With that, the Department of Data is in high gear this week. We’re guessing you might have a few questions, so here’s a few answers (we’ll keep updating them as needed).

Q: What ISAT Tracking Tools do I turn in, and when?
A: We’ll take them all! Turn in any tool you’ve used this summer on Friday (usually by noon) to your CMA. Don’t wait until the last minute to enter your data!

Q: What do I do if a student left (or joined) my class during the summer? How does this impact growth goals?
A: You shouldn’t do anything special. If a student left, don’t delete them from the tool. If they joined, add them to the bottom of your student list. As for growth goals, unless a student takes both a diagnostic and a summative, their “progress toward growth goal” will not be calculated, will be blank in the tool, and won’t impact your class average.

Q: I have a student who was on a level A, 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the DRA diagnostic. What do I do?
A: Please take a look at this Summative DRA Tracking Guide. You’ll also need the new DRA Levels A-4 Tracker.

Q: I have a student who was “higher than the DRA” at the diagnostic (they scored 29+ points on Level 80), and I gave them the Gates MacGinitie assessment. What do I do?
A: Please take a look at this Summative DRA Tracking Guide. You’ll also need the new Gates MacGinitie Tracker.

Q: What does the Department of Data do the rest of the year? Sit around trying to invent new Excel formulas? Something with video games and pocket protectors?
A: Sadly, no. Despite what our respective significant others may say, it turns out we’re relatively normal people. Olin is headed into his second year as a 2007 corps member teaching high school algebra and coaching football in South Louisiana. Lewis has worked for Teach For America national staff for the past few years in a few different roles, most recently in a position where he spends his entire year working on institute planning.  (Can you believe people actually get to do that all year long?)

Here’s a couple oldies-but-goodies from the Diagnostic FAQ that we thought might come up this round:

Q: What is the magical and mythical formula that calculates the individual student growth goals?
A: Good question. It’s really isn’t all that magical, or even really a specific formula. It turns out that there is not a lot of historical benchmark data out there in the world on what is an appropriate amount of growth for students in a four-week summer school program (not a big shocker). Essentially, our approach is to take different ranges of diagnostic scores and look at what collaboratives were able to achieve with students who started in those ranges in the past. Then, we used the 75th percentile as an ambitious and feasible goal. Then, we use those numbers to create a chart with growth targets for each possible diagnostic score (0-100 for the objective mastery tests). The tracking tool just looks up the right target from a chart and that’s the goal. There’s a lot more context behind why we chose this approach (and the 75th percentile number, etc.), but it is pretty much that simple. Let us know what questions you have — we don’t want anyone to think it’s magic!

Q: I’ve heard about (or had) problems with Macintoshes and the tools. What’s up with that?
A: Yes! We love us some Apple computers too, but Excel is seriously buggy on the Mac, and sometimes likes to eat our tracking tools for lunch. Check out this document we put into everyone’s mailboxes last week with more info on what to do about this.

Save time and freeze those panes!

Tired of scrolling back and forth between the cells in which you’re working and the headers at the top of the page?  By freezing panes, you can avoid this time-consuming headache.

Even better, it’s super easy (and totally cool).

Step 1: Simply go to the cell that is below and to the right of the rows/columns you want to always appear on the screen.  (Example: If you want to freeze what’s in the top row and farthest left column, just go to cell B2.)

Step 2: In the toolbar, click on Window, then “Freeze Panes.”

Step 3: Relax and enjoy the time you’ve saved, or use this trick to attract potential suitors.

I’ve seen them popping up all over the place — in Kindergarten classrooms at Rose Linda and a 7th grade classroom at Pastor, just to name a couple. I definitely fought back some tears of nostalgia as I thought back to my days using them regularly when I taught 7th and 8th grade math — they were one of my favorite strategies.

However, as you might have experienced if you tried them, just picking yourself up a set of whiteboards doesn’t magically equal student achievement. Like anything with teaching, there’s no silver bullet —  it’s how well you plan and execute that will determine their effectiveness.

