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Using Data to Improve Instruction

Communities with high standards and challenging tests have teachers and school leaders who use achievement scores to identify specific objectives that their students are—or are not—mastering. Teachers in these communities can then focus on filling in the gaps.

For example, in Tennessee, Professor Bill Sanders helps teachers analyze test score results to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. If a teacher is aiming instruction at his or her slowest students (but does not realize it), the data will show those students making some progress, but other students will lag. Perhaps another teacher's students score well on every learning objective but one (say, adding fractions with different denominators). This teacher can take the information and be sure to give more attention to fractions the following school year.

Test score data can also help schools, as a whole, to improve. For example, some schools might learn from test scores that they are teaching math effectively but are struggling with teaching writing. This information can help schools decide to spend their money on staff training in effective writing instruction. Test score data allow schools to make decisions based on facts rather than guesses.

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Last updated—December 17, 2004 (jer)