What Does Your School Data Team Sound Like?

Dr. Dean T. Spaulding is currently an assistant professor at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, where he teaches educational research and program evaluation. Dr. Spaulding is the former chair of the Teaching Evaluation SIG for the American Evaluation Association. He also has been a professional evaluator/researcher for fifteen years and has in-depth experience serving as an evaluator on multiple state and federally funded projects. More specifically, he has conducted evaluation for programs focusing on K-12 settings, the use of technology in the classroom, as well as working in the area of teaching and learning with at-risk youth populations. At the government/state agency level, Dr. Spaulding has conducted research and provided programmatic feedback for New York State Department of Education, New York Sate Department of Public Health, and the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH). Dr. Spaulding also is one of the authors of Methods in Educational Research: From Theory to Practice, 2006, Jossey-Bass Wiley, San Francisco, and the author of Program Evaluation in Practice: Core Concepts and Examples for discussion and Analysis (2008), Jossey-Bass Wiley, and Action Research for School Leaders (2012). Dr. Spaulding is also a consultant at Z Score Inc. dspaulding@zscore.net

What Does Your Data Team Sound Like? provides an approach that gets teams talking about and applying data effectively in a variety of setting and scenarios.

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbout the Authors1. Changing the Lens With the Data Analysis Team (DAT) Is Data the New Four-Letter Word? Changing the Lens for How We View Data Where Did All This Data Come From? Okay, Let's Change the Lens! Summary2. What Should Your Data Team Look Like? Mixed Versus Nonmixed Data Teams Goals of the Data Team What Are the Roles and Responsibilities of Each Team Member? How Will Meetings Be Facilitated? Preparation, the Key to Success Activities Summary3. Getting Over the Fear of Data Fear of Data What Is a Data Set? What Is a Database? Archival Data Setting Up a Database Entering Data Correctly in a Cell Levels of Data Assessment Data Levels of Accountability Activities Summary4. How to Know What Works What Works, Anyway? What Are Improvement Cycles? How Do Researchers Determine What Works? Pre-Post One Group Design Summary5. Following the Steps in the Exploratory and Confirmatory Cycles Exploratory Cycle Confirmatory Cycle Summary6. More Ways to Examine Data Using Different Variables to Sort Data Graphing Data Types of Graphs Activity Summary7. Collecting Formative Data The Role of Formative Data in the Confirmatory Cycle Using Classroom Observations as Formative Data Reliability of Observational Data Tips for Conducting Observations Using Surveys as Formative Data Piloting the Survey Collecting Survey Data in School Settings Activity Summary8. Adding Parents to Your DAT Include Parents, Rather Than Exclude Them Parent Validity Activities Summary9. Continuing the Conversation Surrounding Student Data Looking at Individual Items Adding Other Variables to the Conversation Looking at District Level Data Summary10. Scaling Up Data When to Expand to Other Locations A Model for Scaling Up: Patterns in the Data Using Capacity to Scale Up SummaryEpilogueReferencesIndex