So, in that spirit, the Department of Data is pleased to present the highly official DOD Guide to Individual Whiteboards, in our probably-overused FAQ format…

I get the basic idea, but what do I actually do, and when do I do it?

It’s easy: give each student an individual whiteboard, a marker, and an eraser, and you’re off and running. They make great “we do” material during guided practice — when it seems like most students are finished with an answer, have them all hold up their boards so you can scan the room to see how everyone is doing all at once. Boards down, erase the boards, on to the next question. They definitely work well for math, although I’ve seen them used in other subjects as well, such as for handwriting practice.  They’re also a great strategy during a review session, say after school or the day before a big test. Looking to step up the student engagement a notch? Have students pair off and compete against each other to see who can get the most correct answers (hint: this also prevents those wandering eyes, as students will hide their answers).

Other ideas? Use them with groups of students during centers/stations. Try a game of jeopardy.  Have students trade boards and correct each others’ answers. The possibilities are endless, so be sure to mix it up from time to time. You can get some more ideas from this Education World article.

Why are individual whiteboards effective? And why is the Department of Data writing about them, anyway?

Besides a variety of other benefits (such as the fact that students are somehow magically more engaged, if implemented correctly), my favorite reason for using them was because they make a spectacular Check For Understanding strategy. Have your students hold up the boards, and you can quickly scan the room and see where your class is at. Leave yourself some flexibility in your lesson so you can speed up or slow down on different types of questions depending on what you’re seeing. Sometimes, I would use whiteboards as almost a discovery-learning-style strategy. Say I was teaching adding fractions. I might throw up a problem first, let students try it on their own, then do a little direct instruction on how to do it correctly, then give them another problem (or several) to try. The direct instruction would be extremely targeted since I would already have a good feel in the moment for how many students could already do it correctly, but more importantly, I’d have a good gauge of what the common mistakes were. Rinse and repeat until mastery.

So what does this have to do with data, you ask?

My response: Are you crazy? What part of this doesn’t just scream “wow, that’s is an incredibly effective way to obtain quick in-the-moment data about student mastery”? Sure, it’s not the in-a-fancy-spreadsheet-with-special-colors data that we know and love. In some ways, it’s better. It’s real-time. It’s immediately actionable. It’s not just 0s and 100s. What more could you want in life?

Ok, if I’ve sufficiently strong-armed you into thinking this is a good idea, let’s talk logistics. Where does one get some whiteboards without breaking the bank?

This is my favorite question to answer, as it’s much easier than you’d think.

Boards: First off, do not go down to your local teacher supply store to pick these up, unless you’ve got loads of extra cash lying around burning a hole in your professionally dressed pockets. Instead, head to the local home improvement store (Home Depot definitely works, Lowe’s probably does too). They might look at you a little funny if you ask for a “set of individual student whiteboards that I can use during my GP as a CFU”, so instead ask for shower board, which comes in large sheets that they’ll be happy to cut for you (tell them your a teacher and they might not charge you for the cuts). I’d go for somewhere in the 12 to 18 inch square range. You might aim for the large end if you’re teaching long division, or perhaps a more rectangular shape if you’re using them often for handwriting.  All in, you’re talking $10-20 for an entire classroom set of the boards, which is about a cheap as great classroom supplies come. Feel free to donate any leftover cash to the Department of Data Chipotle Fund.

Markers: That’s where things can get a bit more expensive. See if you can get them through your school. Otherwise, wholesale places like Costco or Sam’s Club can be a good bet. Most importantly, setting up those classroom expectations for being careful with the markers, not pressing too hard, putting the caps on, etc. will go a long way. I typically had to buy a new set about 2-3 times a year, but that was with 180 seventh and eighth graders going through my doors each day.

Erasers: I usually found a great deal on these — I could get a box of about 200 of what I like to call “magical flexible erasers” for only $1.49. Some others might call it a box of Kleenex.

