"Data-driven decision making" is currently in vogue in educational circles. I'm not one to chase the latest and best but I like a good idea and I think that teachers can harness this concept to promote student achievement and inform instructional practice. In the 2007-2008 school year I created a model "Data Wall" in my class to display my collection of class data related to standardized tests. I was initially surprised at the high level of attention students gave to this board and was pleased with their keen interest in analysis and evaluation of the data and updates made to the wall with subsequent formative and summative assessments. One of the many positive outcomes was a sense of seriousness about subsequent assesments and a growing sense of personal responsiblity among the students as we worked together to set specific individual goals for improvement and charted individual and class progress.
I used similar graphing and display techniques to collaborate with colleagues to analyze school-wide standardized test data. A summary of that data can be viewed upon request.
