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Bridge Event Webinar Transcript:
Implementing a Data Literate Culture at the
School and Teacher Levels Pt. II
April 2, 2015
Presenters:
 Ellen Mandinach, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, WestEd
 Diana Nunnaley, Director, TERC
 Vicki Wilson, PreK–Grade 1 Principal, Homer Elementary School, Byng Public
Schools, OK
 Janna Davis, Grades 2–5 Principal, Homer Elementary School, Byng Public
Schools, OK
REL Southwest Facilitators:
 Haidee Williams, PhD, Research Liaison, REL Southwest
 Jackie Burniske, Dissemination Director, REL Southwest
To view a video of this archived webinar:
http://relsouthwest.sedl.org/bridge_events/2015-03-05_datalit2/index.html
Video: Turnaround Practices in Achievement Gain Schools
John J. Doran School, Fall River, MA
Linda Martin Isherwood, Intervention, K–3:
If you are a school that is going through this process, coming out of a Level 4, I think the
mindset is so important that you think about what you can do to change things. You are not
looking at what the child can’t do. You are looking at how you can change and reach that child. I
think that we all have that mindset here that every child can learn. We’ll take them from where
they are to where they need to be.
Woman 1:
I think Year 1 really was about systems building, so we created, obviously, our teams. We used
to meet, but I think it was more informal. And we made sure that everything we did had a
purpose, and we were tracking and documenting all of our work.
Tanya Raposa, Special Ed Inclusion, K–3:
There’s definitely expectations. When you come every six weeks, you have to have your data.
You have to have your attendance sheets. In the past, you might say, “Well, this student’s
struggling.” Okay, we knew that six weeks ago, but what has changed over that time?
Bridge Event Webinar Transcript for April 2, 2015
Video: John J. Doran School, Fall River, MA
Woman 2:
The teachers now have data walls in their classroom of various different data points, and the
kids have folders with all of their data in it. And they have data conferences with each student
saying, “This is where you were, this is where you need to be, and setting goals.” That’s
empowering for kids, so now they know where they are and they know where they need to be.
Woman 1:
It’s really about what we’re putting in front of kids and really about being thoughtful about the
instruction and the tasks and really listening to where children are, because the student work is
really a barometer for what is happening in the classroom.
Wendi Bandi, Teacher, Grade 4 Math Class:
[teacher talking to three male students] The biggest idea that you have to share with your
classmates, if I said pick one thing that you wanted to share about this investigation, what would
you share?
Student:
I will share the number…
Wendi Bandi, Teacher, Grade 4 Math Class
[speaking to student] Number line? What do you think?
[speaking to camera] We give them a type of problem, and what they know at the end of each
class is they’re going to have to share out. So what did I learn from this? Did I get stronger in
one area? What type of models did you use? What type of strategies? They are almost writing
their own objectives. Because there are so many different entry points when you look back and
see the different groups that I met with. One group was just focusing on, “Am I dividing 125, or
am I multiplying it?” Whereas a separate group was saying, “I’m going to use this number line,”
but maybe they’re working on how to partition that number line. Each group has their own entry
point on what they were learning.
Brian Raposo, Former Math Instructional Coach (now a school principal):
We knew that if we invested in teachers, at the end of the day, the teacher matters. So if we
have good quality instruction going on in classrooms, we would be able to move the building.
[showing Grade 1 ELA professional learning community] We ended up with these teams in three
to eight, and Diane and I would facilitate weekly a common planning time, so we ensured that
we had a schedule that was aligned so that teachers could meet. They could look at student
work together. They could discuss data, develop action plans based on their data.
Woman 1:
Like what I know now, I think teaming is so important and also creating a culture of collaboration
and transparency. Our staff communications is a huge piece of our work. Our staff owns the
work at Doran.
– End of Transcript –
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