Data-Driven and Relationship-Focused

"Data-Driven and Relationship-Focused"

I love to look at data.  I love to chart it out, look for trends, try to make predictions, and use data to help make a plan for my school moving forward.  But I do recognize there is a danger in becoming too focused on data, and that is losing site of the reason we become educators in the first place - the child.

At my school, we have had two main ideas we are focusing on:  Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships and Data Teams.  We are trying to use data to drive all our academic decisions and to identify students needing additional time and support on standards, but we are also trying to focus on the whole-child: their needs, concerns, challenges, and victories.  I believe this is where success happens - when data and relationships meet.

We have given more time than ever before to the study of student work and the data we gather from that, but we also repeat regularly it's about relationships with our kids.  In the last few months, much of the discussion in our data team meetings has been around the fact that we know many of our students can do the work (they have the skill), but they are choosing not to (they lack the will to do it).  While we haven't found the magic wand to wave over this challenge and solve it all, we keep going back to one word - RELATIONSHIPS.  It takes building relationships with our kids, making sure they know we care, and making sure we are making them aware of how much they matter to us to motivate the will within them.  

So, this year we have worked so hard and will continue to make this our single vision:  to be DATA-DRIVEN and RELATIONSHIP-FOCUSED.

The data matters.  It is critical.  There is no doubt of its value and importance, but we will never motivate ALL students to improve if there aren't relationships in place.

Our motto is:  DATA-DRIVEN & RELATIONSHIP-FOCUSED

I'd love to learn about what other schools have done to build relationships.  Please contact me to let me know!