Overview: What Is a Comprehensive Data System?

Comprehensive data systems include measures, data and indicators on students, student achievement, organizational quality, personnel, resources and social services. A data system is comprehensive when it collects and shares information at the each level of the system (school, district and state), for appropriate purposes, using appropriate measures.

Data are primarily used in two ways: to make accountability or “summative” decisions, or to make continuous improvement or “formative” decisions related to system improvement and student achievement. Both types of data are necessary to simultaneously hold the system accountable while leaders strive for improvements. State longitudinal data systems are important to organize data and combine it with other data to answer complex policy and improvement questions – which can be done at all levels of the system.

School leaders use data to assess student progress, monitor school improvement, assess the effectiveness of programs and instructional strategies and target resources, including teachers’ professional learning.The NCLB requirement of schools meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP) helps focus the attention of school leaders to ensure all students meet high academic standards and to ensure all teachers are highly qualified. Data are also used to assess leader and teacher effectiveness in supporting student achievement.School leaders may also take advantage of periodic benchmark assessments to monitor student progress and ensure the school curriculum is aligned to standards. Schools may also use diagnostic or placement tests, teacher-made tests, walk-throughs or analyzing student work to assess student learning – and adjust instruction to ensure all students meet high standards.

1. Essential Elements

Comprehensive data systems at the school level include:

• Student assessment results on state academic standards reported by subgroups
• Accountability reports of schools meeting AYP
• School report cards (NCLB requirement)
• Student promotion, graduation and drop-out rates
• Measures to assess progress on district goals
• School accreditation results
• Results on district administered interim or benchmark assessments
• Results of teacher made tests
• Results of student classroom performances
• Assessments of leader effectiveness

• Results of high school exit examinations and or/end-of-course examinations (for high schools)

• Implementation and progress on a school balanced scorecard (i.e., Delaware)

• Results on college readiness measures such as the ACT (sometimes embedded in state assessments)

• Results on college admission/placement tests

• Results on predictive college readiness measures such as PSAT and EPAS

• Results on school improvement indicators\Other district administered assessments such as practice tests for state graduation exams or student diagnostic and placement assessments

• Student portfolios

• Other school-based assessments

• Parent engagement

• Community satisfaction surveys

• Family social service information
  

• Adding flexible groupings to help students missing important concepts catch up.
• Using the school’s three early intervention teachers to pull out students for additional instruction as soon as they fall behind.
• Focusing teachers’ professional development in instructional areas where students are not mastering the standards.
• Revising (or adopting) curricula and instrucitonal strategies to improve instruction in areas where test data suggest students are having difficulty (such as vocabulary, spelling and reading comprehension).
• Using paraprofessionals in the early grades for small group learning.
• Increasing the time the principal spent as an instructional leader by delegating more managerial tasks to teachers and the assistant principal.
• Providing teachers more planning time to work together in vertical teams and grade level teams to align the curriculum based on student achievement data
• Requiring weekly reports from teams related to their proposed improvement strategies from their common planning time.
• Looking at student work to identify common expectations of quality work.

• Does your school receive the results of the state assessment in time to adjust instruction for students?

• Are results of the state assessment used to revise/align curriculum?  Inform teachers’ professional learning?  Allocate resources?

• Does your state provide a guide that helps school leaders and teachers understand disaggregated data and AYP?

• Does your school administer interim or benchmark assessments aligned to district and state standards?  How is this information used to group students and adjust instruction?

• Does your school use a research-based school improvement planning process that uses data for continuous improvement?

• Does the school use performance assessments such as portfolios or performance exhibitions?

• Are diagnostic or placement tests adopted and used by schools? Are predictive measures being administered to identify how well students are progressing to be college or work ready?

• Do teachers have web-based access to student records?

• Are data being used to identify and share best practices that raise student achievement?

• Are teacher and leader evaluations used to support their professional learning and to hold them accountable for results?