How about some power tips?

Sure, here’s a few:

- play music while students are working on a question. Train students to know that when the music goes off (make sure you have a remote control), they should hold up their boards.

- at the end of the class/lesson, as a reward for good whiteboard behavior, give students 60 seconds to draw whatever they want on their boards (or prompt them with something fun). Just be sure to hammer home some sort of “keep it appropriate” message. 

- revisit classroom expectations each time you use the boards. Check out the PowerPoint listed in the next bullet point for a list of the ones I used in my classroom.

- try using a PowerPoint to display the question, then when students are finished, click to show the answer. Combine with a music for a powerhouse review session. Check out the opening to this PowerPoint from my TeacherTechToolkit workshop for an example that you are more than welcome to steal.

Well, those are a few ideas that are hopefully helpful, but we’d love to hear your ideas and questions? Have you tried using whiteboards? How’d it go? What are you wondering? Let us know by leaving a comment in this post or send us an email at ddmphx at teachforamerica dot org. Happy whiteboarding!

Click here to take the two-question survey.

One lucky corps member who enters will win a $20 amazon.com gift certificate to get something for his/her classroom and some school supplies for the entire collaborative. It’s our way of saying thanks for your time, since we know you’re just a little bit busy these days. But it’s not just a bribe – we’re doing it because we know the prize will benefit students (which, we hope you realize, is the whole reason we want to create a positive culture around data in the first place.)

Your response will help us support you after you leave institute and help us plan next year’s institute data projects. Thanks!

After the results were tallied, the Rose Linda Bulls were in 8th place in the first Clean Data Competition.  Many thought they had no chance going into the second running of the Clean Data Competition and paid them no mind, setting their sights instead on Desert Edge Copper.

Big mistake.

Led by School Director Jennifer Wakefield (Mississippi Delta ’01) and rallied by School Operations Manager Robin Peterson (S. Louisiana ’07), the Rose Linda Bulls quietly exemplified the corps values of Continually Increasing Effectiveness (fixing data errors) and Relentless Pursuit of Results (results = a sweet title belt).

To find out more about these come-from-behind champs, the Department of Data recently took a visit to deliver the goods and to see what makes Rose Linda such a special place.

What we found was a school of champions.

Not only did Rose Linda win the second Clean Data Competition, they have also won the past two Resource Room competitions as well.  And in talking with Corps Members and staff, it was easy to see that this dedication to winning also applied to the classroom.

Whether it was observing Math-Lit Hour with Darla Bunting (Greater New Orleans ’08 ) and Chris Blankenship (Greater New Orleans ’08 ) or learning about text-to-text connections with Ashley Campos (Phoenix ’08 ) and her fifth graders, it was clear Rose Linda takes pride in everything it does.  Not only were the lessons engaging, but Bunting and Blankenship went on at length about using data in their classroom to group students, check for understanding, and individualize instruction.  (And we didn’t even pay them to say it.)

How did these Corps Members learn how to do all these things?  With a crackerjack staff, that’s how.

In School Director Wakefield, the Bulls have a top-notch former teacher who will be moving on to join the Teacher Preparation Team Design Wing (Translation: “Works on institute all year long”) after the summer.  Oh, and in addition to teaching in the Delta and in Arizona, Jennifer also happens to have a law degree.

At her side is School Operations Manager Peterson, a first grade teacher in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana and a native of Phoenix.  When she’s not busy winning Institute-wide competitions (or jumping on the full-size trampoline in her apartment in Louisiana), Robin has also been known to hand out TAL-rubric-related awards based on the animal kingdom (such as the Investing Iguana) to Rose Linda CMs.

