Data Cafes & BAG Reports: How to Turn Data into a Conversation with Maricha Matthews

In this episode, I talk with Maricha Matthews, Assistant Principal of Attendance and Discipline at Alan B. Shepherd High School, about her journey as an educator and her passion for using data to build supportive school cultures. With a background spanning special education and MTSS leadership, Maricha explains how she demystifies data for teachers and overcomes the common "data anxiety" in schools. We dive deep into her innovative strategies like "BAG reports" (Behavior, Attendance, and Grades) and "Data Cafes," a unique approach to gathering qualitative data and building trust with at-risk students. Maricha breaks down the logistics of these initiatives and shares how they lead to more collaborative, effective, and people-driven student support systems. This episode is packed with practical examples of how to use both quantitative and qualitative data to foster real relationships and make a tangible impact on student behavior, attendance, and well-being.

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Connect with Maricha Matthews
Email: mariteaches4@gmail.com
X: @MrsMMatthews
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marichamatthews
Instagram: @Mdmconsultinggrp

Connect with Jessica 
Email: jess@data-informedimpact.com 
X: @informedimpact
Instagram: @informedimpact 
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/informedimpact 

Transcript

Jessica 0:49

Welcome educators. Today we're talking with Maia Matthews, the assistant Principal of Attendance and Discipline at Alan B. Shepherd High School, with a background spanning special education Dean of Students and MTSS. Leadership. Martia deeply understands the challenges students face and how data can help. She's a master at using attendance and behavior data to create personalized interventions and build a more supportive school culture. She's also incredibly patient because we've been through a couple tech challenges already just getting started, but we made it here. So so much, Marcia.

Maricha Matthews 1:23

Thank you. Thank you, Jessica, for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Jessica 1:26

Yeah, absolutely. So I gave a very brief overview of your experience, but I'd love for you to just dive in and tell me a little bit more about you, your background in education,

Maricha Matthews 1:37

Yeah. So, uh, I am, um, a wife to an educator. So my husband's actually in education and the third largest public school system, CPS, Chicago Public Schools. Uh, and I have two daughters, uh, a seventh, uh, I'm sorry, a seventh grader and a third grader. So all the things, right? I work with teenagers, got a teenager, third grader. Let me just also say, bless you, elementary school educator. Bless you. Um, but also my background is, you know, very different. Uh, and so I originally did not set out to be an educator. Um, when I left high school to go to college, I majored in radio, tv, film. I wanted to be a radio dj. I wanted to be like Oprah and you know, have my own TV show.

Jessica 2:25

That's so cool.

Maricha Matthews 2:26

Yeah, I think I ran from education because my mother is a lifelong educator. Um, and I just did not want to follow in her footsteps. I wanted to chart my own path. So many years of doing many different things. I worked in the music industry. I sold shoes, you know, advertising all of the different things. Uh, and then finally I became a secretary at a high school because I wanted some normalcy. I wanted a regular paycheck. Uh, and so I went to a high school to be a secretary. Um, and then while at that high school, a student told me, you should really be my teacher. You really make this, um, you make this easy for me and you make it, you make me able to understand the work. And so I said, okay, maybe. Uh, and so thought about it, sat with it, um, and then ended up going to school for special education, which is actually the exact thing my mother did. So those years of running from, I tried, right? I tried. Uh, and so I then, um, became a special education teacher. Dove right into that face first. Head first. Um, worked in low incidents. So in Chicago, low incidents means the cluster programs, right? So students who were severe and profound nonverbal autism cluster programs. I worked with all of the students there and then went to do cross cat, right? So then became a co-teacher in science. Uh, as a special education teacher, and then from there, case manager, MCSS, lead, um, department chair, all of those things. Then had an opportunity to leave Chicago public schools and go back home to the school I graduated from, from high school, became a teacher there. Um, worked in the behavior support system program, meaning that I worked with students who were at risk and underwear out of the door, headed towards an alternative school. But I was their last chance before that step. Uh, so worked there for a couple years and absolutely loved it. If I did not become an administrator, I would. Still be sitting in that classroom. That was the best time for me. Uh, became a dean of students and now an assistant principal working with students on discipline and attendance.

