Data for learning: Maximising the potential of your Student Management System

"An effective three-way learning partnership among student-school-community occurs when all parties are fully informed about achievements and progress."

– Education Review Office (2007, p. 18)

Five key principles to underpin the effective use of your data

1. The focus is on learning

• Data is collected to serve learning, not just for administration or compliance.
• Data facilitates smart decisions that directly or indirectly support better learning.
• Data follows learners within, between, and beyond schools.
• Data supports teachers’ inquiry processes through access to evidence. It facilitates a collaborative, coherent view within an evidence-based culture.
• Data gathered is valid and sufficiently comprehensive so that progress and achievement can be evaluated

2. The data is shared and used

• Students use their own achievement data to inform their learning.
• Teacher PLD uses data explicitly to inform staff inquiries into their practice.
• Leaders share school achievement and administrative data on a regular basis in a variety of forums and use that data to inform decisions.

3. Parents/caregivers and whānau are involved

• The learner and their family/whānau have easy access to the data along with an understanding of what the information the data provides means.
• Your school actively encourages learners and their families to access and consider achievement and wellbeing information. Data is used to support learning and progress conversations.

4. Data is robust and effectively managed

• Data is easy to access on any device and is:
  • accurate
  • consistent
  • complete
  • timely
  • valid
• Knowledge about how the SMS is set up and managed is distributed amongst a number of people and is considered in succession planning.
• Student data is held centrally in the SMS so that it can be:
  • accessed
  • analysed
  • integrated with other directories or systems
  • used to automate processes and facilitate the flow of information between systems.

5. Professional support is provided and sustained

• Everyone involved in the use of and access to data has ongoing professional learning, training, or guidance to support them. This includes:
  • the roles of the SMS and their importance
  • how to access, store, share and use data in safe, ethical and legal ways
  • how to select, record, analyse and interpret data
  • what to do next with the insights gained from the data.
• Induction for staff and families who are new to the school is provided.
• If your school changes its SMS, then everyone is given sufficient training on the new product.

The value of whānau/caregiver involvement

There is clear evidence that learner outcomes are improved when whānau engage in discussions related to their child’s learning. When teachers share good quality, relevant information about learning and progress with whānau/caregivers, and truly listen to what whānau/caregivers tell them about their children, everyone can be involved with the learner in supporting their next steps.

Summative assessment data provides valuable snapshots of progress, which are used most effectively alongside formative assessment and professional observations of a student’s progress in class. Additionally, information from home provides a holistic picture and allows teachers to:

• really know each learner
• understand learners’ strengths and challenges
• set specific and relevant goals with learners and their whānau/caregivers.

Student voice

"Self-reporting is the most powerful indicator of student success in learning. Effective reporting systems will be ones where 'student voice' is an integral part of the reporting process."

– Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York, NY: Routledge

Learners must be part of the conversation. Sharing data with students empowers them and helps them to understand what their strengths are. Recognising what they need to improve is integral to learners making changes to the way that they learn. It also helps students know what their next steps are and how they can take them.

Sharing data

The information we share about a student’s learning will only make a significant impact on learning outcomes when the reflection and evaluation of progress is purposeful and ongoing. It is important that schools:

• develop a cohesive plan for ongoing sharing
• consider the use of a variety of formats and communication opportunities
• work with their communities to develop systems for sharing that meet everyone’s needs.

Student-led conferences

Student-led conferences give ownership of the conversation to the learner. Student learning goals and achievements stored in your SMS can be easily accessed during and after the conference providing whānau/caregivers with ongoing up-to-date information. The SMS may also be used as a tool to schedule these conferences.

Building responsive relationships

"Leaders at schools with the best qualities of educationally powerful connections and relationships were supporting a whole-school focus on improving relationships with parents/caregivers and whānau."

– Education Review Office (2015 p.45)

To have a significant impact on student learning outcomes:

• teachers must understand how they can use data to make changes that affect learning outcomes
• leaders need to support changes in pedagogy
• school processes and policies must support what is happening in the classroom.

Forming culturally responsive relationships with the local community is a key element to engaging whānau/caregivers in their children’s learning.

Parent/whānau access through SMS portals enables a greater sense of ownership of data and shared responsibility for their children’s learning. However, if parents/whānau don’t have a clear understanding of what the information means in practice then parent portals will not meet their true potential for helping families support student learning.