Completing the wonderful team at Rose Linda are a bunch of staff members who are totally committed to closing the achievement gap.  With our own four eyes, the Department of Data witnessed Christine Probasco and Drew Shaw lead their CMA groups in practicing BP-level presentation of academic content (E-1) and Curriculum Specialist Kasey Boike observe data-filled lessons.  And when they aren’t leading their school to high student achievement scores they’re doing things like reciting every word to Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.”  (It was the first song to which CMA Tracey Naylor ever danced.)

Yes, it’s true, data-lovers.  The mighty Rose Linda Elementary is Clean Data Competition champions.  Their hard work has paid off yet again.

The only question is…can they repeat next week?

It’s hard to believe, but in just two weeks there will be 647 brand new teachers spreading across the country to diverse locales, from Greensburg, LA to Buckeye, AZ, Indianapolis to Jefferson Parish.  Everyone here is past the halfway point, and it’s hard for many to believe that (gulp) teaching-an-entire-day-every-day is almost here.

Back when I was a Corps Member (one year ago? has it really only been a year?), I remember this time of Institute being a strange mix of elation and anxiety.  I wasn’t where I wanted to be as a teacher, yet I also had individual success stories that kept me going.

So with that in mind, I thought it would be good for the Department of Data to help the 2008 corps step back and retarget those strange emotions that are swirling around.

How do you do that?  Why, by celebrating your successes, of course.  And what better way to do that than by looking at…

MID-INSTITUTE DATA!

(*Wild cheers from the crowd.*)

Yes, last week was a busy one for the Department of Data, as we collected all of your Student Achievement data (tracking tools), as well as Mid-Institute Surveys  and TAL Rubric data.  If you’ve spent any time around Teach For America, you can probably guess that we spend a ton of time focusing on how we can improve based on this data. So, we thought we’d take a moment here to celebrate the positives, of which there are many.

Chew on this:

• In just two weeks of teaching, corps members have reached an average of 28% of their TAL Rubric goals
• 96% of Corps Members have already met the goal for B-1, setting big goals
• 36% of Corps Members have already met their goal on creating a welcoming environment (I-5)
• 25% of Corps Members have already met the goal for E-1, clearly presenting academic content
• 80 students have already met or exceeded their growth goals, not even halfway through the summer!
• 93% of Corps Members turned in a Mid-Institute survey. Thank you!
• As of Mid-Institute, there were 16 CMA groups who gave their CMA 100% satisfaction ratings on the mid-institute survey
• 64% of CMs “agree” or “strongly agree” that university operations run smoothly, a high number for any institute (let alone a brand new one!) 
• The question “My Curriculum Specialist is helpful in my development as a teacher” averaged a score of a whopping 6.22 on a 7-point scale

As you can see, there is plenty to celebrate as we begin Week 4.  There is certainly a lot to improve, but for the next minute, sit back, relax, and breathe in the success you’ve already achieved.

The Department of Data had to dust off the IOC rule book to determine tiebreaker methodology, and after several painstaking rounds of review, the inclusion of co-evaluation cleanliness, and the hiring of third-party tabulation services from Ernst and Young , the winner is…

Rose Linda Elementary School!

It’s one for the record books — who would have thought the Rose Lindians would be the comeback kids after last week’s 8th place showing? So stay tuned for a special blog feature on the mighty champions, coming soon to data blog near you (hint: it’s this one).

Q: In Microsoft Excel, how do I set it to automatically have cells change color (like red and green) depending on the value in the cell?

A: Highlight the cells, then choose “Conditional Formatting”, in the “Format” menu. It’s great for those visual learners among us. Type it in to the Help system or Google for more details.

Easy, right?

Q: What do you get when you cross a scorpion, the 29th element, and an unparalleled attention to detail?

A: The first-ever Clean Data Competition winners, Desert Edge Copper!

