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Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Compass PD Podcast with Dr. Carrie Hepburn
Episode 80: Beyond the Numbers: Making End-of-Year Data Meaningful
In Episode 80 of the Compass PD Podcast, Dr. Stephanie Brenner and Dr. Sherri Lorton take you inside the often overwhelming world of end-of-year data. But this isn’t just about spreadsheets and scores — it’s about telling the real story behind the numbers.
Together, they explore common pitfalls, share expert strategies for making sense of math and literacy data, and explain how to craft a meaningful data story that drives instructional growth. You’ll walk away with practical tips on how to reflect, celebrate progress, and plan smarter for next year. Whether you’re a teacher, coach, or leader, this episode will help you move from data chaos to clarity.
Hello and welcome to the Compass PD podcast, where we dive into evidence-based practices. I'm Dr Stephanie Brenner alongside my colleague, dr Sherry Wharton.
Speaker 2:Hello, alongside my colleague, dr Sherry Wharton. Hello, yes, today we are talking about end-of-year data, that magical time when spreadsheets multiply faster than rabbits and everyone suddenly remembers where they stored their login for the district data dashboard.
Speaker 1:Or they remember that a district data dashboard even exists.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:It's a time of reflection and renewal and sometimes just complete confusion. So today we're diving into what to look for, what to avoid and how to actually use end-of-year data and meaningful ways, especially for instruction and planning.
Speaker 2:So let's start with what not to do, Stephanie. What are some of the biggest missteps we see when schools look at end-of-year data?
Speaker 1:Top of the list. The very first thing that I come up with is overreacting to a single data point and then making big, sweeping changes based on that data point. Based on that data point. It's really important to remember that one test score doesn't define a student or a teacher, and if we're only looking at the what and we skip the why, then we often make wrong decisions.
Speaker 2:Right or treating data like a gotcha instead of a guide. The data is about the students and if we focus on the teachers, that can really kill trust and it turns reflection time into defense mode.
Speaker 1:I've seen that so many times before when meeting with teams. Also, another thing I think of is that we can't just look at who's on track and stop there. We need to think about which students are moving forward, which students have stalled out, which students have made extreme gains. Also, because we often think about the kids who are behind instead of our kids who are excelling. Data stories are about both growth and gaps. Some of the common pitfalls we really want to be looking for are looking only at proficiency without growth, ignoring subgroups or trends across classrooms, skipping teacher-student voice in data interpretation and turning data into a checklist instead of a conversation.
Speaker 2:So let's shift to math, a subject where data can be both super specific and wildly misleading.
Speaker 1:Exactly. You might see a drop in problem solving. But what kind of problems Was it? A multi-step word problem, a reasoning task? Was the student unsure of the operation or just stuck on vocabulary?
Speaker 2:Yeah, one great way to unpack this is by using item level analysis. So we can ask questions like what kind of thinking did this problem require? Which strategies did the students attempt? Did they apply concepts or did they just guess and go?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a big one, the guess and go. Especially, I think, at the end of the year when there's test exhaustion, where it's like teachers have days and days and days of testing and so if we put one more test in front of a student, that might be what has happened. They're just guessing to be done with their testing.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Another thing that we can't ignore is conceptual growth. So a third grader who moved from using repeated addition to a formal multiplication model might still miss a few questions, but that growth is in gold and we don't want to overlook that type of growth.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Our best data reminders when it comes to math are analyzing behind correct and incorrect look at their strategy and how they're using their strategies. But it's really important that we celebrate conceptual shifts and not just scores, and that we can use tools like student work, error analysis and math interviews to make sense of some of these questions.
Speaker 1:Those are really good tips. Now let's give literacy a spotlight, because we know that I love some literacy. End-of-year data in reading, writing language and speaking and listening. It is so much and it's not clean cut at all.
Speaker 2:Right. So first we need to remember to avoid the composite trap. Just because a student scores in the green doesn't mean they're strong in all areas. Maybe their decoding is great but their comprehension is a little shaky.
