The Role of Data in Continuous Improvement Planning

PowerSchool acquired Hoonuit and its industry-leading data and analytics platform in Fall of 2020. 

For educators who are committed to giving their students the best possible learning experience, the school improvement planning process can seem endless. It may seem like every new idea comes with a fresh challenge to overcome. Yet these obstacles stem from relying on an out-of-date framework. It’s time for a cultural shift in the school improvement planning process—one that prioritizes data as a tool to facilitate real change.

Education for the Future, a non-profit initiative with California State University of Chico, is one of the organizations spearheading this paradigm shift. For over 25 years, EFF has helped school districts use data to identify critical areas for improvement and stay focused on the shared vision they have for their students.

At PowerSchool, we’re always looking for new ways to connect with industry leaders who share our passion for education powered by data-driven insights. Bradley Geise from Education for the Future was the keynote speaker at the PowerSchool 2019 Infinity Conference. He spoke about actionable data, making a difference, and EFF’s innovative improvement planning framework. Read on to get his thoughts on how improvement planning helps schools and districts accomplish their goals.

All Work Is a Process

EFF’s improvement planning framework breaks down the process into five steps based on the following questions:

1. Where are we now?
2. How did we get here?
3. Where do we want to be?
4. How are we going to get there?
5. How do we know what we’re doing is making a difference?

These questions help guide the natural progression of the improvement planning process. Having clear and agreed upon responses to them can help education leaders stay on track.

Data analysis answers the first question effectively, but that’s not enough to propel educators through the entire process. Improvement planning has earned a reputation for being emotionally driven, but just as many schools and districts fall short because they have an excess of data while lacking actionable insights. Having data for data’s sake is counterproductive and can be overwhelming for decision makers.

Geise says the two primary approaches to building a school improvement plan are assessing comprehensive needs and then using your data to solve those problems A comprehensive needs assessment tracks trends and patterns over time according to a variety of metrics like demographics and location. A problem-solving methodology applies that data to issues like absenteeism in order to improve student outcomes.

Continuous school improvement planning is most effective when educators and staff combine these two approaches. As the Education for the Future motto states, “all work is a process,” and it starts with data. Yet data—no matter how valuable—is only the beginning. Standard data analysis is beneficial for compliance and accountability, but a holistic framework for improvement planning powers a shared vision for improvement.

How Data Facilitates Real Change for Students

So how does the information gathered from the school improvement planning process become real change for students and educators? This is the most challenging hurdle of all. Geise’s number one key to facilitating change after developing a rigorous plan is to deeply understand the process and internalize what that means before moving on to implementation.

“At the core of this work is understanding that the same thinking that created the problem won’t solve it,” he says. “We have to stop in between and think differently about our programs and processes. We can identify a need pretty well, but we have to stop and figure out what we do and don’t know.”

The cultural shift toward data-driven frameworks in continuous improvement planning must filter into implementation as well. Administrators must resist the urge to dive heart-first into change, and instead think critically about the best ways to sustain these improvements long-term.

Start Your Continuous Improvement Planning Journey

Turning your data into actionable insights is the cornerstone of successful continuous improvement planning. Our data management platform offers educators and staff the tools they need to start continuous improvement planning on the right foot with high-quality analytics to put the data they gather into action.