Tips for Data Summaries & Data Discussions:
- Decide on educational questions
- Simpler is better (data summary)
- Start conversation with an interesting comparison
- Facilitate constructive conversation
Tips on Creating Data Displays
- Decide on questions that guide graph designs – identify independent and dependent variables in the questions
- Choose graph type that best displays the relationship between the independent and dependent variables
- bar charts – independent variable is a category
- scatter plots – when independent and dependent variables are both quantitative
- pie charts – when dependent variable measures percentage or fraction of a whole
- Select graph type that address the question clearly and effectively
- Reorganize graphs or tables to draw attention to critical comparisons
- despite measurement error, group comparison can still be useful to highlight interesting features in overall performance
- Label graphs to make independent and dependent variables clear
- Where possible – use district software to create appropriate data displays
Components of Good Displays
- explicit informative title that points toward critical element in the chart
- clear axis labels
- information pertinent to key questions are the most prominent features in the graphs
- keep graphs free of extraneous detail
- communicate what groups are being compared in graphs and data sources in graphs
Leading effective data discussions: important to give time for stakeholders to process and make own sense of data and ask own questions
- Give time for stakeholders to puzzle over the data
- Pair share what they noticed from studying the data
- Encourage stake holders to value questions over conclusions. Brainstorm provocative questions that go with the data.
- Identify most important questions
- Brainstorm data needed to answer the key questions
Knowing how to make clear and clean data displays is a necessary preparation step to having good data conversations that are based on actual data trends and comparisons. Letting data stimulate the development of important questions is a hopeful, learning exercise that invites stakeholders to approach data as learners rather than as evaluators.
Preparation Steps
- Decide on important educational questions
- Identify key independent and dependent variables in the questions
- Create data displays that effectively display relationships between independent and dependent variables
- Make sure graphs have titles and axis labels that clearly indicate the data sources and data variables in the graph
- Reorganize data to make interesting comparisons between different student populations
Early Implementation Steps
- Facilitate data discusion
- give stakeholders individual time to investigate and brainstorm questions from the data
- give stakeholders time to share questions with a partner and prioritize questions
- prioritize questions as a large group
- brainstorm ways to address key questions
Advanced Implementation Steps
- Use this process to develop and track student whole group goals that can be measured by data
- Survey students to check that this process is helping them to feel like more empowered stakeholders in their own educations
- Encourage students to gather more data (qualitative and quantitative) that addresses key questions
