From Data to Action: Structures for Exploring Assessment Results Together

How can instructional coaches help teachers make sense of the mountains of assessment data that have been collected?
 
As the school year gets underway, teaching teams are tasked with using assessment data to guide whole group and small group instruction and identify intervention needs. Don’t try to digest all the numbers at once! Discussion protocols – structured processes to focus communication – can encourage effective collaboration during data discussions. Below I’ll describe several protocols that, when used together, support structured discussions about data.
 
One of the protocols I’ve used is the National School Reform’s protocol for examining the data. Working in small groups, teachers are given a set of data to consider. Multiple rounds are introduced by the facilitator, asking teachers questions that encourage them to look at the data differently, first by responding silently in writing and then through discussion in their small group. During round 1, teachers record and discuss what the data tells them at first blush. What jumps out and seems significant? What surprises them? What patterns are noted? During round 2, teachers make inferences about the data. What is it telling us? What is it not telling us? They look beyond obvious relationships. Round 3 is a time to look for celebrations. What good news is there in the data?
 
These celebrations are a good place to pause the protocol. Take a break (or come back another day for a fresh start). Pausing on a happy high can fuel the important next steps.
 
Come back for Round 4, which looks at the flip side of celebrations. What problems of practice might be underlying this data? This round of cause-and-effect thinking can be overwhelming. You might devote a whole meeting to just this step and unpack it a bit if the data warrants a deeper dive to identify possible sources of the problem, It’s only when we really get to the cause that effective solutions start to surface. A combination of a fishbone analysis and the 5 Whys protocol can get your team’s thinking going in the right direction.


The Fishbone is a structured team process for identifying underlying factors or causes of an event. The product of the team’s work is a cause/effect diagram that might look something like this:
 

 
Or this, if you’ve got a group of creative teachers!
 

(These Fishbone diagrams unpack a problem not related to student achievement, but you get the idea!)
 
Fishbones help us consider lots of alternate causes and sort ideas into useful categories.
 
Here are the steps in the process.  Working in small groups, ask:
 
1.    What is the problem/effect? Be clear & specific. Be careful not to define the problem in terms of a solution!  Write this at the head of the fish.
2.    What might be the major categories of causes of the problem? (for example, materials, policy factors, people/staff factors, etc.). Write these on the large skeletal bones.
3.    Brainstorm possible causes for each category. These are the smaller bones.
4.    For each cause, ask, “Why does this happen?” Write these sub-causes as branches on your diagram.
 
Asking “Why?” multiple times along the way can ensure deep causal thinking rather than more obvious solutions that get too-easily tagged. In the fishbone analysis, it means adding sub-causes to the “bone structure” through fine-grained analysis.
 
Here’s how the 5 Why’s Protocol works: Someone states what they think is a cause. For example, if I ask someone why they were late for work, they might answer, “I was late for work because I ran out of gas.” Asking, “Why did you run out of gas?” reveals yet another layer to the problem: “I ran out of gas because I didn’t buy any on my way to work.” “Why didn’t you buy any on your way to work?” you might ask. “Because I didn’t have any money!” “Why didn’t you have any money?” “Because I bought these gorgeous shoes last night!” might be the response. “Why?” “Because when I see a gorgeous pair of shoes, I just have to have them even though I already have a closet full of shoes!”
 
Aha! Now we have revealed that the root cause of being late to work is a shoe fetish! Without the 5 Whys protocol, we would never have known! Of course, 5 is not a magic number. The point is, go deep enough to get at real answers to the question. The final “Why” should lead to a root-cause statement that helps the team take action.
 
The fishbone analysis, accompanied by the 5 Why’s, encourages a deeper consideration of the data and a focus on underlying problems. When we see dips in the data of student achievement, it’s most effective to solve directly-stated problems rather than proposing solutions to surface-level issues.
 
Finally, it’s time for the 5^th and final round of the protocol for examining the data. During this round, the group describes their key conclusions and recommendations. Taking this layer-by-layer approach stops us from jumping to unwarranted conclusions about assessment data.
 
If tackling assessment data feels like an overwhelming task, a structured analysis approach can make all the difference. By using discussion protocols, teaching teams can focus on what matters most, listen to each other’s insights, and move from simply reviewing numbers to making informed decisions that benefit students. Thoughtful collaboration turns mountains of data into clear, actionable steps for instruction and intervention.
 
(More ideas for peeling back the layers of assessment data coming next week!)
 
This week, you might want to take a look at:

How and why to support and hold onto experienced teachers:
https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-heres-how-we-hold-on-to-experienced-teachers-give-them-the-support-they-need/
 
Decorations vs. anchor charts:
 
https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/clearing-the-way-for-new-growth/
 
 
Starting the year with picture books to build math identities:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/fostering-math-identities-with-picture-books/ 
 
 
Ideas for helping students who are in the fight or flight mode:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/blog/fight-flight-freeze
 
 
Mentors need new teachers (not just vise versa):
 
https://ncte.org/blog/2020/01/mentors-need-new-teachers/
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
Want more coaching tips? Check out my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner, available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: FDNS25 for 20% off. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!