Pros+of+Data+Analysis

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According the //Illinois State Board of Education's// website//,// illinois is in the second phase of integrating the Common Core Standards. The first phase was the communication and adoption of the standards by the school districts. The status of Phase II and Phase three read as ongoing which is completely understandable when you consider the breadth of what it involves. The two key components of the next two phases are "Resource Design" and "Implementation". The issue will arise when school districts must find a common way for teachers to assess and measure the data. Unless schools are using common assessments (both formative and summative) than the implementation will be in vain because the data will be skewed. Administrators and the state cannot measure one teacher's scores when they are not giving the same test as another teacher. An equally important challenge is analyzing the assessment data in a consistent way. One teacher might only be concerned about failure rates while another is looking at the mean score. Teachers must have consistent goals and consistent ways to measure those goals. I will touch on the ways of assessing and measuring the resulting data, but let's first look at some of the pros of focusing on data assessment.

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 * Common Standards Promotes Common Assessment/Analysis: Common Core presents teachers with many standards. An initial look at the standards can be a bit overwhelming for any teacher. However, once course teams break down what is important for their course and the sequence of their curriculum, they can better focus on these standards. Some districts, including my own District 116, call these "Power Standards". It is taking an existing standard database (Common Core, College Readiness Standards, etc.) and deciding what each course team is responsible for and when. By using data assessment technology, it promotes teacher using technology to assess their standards.
 * Locates Growth and Targets Weaknesses -Educators work in a world where standard are becoming everything. An educator's job is at stake if they cannot present data to show how the students have mastered, or at the very least grown towards, a specific standard. Using technology to test and assess students will give educators and easier way of showing their success in their classroom. In the same way, educators can also see the needs of students sooner in the semester through coded exams. This will allow them to adjust much more efficiently. As I will show later in the //"//Major Programs" section, these programs are great for showing exactly where a class succeeded and fell short.
 * Increases Collaboration- Finding time to collaborate is an increasingly vital commodity at schools. Every year teachers receive more duties that take them away from their primary duty, education. Using date, while it may seem like additional work, makes it easier for teachers to collaborate and discuss their curriculum. Creating one common assessment for their unit keeps the conversations and meetings focused and on target. In regards to specific standards, teachers can compare their strategies to decide which worked and which didn't. Also, a look at individual sections can reveal other possibilities for success

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 * Provides Opportunities for Classroom Motivation - Educators can use the data to create info-graphics that students can use to reflect and set goals upon. The video below gives an overview of visual data, basically creating info graphics from the data collected. It explains that we live in a world filled with data. Visualizing this data in many different ways can help to teach, assess, and reorganize the data for further you. It can be reasonably inferred that since our students live in a world flooding with data and graphics, using some of these tools can help them better understand the world around them.

Found this app on the Apple Store - //Common Core Look-Fors//. Although it is only available for Math and Technology currently, it does hint at some great things to come for all areas of Common Core. The app lets you collect, analyze, and present data. I spoke with an administrator in my district and he was using this app for walk throughs and teacher evaluation meetings. He said it helped him use the data the teachers provided him and evaluate how they approached teaching the standards. Just another way that using technology with data analysis in mind make schools more efficient.

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