Questions to consider when sharing information with whānau/caregivers

• Why use an SMS parent portal?
• What information will you provide to parents/whānau?
• When do you provide information?
• How have you prepared parents/whānau for receiving the information?
• Will parents/whānau understand the data and what it means for their child’s learning?
• What opportunities are there for follow-up conversations with teachers, parents/whānau and learners?
• Has the SMS parent portal increased the engagement of parents/caregivers?
• If so, has it significantly impacted student grades or engagement in learning?
• If not, how do you increase engagement?
• How will you manage privacy issues such as access to student information for separated parents?

"Every day a student is not at school is a day they are not learning. Over time, patterns of non-attendance can place students at risk of poor achievement and early drop-out, thus compromising outcomes in life across a range of social and economic measures."

– Schooling Analysis Unit, Ministry of Education (2015, p.4). Attendance in New Zealand schools

Early engagement with whānau/caregivers about attendance is important for learning outcomes. Building good relationships with the whole community and providing practical strategies to encourage regular attendance at school is essential.

"To better support those staff working hard to help at-risk students succeed at school, we looked closely at the data around those who had struggled and become significantly disengaged. This analysis identified a series of thresholds in particular pastoral and progress data such as attendance, pastoral records, stand-downs and report grades, that provided an accurate predictor of future disengagement. This matrix was then used to monitor progress. Where this process identified students reaching the data 'trigger-points', this information was used proactively to address concerns around the identified students before these escalated. These trigger points were gender specific."

Charles Newton, ex-principal

Collaborative networks such as Kahui Āko have a collective responsibility for the learning of all students and the teaching of all teachers. Sharing data between schools in collaborative networks enables leaders and teachers to use data to inform practice, identify learner needs, and set goals both for the community of schools as well as for individual schools.

It is important to consider what counts as evidence of learning improvement and what information needs to be shared. Discuss what appropriate evidence-based data is important for your Kahui Āko, and use this to inform your discussions as you develop strategies to achieve student and teacher learning goals that are relevant to your community.

West Auckland schools collaborating

Sharing data across 31 Auckland schools enables them to identify trends and develop common strategies to increase performance across the whole cluster. They have built teacher capacity and improved learner outcomes.

"When we looked at the e-asTTle data of schools where boys were engaged and doing well, we wanted to understand more about what our best performing schools and teachers were doing. Teachers from these schools presented their learning to the network about strategies they had used to engage boys effectively. This kind of information sharing between schools encouraged other schools to make changes to practice. The results of these changes were reflected in subsequent NZCER Student Engagement data."

– Cherie Taylor-Patel, (2016)

Transitioning between schools can be a stressful time for students and a time when engagement in learning declines. While there are many suggested reasons for this dip one element is a change in the learning environment.

Identify students at risk (socially, behaviourally, and academically) early and monitor their progress.

Ways you can collaborate with student data

• Share information between schools about student achievement
• Share information about students’ specific learning needs, approaches, interventions, and supports – including specific technologies and software they may use
• Share student e-portfolios

Quality shared data can be used by the receiving school to plan and implement programmes appropriate for incoming students.

Agree on what data will be shared and be confident that the method of collecting is robust. It is important that all information transferred about individual students is read and analysed sensitively by new schools, then shared effectively to tailor learning to students' needs from the start.

NZ schools are required to record and share some achievement information with the Ministry of Education to support national planning and resourcing. How your school uses your data to report in your annual plans and variance statements is important. Consider whether the actions you take help make the improvements you are seeking. The Ministry of Education provides school planning and reporting guidelines and resources to support your school/kura to develop planning and reporting documents.

An SMS can support your school to adhere to reporting schedules. Data is collected from all schools using SMS for other reasons such as funding allocations and to inform national policies.

• School roll return guidelines – Data exported from an SMS is used by the Ministry of Education to fund and staff schools, to support policy analysis, to monitor the results of the New Zealand education system, and for national and international reporting.
• Making a data submission to NZQA – There are two methods for data file submission of entries and results to NZQA – web entries and file submission directly from your SMS.

Data gathered about students might be factual personal information like contact details, or qualitative and quantitative evidence used for learning. Ensure the data recorded is high quality. The quality of data collected leads directly to the quality of the analysis that can be derived.

