Schools dive into data to find their way
What is going wrong, when and where, and how can it be improved?
WATERLOO REGION — The public school board is hiring two more data analysts after learning what can go wrong when data is disregarded.
The expansion of a new research department reveals an understanding by the Waterloo Region District School Board that to build better schools, it has to find numbers, study them and use them to measure progress and craft strategies.
Embracing data is a learning curve for educators as it is for businesses and governments. The board is still falling short in ways, such as by not collecting enough data to tackle challenges with its popular French immersion program.
But board chair Scott McMillan sees a payoff in using numbers with more purpose.
“I think as far as school boards around the province, we’re ahead of the curve,” he said. “Maybe not leading the way, but certainly we’re an early adapter.”
Previously, the board would start a program and let it proceed based on what educators believed.
“There’s now an understanding that when we try something new, we’re going to measure its performance, determine whether or not it’s working,” McMillan said. “If it is working, we’re going to keep doing it, and if it’s not working, we’re going to try to figure out why...
“I think it’s a lot more pervasive in our society than you might think, for people to not measure what they’re doing.”
The board paid less attention to data before the Ministry of Education first revealed its poor graduation rate in 2014. An analysis of standardized test results further revealed that the board had allowed students to drift behind their Ontario peers in reading, writing and math.
Since then the board has vowed to collect and analyze numbers with more purpose, embedding targets and timelines in a new strategic plan to improve math scores and the graduation rate.
Last year, the board established a research department to “find, understand, and use the best available data and evidence to make decisions that have a greater likelihood of producing desired outcomes.”
The department is expanding to five in August with two analysts whose jobs are posted online at salaries of up to $89,600 each. Researchers will be drilling down to individual students, looking for ways to predict problems and measure progress. The board will be collecting data on discrimination in schools to help eliminate it.
A lack of data also has been an issue for the board’s task force into French immersion.
The board had no data on why children enrol in French immersion or why so many drop out later. It did not have data on how effectively it communicates immersion goals. It had not examined Grade 3 test scores for immersion students, available from a provincial agency.
Starved of evidence, the task force concluded in April with more questions than answers. It recommended a followup review the board plans to undertake this fall, at a cost of $150,000 to hire a consultant.