Speaker 1:Or maybe they write fluently but they're still struggling with conventions struggling with conventions Exactly, and I often see in our younger, our youngest elementary students in K and one. Those composite scores in ELA will give us fake comfortableness, like we feel we feel good by seeing that grade score, when there are some really big concerns. If we look at the domain specific data, so we can look for strengths and weaknesses, and some of those strengths and weaknesses might be, like Sherry mentioned, the reading comprehension versus fluency. It could be writing organization versus grammar, it could be vocabulary knowledge versus spoken language confidence. And then I also think of we could have students who are good at phonemic awareness but their phonics skills are struggling. Or vice versa, they're good at phonics but their phonemic skills have some concerns that are going to catch up with them later. But we don't pay attention to it now because we focus on the composite score.
Speaker 2:Yes, and another thing I think we can't underestimate is student voice. So sometimes our students have portfolios or reading reflections or reading logs. Students can sometimes show you things that numbers can't. Within those they talk about how they think, what they feel, what they're confident about when they get stuck. Those kinds of things have a lot of value, as well as that quantitative data that we look at.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's kind of like what you mentioned with the math data, when you were looking for growth in ways in that item analysis things, thinking about how did they apply their learning? What strategies are they using?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:We can find and look for those same things in literacy data. Some other things that we can look for in literacy data are how students apply strategies in real reading and writing tasks. That means in their everyday life. How are they reading and writing, not just on the test or assessment? What does their growth look like over time? So can when we compare early writing to now, how does it look? Or their early composite score data versus their data now. And then, finally, looking for trends across domains Can students read but not write? Can students speak well but not spell? And I think that anytime you're looking at data, finding trends is the most important thing that you can do to help analyze the data and get a clearer picture of what is actually happening with students within classrooms, within grade levels and within schools.
Speaker 2:Okay, so let's say a district wants to wrap up the year with a clear data story. Where do you think they should start?
Speaker 1:I like to think of three guiding questions. Like to think of three guiding questions and it goes back to really a school's vision or their guiding questions for the year. So at the beginning of the year, most schools start thinking about what did we set out to try to improve or simply to try? What did the data show us about our progress in that area or multiple areas? And what do we know now about how our systems within our school and the strategies that we're employing are working within our classrooms?
Speaker 2:Right, and when we're telling that data story, I think it's important to be thoughtful about the different audiences that look at and use that data. So your school board they're going to want the big picture, but your families want plain language and clarity and your teachers need to look at it to be able to see instructional implications.
Speaker 1:Yes, that is a really good point, sherry. And something else is visuals. Use visuals, because a well-labeled chart is so much better than a 20 slide deck presentation. But also use stories. Tell the story of your schools, because if you don't, somebody else will so. Use teacher quotes, student testimonials and examples of what learning looks like within your schools and classrooms. Some good pieces of data that can be used to help tell your story are things like goals in the context of those goals, desegregated results, such as subgroup data, data grouped by school or grade level, specific growth highlights and learning from setbacks so things you've tried that didn't go well and also talking about what the clear implications of the data are and what the next steps you have identified to be.
Speaker 2:So, as we wrap up, let's give our listeners something to take with them. Listeners, I'd like you to think about one insight you've gained from your end of year data that you wouldn't have seen if you hadn't dug beneath the surface.
Speaker 1:That's a challenge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would also encourage you to consider pulling three to five students' data from your class or from your school. Create a mini profile that includes both quantitative data and qualitative data, like a piece of work or an anecdote from a teacher. What does that small story tell you and how can this shape next year's planning?
Speaker 1:Another very thought-provoking question, sherry. So, as we wrap up today's podcast on managing the end-of-the-year data, please feel free to share your thoughts or experiences with us. We'd love to hear from you and if you found today's episode valuable, please consider sharing it with a colleague who might benefit from this message. Next week, dr Keri Hepburn will be exploring the administrator's perspective of how to plan for summer learning, so be sure to tune in. Thank you for joining us on the Compass PD podcast. No-transcript.