"The initial point of data collection is the single most influential moment to ensure data quality, yet it typically receives the least attention"

– Raymond, R. (2008). The student data backpack p. 144

Ensuring data quality is everybody’s responsibility but is most critical at the point the data is entered. It is very unlikely that the data will be revised once it has been entered (or omitted). Teachers, whānau, students, and administrators should have a common understanding of the importance of data quality and follow some simple guidelines to help ensure it is maintained.

Data should be accessible

Accessible data is easy for anyone who needs it to find, obtain, use and understand.

• Publish the data and its analysis – this will help everyone to understand why high-quality data is important to promote continuous improvement.
• Ensure students can easily access their own data.
• Ensure parents/caregivers/whānau can easily access relevant data about their children.
• Have a process for students and whānau to identify and report/correct any errors.

Data should be accurate

Accurate data is correct and formatted to predefined standards. It is unambiguous and reflects reality.

• Use automated data formats like date-pickers, drop-down lists or form fields that require validation of formatting.
• Undertake audits of the data.
• Be specific when entering data.
• Always check and correct data – don’t pass along your errors and expect the next person to find and correct them.

Data should be complete

Missing data can skew analysis, which means that there is a risk of useful information or trends being missed.

• Use exception reports to check for missing data.
• Undertake random checks for data completeness.
• Request that students or parents periodically check their data.
• Use checklists to ensure that all data required has been entered.

Data should be consistent

The recorded data should be unambiguous, and the same regardless of who gathers it.

• Provide moderation opportunities.
• Ensure assessments are reliable.

Data should be timely

Timely data gathering allows sufficient time to undertake meaningful analysis that ensures relevant feedback that can inform further interventions.

• Enter data as it comes to hand, and use data regularly as part of an ongoing inquiry cycle, rather than only in a one-time event such as report-writing.
• Ensure target dates are reasonable and clearly communicated.
• Aim to provide feedback soon after an assessment task.

Data should be valid and relevant

Valid and relevant data provides the right information to answer the question that is asked.

• Ensure there is a clear match between the data collected and the intended primary use of the data.
• Ensure assessments are valid.
• Be ethical by using information with professionalism and integrity, for intended purposes only.

Data should be held centrally

Data about students should be held centrally rather than dispersed across multiple sources such as paper records, electronic documents, or spreadsheets held by individual teachers.

Data stored centrally is more easily:

• kept updated
• analysed to investigate student achievement across different classes, subjects, or learning areas, and in a longitudinal way
• integrated with other directories so as to provide automatic updates to users and groups held by the school’s network server, library database, or other on-premise or cloud services
• used to automate processes such as triggering emails to students, parents/caregivers
• kept secure
• used to facilitate the flow of information such as reporting to the Ministry of Education or using Student Record Transfer (SRT).

Data is not valuable by itself. Data needs to be analysed to provide useful information which can then be acted upon.

Growing data literacy

"Teachers and leaders need to continually acquire technical skills. These skills are fundamental to teaching and learning. Examples include how to undertake, analyse and use running records in primary schools and kura and moderation of assessment in secondary schools and wharekura."

– Report of the Professional Learning Advisory Group, (2014, p.14)

Data literacy means that people can:

• formulate and answer questions using data as part of evidence-based thinking
• use appropriate data, tools, and representations to support this thinking
• interpret information from data
• develop and evaluate data-based inferences and explanations
• use data to solve real problems and communicate their solutions.

Teachers, parents/caregivers, and students need to grow their data literacy as a school continues to develop a culture of Teaching as Inquiry as outlined in The New Zealand Curriculum.

Resources to assist with analysing data

"...educators have 'reams' of data that may not be used productively. In fact, as Michael Fullan (cited in Earl and Katz, 2006) has suggested, data can potentially lead to overload and confusion. So how can educational leaders find a line through the evidence on data gathering and analysis that will support our professional practice and help us take full advantage of the potential of using data?"

– Using data: Transforming potential into practice, (2014, p.2)

Analysing data requires the development of particular skills in the use of a range of statistical tools and methodologies.

Student Management Systems and assessment tools commonly have built-in tools for analysing data. Professional development providers with expertise in data analysis can help you develop ways to interpret data useful to your context.