Jessica 4:36

Neat. Um, so I don't know if you know this, but all of my teaching experience, um, was in Chicago. So, uh, yeah. So I actually, I grew up in Cincinnati, um, went to Chicago after graduating from college. College with my ex-husband. We went there and we were there for several years. That's where I taught. And then we had a baby and, and decided to come back home. Um, but yeah. Where in Chicago were you?

Maricha Matthews 5:02

Southwest. So if you are familiar with like Ford City Mall, um, yeah. Over there it's, uh, in that area.

Jessica 5:10

Oh, interesting. I was in, um, west Garfield Park, so

Maricha Matthews 5:13

Okay?

Jessica 5:14

so I was

Maricha Matthews 5:15

That's where my husband's school is now. Mm-hmm.

Jessica 5:16

Yeah. What school?

Maricha Matthews 5:18

He's at Melody Stem.

Jessica 5:20

Um, I don't think I know that school. Yeah. So I worked at a, a very tiny charter school legal prep. Um,

Maricha Matthews 5:26

Oh, okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I'm familiar. Mm-hmm.

Jessica 5:28

I, uh, I started there the second year that they were open, which was an interesting experience.

Maricha Matthews 5:34

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 5:35

yeah. And shaped me as an educator in lots of different ways. So I, I appreciate that experience and shaped me as a person, honestly, in several different

Maricha Matthews 5:46

Absolutely.

Jessica 5:46

So, um, okay. So that's, that's. Go a little bit deeper down into data. So when did you realize that, um, that you valued data? When did you start to

Maricha Matthews 5:57

Okay,

Jessica 5:58

Was it when you're in the classroom, when you're more in the administrative role? What do you think?

Maricha Matthews 6:03

so I think data, first off, I think. A lot of educators in particular think data's a dirty word, right? Ooh. Data, data, data, right? Oh, they, yes. But data is really and truly an invaluable tool. Data is, has been my friend, um, since becoming a special education teacher. So we think about writing IEPs, right? You can't. Always write IEPs based on filling. You need IEPs based on fact and data, right? We, we set IEP goals based on numerical data, qualitative data, however, but all of it's data. And so I really, really started looking at data from, with an educator lens when I was writing IEPs. And so that was my first really, uh, if you will, baptism into data now. Way back when, um, one of my first master's degrees is integrated marketing. So I learned about data from the qualitative side, right? Um, the research side, the empirical research side, so, you know, studying people and their behaviors and asking them questions, right? That type of data. Really in education, especially as a special educator, data is your friend. You cannot write a good IEP. You cannot service and work with your students without using some level of data to drive the work that you're doing. Uh, and so that was my first introduction really into data, was writing IEPs with special education students. And as I grew in education, so did my knowledge and love and passion for data. Uh, for instance, as an MTSS lead, knowing, you know, where we are with tiers, right? Using some of, um, some data points, whether it's classroom assessments. Whether it's attendance, right? Using those data points to help drive interventions for students. And so that, as MTSS coordinator then now bleeds into what I do as the associate, I'm sorry, the assistant principal of attendance and discipline is that using data in day to day, whether it's attendance, whether it's individual attendance, whether it's classroom attendance or school-wide attendance, uh, data, whether it is, uh, the qualitative data. From students, right? You know, I'm, I'm a big, my mom is like, you always ask why

Jessica 8:20

Yes.

Maricha Matthews 8:21

I've always asked why. And so sometimes me asking why is, is me capturing that critical data from a student perspective, right? Uh, and so that's kind of where I am with data. I, I, I use it every day, all day, and I love it now. I hated it. Now. I love it.

Jessica 8:38

Yeah. Um, it, it definitely has a way of, um, of highlighting, uh, some, some biases or some things that maybe you weren't, uh, aware of to begin with, which is nice. Um. But getting used to using data, is it, there's a learning curve there. And at first it

Maricha Matthews 8:56

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 8:57

like it's a lot. Um, but once you get the habits down and once you start using it in a really effective way, it becomes, um, something that helps you rather than hurts you. And I feel like special education teachers are some of the first to say, yep, we

Maricha Matthews 9:16

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 9:16

it.

