The data rooms of schools have a long history of displaying student assessment results on a chart in a staff-only area. Typically, they show levels of proficiency (below basic, basic, proficient, or advanced) in a particular area, such as math or reading. The goal is to help teachers focus on the students who are behind grade level and require intensive interventions.
Despite the present concern about privacy of students, sharing student data in a transparent way could be detrimental. When the display includes students’ names, this can lead to humiliation or shame for students who are struggling. It is crucial to consider how your school makes use of the displays and think about more secure alternatives.
Online platforms that store your learning data in a secure manner are a great alternative to the traditional school data wall. These platforms can pull data from LMS assignments and formative as well as summary assessments, demographic information and even integrate with your SIS for reports. Teachers can then access these data sets at any point in an unsecure and secure dashboard. They can make use of a broad variety of filters to concentrate on various trends or student groups or cohorts. They can also track live progress towards goals and go into detail on individual students and individual learning trends.
To make a data room useful it is essential to hold regular meetings to discuss the data. This helps teachers focus their attention and leave with concrete actions to move students forward. If a team notices that a lot of students struggle in math, for example, they might decide to develop an intervention for that specific area and monitor progress until students reach proficiency.