data far more useful; rather than us looking at it once in the yearly cycle, then putting it away.

Photo credit: file cabinets