What to look for when analysing data

It is essential that you are able to read and interpret data accurately so that you know where students are in their learning and are able to plan for optimum teaching and learning.

There are a number of tools available for reporting data. Sharing student data from your SMS lists modules and systems compatible with each SMS.

electronic Attendance Register (eAR)

electronic Attendance Register is a tool that allows schools to record, analyse, and report attendance data in a consistent format.

ENROL

ENROL is a register of student enrolments. It was designed to ensure that accurate records of enrolments were maintained and able to be updated as students moved between schools. It is used to assign each student a unique National Student Number. It lets you update enrolments as students enrol, change schools, or leave the school system. Vision and hearing technicians also use ENROL to enter the results of vision and hearing tests into the system. All schools must use ENROL.
SMSs typically enable schools to synchronise student records with ENROL.

Get Check NSN

Get Check NSN uses student data to connect to ENROL to retrieve a student’s National Student Number (NSN), or check that the NSN is correct. This is a function of your SMS and may be called something different in each SMS.

PaCT – upload from SMS

The Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) is a tool designed to help teachers make dependable judgments about students' achievement that can be used to track progress in reading, writing, and mathematics. Setting up PaCT and connecting it with your SMS is explained on the PaCT site.

Early Notification (EN)

Early Notification – messages about absences notifications about student absences are sent to parents/caregivers by text or email messaging.

Attendance Matters

Attendance Matters is a set of Ministry of Education guidelines for implementing an effective attendance management plan.

Student Record Transfer (SRT)

SRT enables some specific student data from SMS systems to be exported from a student’s old school to be imported to a student’s new school. The data includes the ENROL record along with demographics (for example, ethnicity, year level), caregiver details, medical professionals, dental professionals, summary attendance information, and assessment data.
The SRT system involves temporary storage of encrypted student data on a Ministry of Education server. The actual transfer and retrieving of any student data can only be carried out by the source and destination schools with the Ministry acting as a type of Post Office.

SRT will eventually be replaced by the Ministry's Te Rito programme .

Identity Data Extract (IDE)

Identity Data Extract is a function of an SMS that allows information about students and teachers to be exported from the SMS so that it can be imported into a different system such as the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT).

Consider privacy when dealing with students and staff's personal data. The Privacy Act outlines 12 information privacy principles which all apply to data held by schools.

Security when dealing with students and staff's personal data is covered by Principle 5 of the Privacy Act – "Storage and security".

Security is a balance between usability, affordability and complexity. Overly secure systems become unusable and too complex for less technical users in a school environment.

Weak links in the security chain can include school staff sharing passwords with colleagues and students, allowing students to use devices that are logged into restricted systems and not having a passcode on mobile devices.

Tips for improving data security

• Provide PLD on what data security means and on your school’s policies and procedures that relate to data security.
• Provide appropriately restricted levels of access to records.
• Ensure strong passwords are used to access data.
• Enforce timeouts after no activity.
• Find out if your SMS logs all changes to data records and highlights any suspicious activity. Monitor these logs if possible.
• Ensure software patches are up to date.
• Beware of the potential for data leaks through spreadsheets of exported data.

The School Records Retention/Disposal Information Pack gives advice to schools on their legal obligations to retain, store, and dispose of school records. The pack demonstrates how to deal with the types of records that a school must keep according to the Public Records Act 2005 .

In order to make informed decisions, use your SMS to gather more than just quantitative assessment data. Qualitative evidence helps to build a more complete picture of the student.
Consider drawing data from:

• observations
• exemplars of work
• portfolios
• teacher and student reflections
• surveys
• demographics
• details about student attendance
• behaviour and engagement.

Aim to link assessment tools such as e-asTTle, PATs, and STAR to your SMS to collate and analyse data in one place. When schools integrate evidence they are able to develop a full picture of a student’s capabilities and areas for improvement. This evidence can engage students and their whānau in conversations about their learning, and with teachers about their practice.

"...evidence related to students is something that informs teaching and learning, rather than being seen as a reflection of the capability of individual students that is most useful for sorting, labelling and credentialing."