Maricha Matthews 9:17

Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And I think so often, um, we as educators look at data as that statistical, right? Like if you're taking a sta a statistics class. We're like, oh, I don't wanna have to deal with that data. Um, one of the things as a department chair and now as an assistant principal and just throughout, I always. Teach educators that I'm working with how to read and use the data, because here's the other piece, too often we have leadership who throws the data at us in a spreadsheet,

Jessica 9:50

Oh

Maricha Matthews 9:50

in a pivot table, and here you go. Now you have to dissect this. Right? And no real training on how to read it, how it's useful. And how to use it. Uh, and so that's one of the things I hope to demystify when I'm working with educators, whether it's through evaluation or through a workshop, is to show you how you can use the data so that it better drives and informs your practice. We gotta get back to that. We gotta get that. Otherwise, it's always gonna be. It's almost like how some students are afraid to take tests. Um, they have that test anxiety. We're giving educators data anxiety because we're not showing them how to use it.

Jessica 10:32

Yes, absolutely. I 100% agree. And it's overwhelming. I mean, it's, it's not scary for me because I look at spreadsheets all the time, but think about the person who, know, doesn't even typically look at numbers. You know, if you're teaching ELA or

Maricha Matthews 10:48

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 10:48

something, you're not used to seeing a ton of numbers. And then we throw in the fact that a lot of, um. and adults have like math, trauma, they've been told they're not

Maricha Matthews 10:58

Yes.

Jessica 10:59

all their lives. Like, yeah, yeah.

Maricha Matthews 11:03

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 11:03

a real thing. And um, and then to be just handed a sheet of numbers and told, like, figure it out, like terrifying. And

Maricha Matthews 11:13

It is. It is absolutely awful.

Jessica 11:14

yeah. And then to add on the extra layer too of like figure it out. And you're most likely gonna find the things that you. Well failed at which we know that's not the point of data, but that's what it feels like sometimes. So it's like,

Maricha Matthews 11:28

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 11:29

not only do I not wanna do this because it's obnoxious, but also because I'm feeling defensive about my career and I've

Maricha Matthews 11:38

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 11:39

and these, these numbers might not, um, show what I've tried accurately.

Maricha Matthews 11:45

try.

Jessica 11:46

there's a

Maricha Matthews 11:46

Absolutely. And I've had, and I, and I, and I laugh because I've had a, uh, presenter at a workshop. Basically the icebreaker was data, giving us a sheet of paper with all of these numbers and like, okay, as a group, figure it out. We're like, wait, what? Like what are we even looking at? You know, again, like you said, those that have some, some math anxieties, you know, not making it clear. And I think that. Even at a, I, I think the presenter did that to be funny. But again, there's some trauma behind some of this, right? Particularly when we, when we tie evaluations, when we tie jobs and pensions to some level of data, whether it's how many Fs or how many failing grades you have, how many students you know are missing the mark on formative assessments. All of that, all of that leads to trauma.

Jessica 12:42

Yep.

Maricha Matthews 12:42

Uh, and so you have to be, I think, sensitive around data. And again, I'm a why person and tell lead with the why. That's all. Just lead with the why. Why are we doing this? Why you need to see this information. And I feel like that will definitely help a lot of educators in their practice.

Jessica 13:00

Yeah, I 100% agree. And it helps bring in that, um, that teacher

Maricha Matthews 13:04

I,

Jessica 13:05

and the context, and those are things that you're not going to always see in the data in those. Those are just as important. You've gotta find the balance there of how to pull in the data to confirm or, or lead you to ask more questions about, um, your intuitions and your insights as a teacher. Um. I also, I also love, um, and I've mentioned this lots of times on the podcast and, and my content is, um, one of the most valuable things that I did with a group of teachers who were feeling defensive about the data that I, I was presenting because I was a fresh data coach and I did not know what I was doing. Um, but I pulled them all together and, and I went up to the board and I said, okay, what do we not see in this data? Was this data not showing us? I just sat up there, wrote, I just let them talk and I just wrote

Maricha Matthews 13:56

Yeah.

Jessica 13:56

down and I said, we need to acknowledge this. Before we even look at this data, we need to acknowledge the context that's missing. we

Maricha Matthews 14:03

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 14:04

then we can look at the data and figure out how we can pull value from that data. And if there's anything there that can help us in what we're doing, But 100%. There's, there's that defensiveness, there's that anxiety. So we have to acknowledge that before we are able to move on.

