DATA AND TRUST Teacher Ownership

Melissa Compson • Cahn Fellow 2019

Too much data! That was our challenge in September of 2019. As the school leader and member of the instructional team of Queens Explorers Magnet School, we saw an opportunity to build capacity around the use of school data to accelerate learning. In September of 2019, our problem of practice was that there was too much data for the current data analysis system that was in place. We needed a system for organization and analysis of data, as well as a routine system for cyclic professional learning that is grounded in student and teacher data. We upgraded and streamlined our data platform. We also worked to transform our data culture to develop teacher ownership of data and comfort with transparency of data. The goal for teachers was to develop ownership of data in order to plan purposefully for groups of students. My leader centered goal was to develop my own capacity to identify and spotlight targeted practices around the use of data and build a culture that builds upon its successes to support teachers.