Selected Highlights followed by SKEWED STATS, a C&E Math Game for the Right-brained:
- The Data Coach Project, first piloted and implemented in February 2011, provides professional learning community participants with the opportunity to receive coaching in data analysis concepts and skills related to their students’ performance. Wireless Generation (WG), the State of Delaware’s partner in the statewide Data Coach Project, deployed 29 Data Coaches across the state’s schools during the 2011-2012 school year. The Data Coach Project is implemented in one of two ways: Direct Facilitation, in which the WG coach facilitates each TADa PLC; or Coach-the-Coach (CtC), in which a district or school coach, trained by WG, facilitates the PLC. The implementation of professional learning communities is to be assessed through a variety of measures, including an annual PLC Participant Survey.
- The survey was sent electronically to all teachers in the state of Delaware, totaling 8800 teachers, specialists and administrators. A total of 4848 surveys were collected from the teachers, specialists, and administrators participating in PLCs. That's a GRAND TOTAL of 53%!
- Survey responses were exported from Survey Monkey (online) into Stata data analysis software for analysis. The data were cleaned (for errors) and recoded (where necessary) in Stata and analyzed according to the survey’s key themes.
- Overall, the assessments of data coaches were positive and at least 70% of the teachers surveyed agreed that their data coach has the appropriate skills to facilitate their PLC, is responsive to the needs of their PLC, and responsive to teachers’ individual needs.
- Feedback indicated that the PLC work often seemed disconnected from the school’s mission or was a poor use of time since the teachers felt they already were skilled at using data to drive instructional practice. See "In Their Own Words" section.
- When teachers were asked what the majority of their PLC time should be focused around, Common Core implementation was included as part of their feedback. The TLEU has responded by training all Data Coaches in Common Core implementation for the 2012-2013 school year.
Wireless Generation hired and trained 29 Data Coaches. 50% of teachers responded to the survey via Survey Monkey. 70% of those 50% gave their data coaches high scores. 70% of 50% is 35% of all eligible respondents. Just sayin'... But, let's keep swimming in the skewed stats. 70% of 29 is 20.3.
Based on skewed stats, Wireless Generation has supplied 8.7 data coaches who are under-performing and under-serving our teachers and students.
DOE contracted with WG for data coaches at a cost of $8.2 million. Thus each data coach is worth about $282,758.62.
8.7 failing data coaches multiplied by their cost per unit $282,758.62 = approximately a $2.4 million negative ROI. $2.4 million washed down the drain.
And that's SS4RB - Race to the Trough Edition!
Thanks for playing Skewed Stats, a perfectly unscientific way of explaining what's between the lines.
2 comments:
I haven't gone to the link Nichole Dobo provided to look at this survey but I did notice that Mike Matthews indicated on his facebook page that the survey's end question - an essay form response - was not yet publicly available.
Is DDOE suppressing this most important data of all - statements from teachers giving details of how they really feel....
Nancy, the link above will take you to the report. There are select comments included in it. I can't say those comments are representative of all the comments collected as I haven't seen the unabridged comments, but it could potentially give you a sense of the flavor...
I can't imagine why DOE wouldn't release all of the comments...
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