Maricha Matthews 14:22

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jessica 14:23

Yeah. So tell us a little bit, you mentioned it, um, in the form that I send out that you have these bag reports and I've been in a school that's also done bag reports. So I want you to talk a little bit about those and then also about the cafes that you've created.'cause I love that idea.

Maricha Matthews 14:40

Yes, yes. Okay. So bag reports, behavior, attendance, and grades. Um, I first learned of this working in CPS, working with the Network for College success through the University of Chicago. Uh, and so they coached us through creating these bag reports, so quarterly, but you could do'em as often as you want, but again, you're gonna need a da, a data guru to do, you know it more often. So we have.

Jessica 15:04

Yes.

Maricha Matthews 15:04

Okay. Yeah. Well, yep. So we have, uh, you know, quarterly reports. So you get these report cards, if you will, progress reports they're called in Illinois. You get these report cards and it gives you your grades. It'll give you your days out, right. But also it doesn't really talk to the behavior piece. It talks to the attendance and grace. And so on these bag reports, we are also able to give teachers and students and parents, uh, information on behavior. How many referrals do you possibly have? How many outof school suspensions in school suspensions? Uh, how many detentions you've earned? And so that then gives you a clear picture, right? It it, to me, it makes a correlation sometimes between, oh, I'm getting a D because I've missed. Six days of school and I've been tardy a class 11 times. So then I'm able to create a broader picture for student, for everybody, right? On why the student and where the student is based on this bad report. So. And so we use those again to drive some of the work. As a, uh, someone who looks at attendance and behavior, I'm able to track and say, okay, but then also again, I'm one, well, I'm gonna give you the data, but it's not enough. How do we move forward? How do we charter path? Forward so that you don't get the same bag report next quarter. So then using that bag report to create a goal or goals for students. Again, here's the special educator and we always about those goals, but creating some type of, uh, quantifiable goal for the student for the next quarter so that we know where we have to go towards. And so that's my use of back reports. Uh, it's been a great tool. Um, hopefully in my new position I'm gonna start using those more often here, but they certainly were a great tool in my last, uh, couple of schools working with students and not just special education students, but students at a whole. Uh, and so the cafes. Again, um, this came from me going to Washington High School in Chicago and they had cafe they call these cafes where they meet with students to talk through their back reports or talk through just where they are. This is not, um, necessarily a space where they pull out that hard data for students. Oh, you're getting a 65% d da da da. This is more of the qualitative data. How are you doing? How are you feeling? How can we help you? What are some things that you wanna do that you haven't been able to do? Who helps you? Right? Getting that data right. I think sometimes we lock in on those numbers. I need to get to a this, I need you to get a a 60%, so your passing, I need your GPA to be a 3.5 I. But we also, especially now after COVID, I think we've moved away from using. The qualitative tho those open-ended questions because that too helps form that picture of who you're working with. Uh, and so in our cafes, we do just that, right? We have touchpoints. It's, um, and this was at my former school. It's, uh, the dean, the social worker, the counselor, um, and other administrators who ask these questions. We know that sometimes teachers are triggers, and so we don't let teachers come into the cafes. And we spread out across the room. It's, um, very solemn. It's quiet, right? Because again, we wanna create that safe, quiet space. And it's an opportunity for us as administrators to have a one-on-one with at-risk students to better understand one why. Here's that, why, again, why they're at risk, what's going on. And to chart a path forward, how can we help you develop and be your better self, a better version of you? Right. And it's typically, we, we don't, you know, necessarily do this with the straight A student, unless we have to, unless we see there's some some social emotional concerns. But really it's the student who doesn't come to school often failing two or more classes, right? Detached from participation.'cause we look at participation through activities. Not any sports, not any afterschool clubs, despondent. Um, and then we figure it out and we use what they say to be able to connect them, whether it's with a tutor, whether it's with outside therapy, whether it's with social worker, more minutes. Um. Or whether we can actually go to a teacher and say, Hey, Ms. Matthews, Johnny said that he's having issues in your math class because of X, Y, Z. Right? And we're able to then have a conversation and be a better advocate for that student in the classroom so that we don't, uh, lose that student, right? That student isn't continually truant or anything like that. So

Jessica 19:57

Sucks.