– Timperley (2010, p.2)

Using evidence holistically leads to informed decision-making across the classroom, within a school, and across a Kahui Āko. When used with an inquiry mindset, evidence opens up conversations about:

• why we have the outcomes we have
• what we can learn about what we do well
• how we might best focus our efforts, strategies and resources on improving teaching and learning.

Analysis drawn from data should be supported by professional judgement, engaging with students, caregivers and whānau, and by research. Data should be used collaboratively by stakeholders as part of an inquiry process at a class, whole school and/or Kahui Āko level.

Linking multiple sources to inform inquiry

Link evidence from multiple sources in order to develop a full picture of a student’s learning and a teacher’s practice. For example, how might your school build on assessment data to tell the story of the student who sits behind the data? You might consider:

• what the attendance data suggests
• how you can engage with parents/whānau to learn more about your students
• what role student voice plays.

Classroom teachers can make use of evidence in order to identify strengths and areas for improvement both for their students as well as for their own practice. Collate evidence from multiple sources in order to draw a full, rich picture of teaching and learning to:

• see what students are capable of
• identify gaps
• choose strategies that are most likely to have a positive impact on student achievement.

"...use data to make the invisible visible, revealing strengths and needs which are easily concealed..."

– Schmoker (1999 cited in Ministry of Education, Ontario 2014, p. 9)

Identifying learner needs

Evidence is integral to a teaching as inquiry cycle. Evidence can be used to:

• identify an area of need
• monitor progress toward a chosen goal
• reflect on whether to maintain, adapt or change teaching and learning strategies
• evaluate the impact of the teaching inquiry.

When identifying learner needs, teachers work alongside their students to gather evidence. Learning is powerful when students can identify where they are currently at, where they need to go and what their next steps for learning are. In this way, evidence is used to personalise learning and to provide effective, targeted feedback and feedforward.

Learning analytics

Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimising learning and the environments in which it occurs (Ferguson, 2012 ).

Learning analytics involves the analysis of large data sets, which you can access from your SMS or LMS.

It is most commonly used by teachers to identify learning difficulties and opportunities for learning support and curriculum improvement. Teachers can identify strengths and gaps for both individuals and priority groups. Additionally, teachers can make evidence-based predictions and therefore make informed decisions about strategies that are most likely to improve achievement.

Tawhai School principal, Matt Skilton says that for strategic planning, having access to an SMS on data and analysis is vital. Matt explains how they use the data to work out the "students in need or the gaps we want to plug, or the accelerated areas we need to really push for".

Part of building the story of the student who sits behind the data is to use the SMS to collect pastoral care data. Having good pastoral care data enables the school to be informed about students and to build better relationships.

• Group and school-wide trends in pastoral data provide important evidence when designing and monitoring strategies and interventions designed to promote student wellbeing.
• Collecting student voice to sit alongside pastoral care data may be particularly powerful.

Nayland College principal, Daniel Wilson discusses the three ways they are using KAMAR to track and monitor student progress and achievement throughout the school.

School leaders, Boards of Trustees, and Kahui Āko can use data to ensure your strategic plans are focused, evidence-based, and targeted to actual rather than perceived need. For example, assessment data, pastoral and engagement data, and student and whānau voice can be combined to inform decision-making. Resources can then be targeted to support teaching and learning strategies that result in improved student achievement.

"Features of professional learning … that were associated with sustained student outcomes included … the skills to collect relevant evidence and use it to inquire into the impact of teaching on student learning"

– Timperly, Wilson, Barrar, & Fung (2007), Teacher professional learning and development, p. xxxv

Steps for raising student achievement

Schools that successfully raise student achievement take these steps:

• dig deeply into data collated from multiple sources and ask questions of the data to identify gaps such as a group of priority learners and/or a particular learning area focus
• use data to allocate resourcing, including professional learning and development
• engage with whānau, students and teachers to build a full picture of target learners and use this information alongside data to identify the strategies that are most likely to have a positive impact
• take action by implementing targeted teaching and learning strategies – data is used to monitor progress with students, teachers, and whānau throughout
• evaluate the strategies based on data to determine success and identify next steps.

ERO: Raising student achievement through targeted actions (December, 2015)

When planning for transitions planning between schools and out-of-school towards further education, it may be useful to consider longitudinal data. Use this data to identify existing patterns and support proactive strategic planning for your school and Kāhui Ako.