Using Data to Focus Instructional Improvement

A well written book that provides teachers and administrators with clear directions in using data to assess and modify instruction and school climate.

I revived this book on time, and it's brand new, using student prime is awesome, I highly recommend all students using Student prime.

I gave the book 4 stars, but it's more like 3.5. The authors follow a new principal starting in an elementary school, and explain, in detail, the leadership steps he takes and the process he uses throughout the year to enable his PLCs to focus on improving instructional practice. Throughout the book, there are sets of, what the authors refer to as, quality assurance questions. These questions serve as a means of reflection for PLCs engaged in a school improvement process, thus making this a handy book to use. The authors contend that the principles behind their Gradual Release of Responsibility Instructional Framework that teachers apply to their instruction with students can be applied to adults. The parts of this framework are the focus lesson, guided instruction, collaborative, and independent (I do it. We do it. You do it together. You do it alone.). They recognize that teachers, like students, need scaffolds and supports, but unlike in the classroom, the role of teacher and student in a faculty team can constantly shift. The authors devote two chapters to the types of hard and soft data available to administrators. They point out that hard data are quantifiable and go beyond last year's assessment data. Nonacademic data like demographics should not be overlooked. Soft data are qualitative and are ubiquitous in a school: observations, practices for placement and retention, surveys, polls. This section on data, I found very helpful. It helps the reader to think creatively about the data points in their own school that might be overlooked. The text is an excellent, easy-to-use guide for a principal and school leadership team to make PLCs more responsive to instructional improvement. The steps in the process make sense through the simplicity of the Gradual Release of Responsibility Framework. I didn't find any secrets to success in this book, but I did find a common sense, fair approach that any school with the will can make happen, and it's not a punitive process that uses student achievement to evaluate a teacher. I recommend this book for a school with limited resources for training in developing instructional improvement plans. Between the quality assurance questions at the end of each chapter, or step in the process, and the many references listed, that offer further support and guidance, this book is a valuable tool.

It was the text I needed for class.

I used this for school.

A wonderful way to get educators to truly understand why data is crucial to school improvement. This will help me to explain succinctly the need for establish strong data systems.

Another very useful book for educators.

I needed this book for school, as I am an Elementary Education Major. This book was very informational and up to date with the academic vocabulary used in Education! It gave the clearest definitions and examples, all in one, where as if you search the internet, you have to search for things a few times before you fully grasp a concept. I'll definitely be keeping this book to reference for conferences and such during my teaching, if ever needed (although I feel like I did memorize everything).