Maricha Matthews 19:57

that's pretty much how we do the cafes.

Jessica 19:59

neat. So I love the idea of the, these cafes and I wanna dive a little bit deeper into like, the logistics of it, just so that you know,'cause you know, when when we present these, these amazing ideas, people are like, oh, how are you doing that though? Um, so first of all, what, what grade levels are you working with again and or were you working with.

Maricha Matthews 20:20

So at that point we were working with freshmen. We, we had a targeted, uh, because our school has in it's, uh, school wide goal. Uh, to raise the freshmen on track percentages, right? There's a, a metric that says that students who are off track after their freshman year are very highly unlikely to be on track, to graduate on time. And so we wanted to work with our freshmen to bolster that number of freshmen on track. So it was freshman at that point.

Jessica 20:50

Interesting. Okay. So then, um, logistically time of day did you do this? How, where were the other students? How did that work?

Maricha Matthews 21:00

So logistically we did it in the middle of the day again, um, using the data, attendance data and so of the, and we would maybe pull maybe 50 kids, um, not necessarily all at the same time, but we knew that these 50 kids were typically not at school on Mondays. And not in class first and second periods. So we did it middle of the day. Um, one of the other things that we knew, um, and the social worker provided this information is that a lot of these kids don't eat. So then we provided a light snack one because, you know, sometimes that's that carrot the kids need in front of them is to come to stuff like, Hey, we got food. But we also knew that they were more likely to open up to us because. You know that that hierarchy, that need was met of food, right? Uh, and so having food there too. So we pulled about 50 kids our first goal and split'em up. Uh, so we had about six. Yeah, we had about six administrators, and I also included administrators, the counselor, the social worker, um, and we met with the students. We had a Google form, so we, you know, we started the conversation with, Hey, I'm taking some information, just so you know, I'm gonna be typing as you talk. But also, I, we, I had to coach the administrators and the adults involved to let them know, like, sometimes you can't just sit at the computer. You know, it's okay to close the computer and just take notes or it's okay to just look a student in the eye and have that very open conversation with them. So again, opening those lines of relationship and trust, uh, because we wanna get good information, we wanna get this data from them, if you will. And so, um, you know, spreading out separate tables, you know, we had a table in the far left corner, far right corner in the center. Um. This happened in our library. We actually shut the library down for that, those periods, so that we made sure that students felt safe and secure in having these conversations with us. So we did it over the span of, I think, uh, three or four periods. Nobody missed their lunch. It wasn't, um, every class is important, particularly when you talk, when you're talking about act with students. But we made sure that we pulled them perhaps if they were failing all classes except one, we pulled them from the one they weren't failing. Um, I'm sorry that they yeah, that they weren't failing just for that. Just for that period. Right.'cause we also wanted to make sure that we told them the importance of bringing the grades up in all of the other classes. Uh, and so those are pretty much the logistical things there. Um, and after that, we became trusted adults. Right. And so it was such a great, um, move to where now because they trusted us with this information, then we became their trusted adult. So when there was an issue, they would seek us out. When they were going to be late, I had so many students that would email me like, Hey, I'm gonna be late. Like, even though that wasn't the process, right, your parents still needed to call the attendance office to let them know, but they felt comfortable enough with me to say, I'm gonna be late today. I'm sorry. Right.

Jessica 24:04

and

Maricha Matthews 24:05

And so that then opened up like,

Jessica 24:06

that level of accountability too, that

Maricha Matthews 24:08

yes.

Jessica 24:09

internal accountability, like this person is counting on me

Maricha Matthews 24:13

Yes.

Jessica 24:14

my worth

Maricha Matthews 24:15

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 24:16

don't wanna let them down.

Maricha Matthews 24:17

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 24:18

awesome.

Maricha Matthews 24:19

Yeah, it was, it was amazing to see some of them flourish. Um, and again, you know, I'm gonna be very honest, you're not gonna get the results with everyone, right? All 50 of them did not improve. Some of them unfortunately, did not come back to school. Um, but. Of that 50, a good portion of those were able to, uh, set goals and achieve those goals. And one of the other things that we did is that when we set a goal, especially in my world, again, here's a educator. We set a goal, we achieve the goal, we celebrate the achievement.