But Desert Edge Copper, led by the relentless Michelle Brown, isn’t just a school full of Excel-lovers.  Oh, no.  It’s much more than that.  As part of their prize for winning the Clean Data Competition (along with a little something else, pictured above), the Department of Data recently visited this bastion of student achievement in order to express our congratulations in person.  Here’s what transpired…

Located in in the West Valley town of Goodyear, Desert Edge was built seven years ago and has earned a rating of “Silver” from the US Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System.  They were the fifth school in the world to hold that distinction and are the only school in Arizona.  By building with recycled materials, collecting rainwater to replenish local aquifers and using an efficient heating and cooling system, Desert Edge Copper isn’t just a leader of the pack in data collection.

But enough about the school itself, let’s talk about the great teachers inside of that environmentally-friendly building, led by a data-friendly rock star staff: Michelle Brown, Ilene Arnsdorf, Victor Diaz, Bethany Heinzen, Colleen Anderson, Emily Compton, John Fisher, Sarah Harris, Gracielle Loree, Kathryn Rice, Rob Salazar, and Ian Stormont. 

During the super-official visit from the DOD, where we were treated to special music courtesy of Curriculum Specialist Victor Diaz (pictured above hypnotizing Desert Edge CMs, a new strategy we are piloting this summer), we were able to see the incredible things going on inside DE Copper’s classrooms.  As an example of the incredible things going on at the home of the Scorpions, one needs to look no further than Alicia Laura (Wayne State) and Kathryn Richardson (St. Louis University), a pair of 2008 GNO Corps Members in Colleen Anderson’s CMA group who we had a chance to speak with briefly on Tuesday.

Teaching English this fall, Ms. Laura has seen her students go from a 50% average on the diagnostic to 89% mastery on daily objectives taught in her classroom.   In another inspiring display of the power of Relentless Pursuit, her collaborative member Ms. Richardson reported that 12 of 14 students got a 100% on their last quiz.

Both Ms. Laura and Ms. Richardson agreed that their student successes were greatly assisted by a fellow member of their collaborative (and fellow GNO corps member), Mr. Brody Hale (Tufts).  With teachers and results like these, it’s clear to see that Desert Edge Copper is a great place to be a TFA teacher. By the way, if you have the chance to visit, make sure you check out Ms. Forcier’s awesome classroom chant, which is quite pet-friendly. We also heard rumors that a tap dance performance is in store for us during the next D.O.D. visit.

Now, before we end this post, we don’t want you to think, “Wow, Desert Edge Copper sure is great.  There’s nothing we can do to win the Clean Data Competition Title now…” Because, as it just so happens, there is!

Starting July 2nd, the Department of Data is proud to sponsor the second-ever Clean Data Competition. Who will win??? Can anyone defeat Michelle Brown’s Mighty Machine???  Who will get an entire feature dedicated to their school on the Department of Data blog???

Stay tuned…

And so, before we give you some very useful workshop information…start the drum roll, cue the trumpets and scoot to the edge of your seats as we announce the winner of the first-ever Cleanest Data Competition…

Congratulations, Desert Edge Copper Scorpions! With only three errors in your diagnostic data, you earned the distinction of Diagnostic Data Champion! Stay tuned throughout the week for more information on this extraordinary feat and this extraordinary school.

In other data news, workshops on a number of topics were given this past weekend. In an effort to set the bar high for all other workshops, the Department of Data gave two different workshops, Math Doesn’t Have to be Boring (Olin) and Teacher Tech Toolkit (Lewis). 

For those of you who weren’t able to attend both workshops given by the Department of Data (shame on you!), we have uploaded PowerPoints and one-pagers from these highly-rated, always-imitated, student-achievement-related workshops, including a Jeopardy! PowerPoint that will change your life.  Just click on the links posted throughout this post, and pretty soon you, too can be pretend to be the Department of Data from the comfort of your very own home.  (<-Hassayampa = home.)

Much like everything else coming from the Department of Data, these presentations are high quality and low cost (free). Unlike everything else coming from the Department of Data, they happen to be missing one very important item.

Stay tuned throughout the week for a feature on Desert Edge Copper, as well as more helpful information to assist you now and when you’re in your region.