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Instructional

Data Team Meetings


Why we do them:
IDT meetings are about knowing and tracking where all our students are within the cohort.
Data Teams provide an environment for teachers to have rich dialogue around teaching and
learning. The team measure the results, or impact, of their work through the use of assessments,
surveys, observations and inventories Know thy impact. Data teams have deliberate, explicit
conversations around teacher practices. Teams are receiving formative feedback as a result of their
implementation of strategies to impact learning. Through the identification of practices that are
effective, it allows for replication, celebration and encouragement to stay on that particular course.

Beginning with the end in mind is just good assessment practice.
Formative assessments are part of an ongoing process to monitor each students learning on a
continuous basis. They are intended to inform teachers regarding the effectiveness of their practice.
Formative assessment forms an integral part of the teaching and learning process at both formal and
informal levels
Informal the information that teachers gather during lessons and/or series of lessons to adjust the
pitch, pace and direction of current and successive lessons What we do every day when we are
teaching.
Formal - the information that is collected to provide an objective and detailed picture of what
students do or do not understand about particular concepts and strategies at a point in time.
Common formative assessments A collaboratively produced task with a pre-determined set of
expectations and questions to elicit the responses that demonstrate particular understandings.
*This information needs to be recorded on a year level template in order to inform individual
student checklists.
A process of regular conversation around the evidence of student learning and the teacher practices
that have influenced and impacted this learning.

How we do them:
It is a consistent and systemic process
1. Collect the data
2. Analyse the data
3. Set, review and revise incremental goals
4. Strategies
5. Result indicators
6. Monitoring and evaluating

For IDTs we first need to collect common data that will gives us the information we need to know.

2 types of data
1. Effect data student achievement and outcomes for each period of time between meetings.
2. Cause data the identified and noted strategies used that have had an impact on the
student learning. Deliberate, explicit conversations around the teaching practices.

December 2015

The process for collecting data to analyse in your IDTs starts with what you are doing in your
planning process. How you collect and analyse the information from your formative assessment
during teaching, will inform your ability to mark off student checklists.
Methods of collecting data could include:
- Plan and use common formative assessment tasks
- Plan questioning and documenting student responses.
- Have an assessment template for recording information
- Analysing student work samples and tasks and record observations
- Copies of annotated student work
- Anecdotal notes

Formative assessments are part of an ongoing process to monitor each students learning on a
continuous basis. They are intended to inform teachers regarding the effectiveness of their practice.
Common formative assessment tasks need to be developed collaboratively.
What do we want our students to achieve when we are teaching a particular sets of concepts / skills
/ knowledge? What will this look or sound like? What tasks and/or questions have been strategically
placed within our teaching to ascertain this information?
The information gathered is then used to transfer to individual checklists. There is an expectation
that all team members have written information from their common formative assessment tasks
that can be used for review and analysis to formulate judgements on student growth over that
period of time. This needs to be completed in readiness prior to each IDT.

Individual student checklists outline the skills and/or knowledge each student has achieved.
(Common formative tasks together with our formal and informal assessments inform our checklists).
Student checklists are a reflection of formative assessment but should not be used as formative
assessment.

Checklist data is transferred to Tracking tools when there is sufficient evidence that the student is
proficient in this area (EG: when dates or ticks have been entered on individual checklists to indicate
that students are proficient with the particular statement). Tracking tools should be displayed in a
central area (away from student viewing) where all team members can access them. These
documents can be filled in at any time when the skill has been achieved.

Tracking Tools reflect the growth and is depicted on the charts through a colour coding system
(We use our individual student checklists to inform the cohort tracking tools). The colours that you
use need to change between each IDT to show the growth since the previous meeting.


IDTs are about keeping our eye on the targets.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Has there been growth as expected?


What evidence have you used to make this judgement?
If more than or less than expected growth who are the students? (Faces to the data)
What teacher practices / applications contributed to the growth?
What needs to continue, what needs to be changed?
Do targets need to be readjusted?


You must come prepared with everything that you will need to support your discussions and
judgements during your IDT meetings. This could include formative assessments, student checklist
and tracking tools, as all play a part in the discussion and will make your conversations relevant.
December 2015

In these meetings you need to review whether students are progressing over that period of time as
expected. You may reflect on why or why not this may be occurring, however you are reflecting on
teacher practice. Discussions should centre on what teaching practices have worked well and what
changes will be required to address your hunches?


Discussions during IDTs are recorded in IDT minutes documentation and are distributed to all team
members. A summary then needs to be collated including the growth for all students. The summary
needs to include the students who have been identified as below or above expected growth for that
particular time frame (4 5 weeks)
Alongside these should be the teacher practices that have worked effectively and had a positive
impact on student outcomes, together with how and where they can be implemented in the future.
The minutes are to be used at planning meetings to recall the identified high impact strategies to be
used for future teaching programs.

When we do them:
Data should be discussed on a regular basis, regularly tracking student growth and areas of need.
IDTs need to be completed on a consistent 4 to 5 weekly basis, in conjunction with the School Data
Team meeting timetable. All curriculum areas do not need to be analysed at once, so long as they
have all been addressed prior to each School Data Team meeting (Leadership Team). During SDT the
data is reviewed on a school wide basis where effective practices are shared by the various year
levels and support can be sought where needed.

December 2015

Timing of IDT conversations may vary depending on what stage of the teaching and learning process
you are currently in and on the curriculum area you are discussing.


Questions to drive our conversations within IDT meetings:
There are multiple questions that drive your conversations when participating in an Instructional
Data Team Meeting.
IDT discussions to enable sharing of analysed data
Did the students demonstrate the growth that was expected of them?
What and how has this growth been demonstrated? (Informal and formal formative
assessments)
What is the evidence telling us, what does it mean, how can we use it to improve what we
do next?
What do we need to change if expected growth has not been achieved?
What strategies were used to achieve growth? How and why did they impact on the student
learning results?

Think about what is occurring with the growth of your students. Whats contributing to the growth
of each group? Identify the names of the students to put a face to the data and guide your
conversation.
What hunches do we have about students who have not shown growth as expected? What practices
and processes can we as teachers implement to address these ideas?

were the tasks targeted at the correct level,


were the LI & SC explicit
did the practices and applications correlate with what you were wanting the students to
explore/practice/apply
were the tasks (learning and/or formative assessment) matched with teaching goals
Was the type and timing of the questioning applicable in generating thinking and strategy
skills
was there time or lessons given to implement your feedback
was collation of data efficient and effective and did the data tell us what we needed to know

Planning process

What concepts do they already understand or know?


Where do we want them to be at the end of this unit?
Where are the gaps? What concepts do they not know?
Do they know parts of some concepts but require further instruction?
Are there anomalies? Where and why?
What teaching practices, as identified in the IDT, have the students responded to? What has
worked? Why has it worked?
How can we get students to the next step? What will the time frame be? How will we know
when they have made that step? What are we expecting to hear and see from the students?
What formative assessment tasks will be used to monitor learning?
What did the students achieve?

December 2015

December 2015

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