Jessica 24:52

Yep.

Maricha Matthews 24:52

so that's a critical piece of the cafe too. Once your student reaches their goal, you celebrate. No matter, I don't, I don't care if it was, I came to school four outta five days, Johnny, you did it. Let's celebrate. Here's a donut. Something, right? Make, make it a big deal because it, it took a big deal. Great deal for them to work towards that goal. And so we're gonna celebrate you no matter how small the straight A valedictorian thought it was gonna be. It's a huge deal for this student here that's at risk. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jessica 25:41

those goals and have those conversations, um, was such, such a good idea. So then, uh, my follow up question to that is, uh, once you have that, that more qualitative data, what's the next step then? Um, because I know that the collection of it in itself is huge, right? Like just

Maricha Matthews 25:59

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 26:00

and having those conversations, there's a huge impact. Even if you didn't look at the data. I'm curious what you guys did beyond that.

Maricha Matthews 26:07

Mm-hmm. So we did what was called, uh, grade level team meetings. And so at that point we were working in, uh, grade level. So, you know, while I was the freshman administrator, the freshman dean, I was a freshman social worker, freshman counselor. So we used, uh, what's called kid talk. Um, and it is really a, a way for us to have very specific and succinct conversations about students. If you, you know, you've been in data meetings, you've been in team meetings where somebody's name Marisha Matthews comes up and all the teachers go off the rails. Well, this, you know, but this is a way for us to stay on track and have five minute conversations about kids. And then from there. We then took it to the larger group. So in our staff meetings, our principal found it best that in our, from our grade level meetings, when we got together with the whole staff, like we would call it like sit days or something, we would then share the information at all information, but we would share the data, the qualitative and the quantitative data from the students. With the teachers. And then teachers then, uh, began to have conversations around Maritia, okay, Marisha needs this in reading, she does this in math. And then we came up with a plan. Uh, and so it was, it was a really great process and a way to really use data in a meaningful way. And we also were able to get data, again, from, not just from teachers, but also the student side of it. Uh, and then when we needed to, the social worker or counselor would then reach out to the parent. To get some of the information. Okay. Well, Marisha said, you know, she's not on school coming to school on time because she doesn't have an alarm block. Well, Ms. Matthews, is this true? How can we help you? Right. If we were able to uncover some things that families needed. So it's, it's really, it really made us a, a stronger community. And if you think about those, uh. Images where there's a circle, a small circle, and then a medium circle, and then the larger circle and then the extra large circle. It was really that, right? Um, that we were able to do just by, you know. Collecting this, this data and identifying at risk students and figuring out our next steps and how we move to move them to On Track. We went from at risk to on track students. Uh, but it took a community, it took the whole school community in order for us to, to do that and see that success for those students.

Jessica 28:34

Yeah. That's so neat. Yeah. Like the, the ripple effect of it

Maricha Matthews 28:38

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jessica 28:39

Um, I love that idea. And, and so when you, provided this data, both quantitative and qualitative data to. Um, you were teachers and they went into those meetings and they had those conversations. It's very specific and focused conversations about the students. Did you use any kind of like, um, like script for those meetings or note template? How did, how did you set it up?

Maricha Matthews 29:07

Oh yes, we had a note template and a script, so. Myself, the counselor, the social worker led those small teacher meetings and we started the conversation with the norms, right? We normed it out. Um, this is not a dump all session, right? We're going to have positive intent, um, when we're talking about the student, and we are going to be, uh, goal driven. So what are our next steps with the student? Not, you know, we know that Johnny and Marisha have 50 missing assignments, that's why they're even on this list. How do we move forward? And so it did take a couple iterations of us doing these types of meetings because again, I think when we gather educators together, they're so passionate about the students that they all want one, wanna be heard.

Jessica 29:58

Yep.

Maricha Matthews 29:59

the educators who feel that they have great relationships with want, with the students, wanna tell you how they built the relationship.

Jessica 30:06

Yep.

Maricha Matthews 30:07

Uh, and three, we also wanna talk about, well, why I think he failed this or she failed this. Right. But we only have 10 minutes.

Jessica 30:16

Right.

Maricha Matthews 30:17

and so we can't get to five different educators, all of these opinions. So we did have to script it out, um, to where we had to practice ourselves. Right? So what happens if an educator feels so strongly about the student? Do you stop the meeting? What do you say? What do you do? So we did have to do some of that practice right before we came, before the educators, because we wanted to look like a cohesive unit. Um, and what we were saying and what we were doing. And then the note template, there's, there's a Google form where those of us, um, in the meetings, whether again myself as the dean, the social worker, and the counselor would type up the notes, we would then take those back to our team meetings. Uh, and then figure out a plan. Um, sometimes it was, can we drop the student from the class and give them credit recovery or, you know, the social worker, this, all the teachers are saying the same thing about the student's affect. Can you meet with the student an extra 10 minutes a month? Right. And then that's where we put, you know, pen to paper and really created some planning or plans for the students, uh, moving forward. But there was definitely a script. Um. And definitely, uh, a note template because we wanted to make sure we were capturing some of the most important information from the teachers and trying to filter out some of the, uh, the banter, right? The, the, I don't wanna call it belly aching, but sometimes that's what it is, belly aching.

Jessica 31:38

Yeah.

Maricha Matthews 31:39

Um, but we wanted to make sure we were able to filter through that in order to provide and work, you know, the student with the best plan moving forward.

Jessica 31:47

Yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool. Uh, the MTSS, um, project that I worked on and kind of formulated within the, the district that I was in last, we used Google Forms as well for our note taking. And what I found was that, uh, since there is a submit button, it does encourage people to. Finish that conversation a little

Maricha Matthews 32:10

Yeah.

Jessica 32:11

just typing on a document or typing in

Maricha Matthews 32:13

Yeah, that's good.

Jessica 32:15

yeah, I, I really like, um, although there are more clicks sometimes, which I always try to, you know, lessen the number of clicks for teachers, but in that case, I feel like it's worth it because it does help you kind of get to the end a little bit easier.

Maricha Matthews 32:30

Yes.

Jessica 32:31

okay. So during all of this, this, these cool things that you're doing, collecting the bag data, um, and uh, doing the cafes and collecting all the qualitative data and having these meetings, what was the impact on your overall culture in the school when it comes to the adults? Um, did you feel like you were, um, you hit some barriers there, did you overcome any, how did that go?

Maricha Matthews 32:57

So definitely in the beginning, uh, change is hard for anyone, right? And so once we start thinking about changing how we're looking at student data and students, there was some pushback I. Uh, well, why do we have to do this? Um, this is a waste of my time, right? I don't have anything to say about this student. Uh, and so just working with teachers to encourage them like, this is not. Punitive. It's not a consequence for you. If we're all here to do what's best for students and we say we're here for students, then let's be here for the students. And so I think sometimes having those difficult but courageous conversations with teachers one-on-one, right? I never, I always treat people how I wanna be treated, and so I never want to be, um. Uh, disregarded or I don't want to be outed by any leader. Right? And so I prefer those one-on-one conversations. And I think sometimes having the conversations again about the why helped get more teachers on board. And so we did see some gains, right? One, from a, from an adult perspective. We then were able to see more teachers collaborating when teachers, you know. We're able to see that Johnny is, you know, not doing well in reading, but doing well in math. Well, how can we support him more with reading and math? Because maybe that's his favorite subject. Right? And so we heard and saw more teachers being more collaborative across curriculum when it came to just anything. Right. Whether it was one student or whether it was a unit. Well, oh, well you're doing, you know, I, I was a co-teacher in physics, so. Oh, you're doing kinetic and potential energy. Or maybe in math we can help do some of the calculations and I can support the student in math because he is always done with my work early. And we'll do the calculations there. So it allowed the adults to be able to make a more meaningful connection, right? Because again, if you're in a huge school, you know, one wing is this, you know, department, one wing is this department and they really don't get to interact until we get to, you know, a staff breakfast or, or these types of meetings. So I think for the adults, seeing them being a bit more collaborative after these meetings was, uh, was, was a really great thing. Uh, and then also just how they supported students. Because again, once you start telling teachers, and again, we weren't telling teachers all the business, but once you start telling teachers, Hey, Martia has something going on at home, and maybe that's why they're not coming the first period, right? Oh, well Marcia never told me that. Well, yes, because you haven't established that relationship. And so we were able to explain and maybe give a little bit more context. So to some teachers around why students behaved, why students didn't show up, or don't show up to their classes or when they show up, they're tardy. Um, because we were able to capture that data from the student, and the student told us from their own mouth, well, the first 10 minutes, we don't do anything in class anyway, so I can be late. Well, okay. You know, Ms. Smith, well, maybe you should institute a, you know, um, uh, what is it called? A formative assessment in the beginning, right? Or a do now assessment, or even just a, a, a getting to know you or relationship builder so that students feel from that first minute after the bell rings, it's, it, they, they need to be in your class. I see it now. Students are like, oh, well we, we just talked the first five minutes. Well. Could we implement something else? And this is a great way for you to maybe capture that. Did you do your homework data by giving them a formative assessment? A bell ringer at the beginning, at the top of class so they know one, I shouldn't be late to class'cause I'm gonna miss a bell ringer, which is a part of my grade. And two, I know moving into the classroom, the expectation of me is not, I can talk for five minutes. So, you know, it also helped us develop the practice of some of the educators as well.

Jessica 36:59

Yeah, absolutely. And it's funny, I think, uh, I, I don't know if you still hear Do Now being used, I, we use that in Chicago as well, and then I came back to Cincinnati and they call it warmups here.

Maricha Matthews 37:11

Yeah.

Jessica 37:12

So I don't know if it's just like a regional thing or what, but um, I was a strong believer in using that Do now not only to like get everyone in. Settled, chilled out, you know, um,'cause I, I taught freshmen

Maricha Matthews 37:26

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 37:26

for a large part of my teaching. Um, they, they definitely, definitely need that moment to just take a deep breath. Um, but then also it helped me be able to my attendance and check homework.

Maricha Matthews 37:38

Yes. Yes, yes.

Jessica 37:40

I, I had to have that, that habit instilled in me. Otherwise, there would be, once class started. There's no way, like

Maricha Matthews 37:48

Okay.

Jessica 37:49

that done. So there's so many benefits to having everyone come in and, and relax and do, um, a do now or a warmup or whatever it is.

Maricha Matthews 37:58

Yes,

Jessica 37:58

gives you the opportunity to, to check in with every single student and have that face-to-face time if you didn't catch'em at the door. Um, so it's, there are tons of benefits to that. Awesome. I feel like we've gotten so deep into so many different really cool ideas during this conversation,

Maricha Matthews 38:18

Yeah.

Jessica 38:19

I love that you were able to, um, bring the logistics and, and these, um, you know, some. Some practical takeaways that people can, can walk away and maybe start thinking about implementing, especially this time of year because, you know, we're getting ready for a new school year. So it's,

Maricha Matthews 38:36

Mm-hmm.

Jessica 38:39

much, Mar Marisha. And then, um, can you tell us how people could get in touch with you if they have more questions?

Maricha Matthews 38:46

Sure. So, um, they can get in touch with me on Instagram at MDM consult, M as in Mary, D as in David, M as in Mary, consulting, GRP,

Jessica 38:58

All

Maricha Matthews 38:58

um, is my Instagram handle. And then on Twitter or x, you, i, whatever it's called these days. Uh, is Mr. MRSM Matthews. Uh, is a way to get in touch with me as well. And then LinkedIn is Marisha Matthews.

Jessica 39:15

Perfect. Thank you so much, and I'll have all of those in the show notes as well. We're gonna add your Instagram here and, um, again, I thank you so much for coming

Maricha Matthews 39:24

Thank you.

Jessica 39:25

about all of this. Uh, it was, there were so many, so many mind blowing ideas, so I appreciate

Maricha Matthews 39:31

you. I appreciate you and thank you so much for having this platform for us, uh, those who are data, data afraid or just dipping our toes into data. This is a great platform for us to be able to hear how others in our fields are using data. Um, and it's been a g Me so I thank you so much for the platform and the opportunity.

Jessica 39:53

Oh, thank you so much. Have a good rest of your day.

Maricha Matthews 39:56

Have a good day. Bye-bye.