The Importance of Data Collection

Data collection is an important part of the education system as it is intended to provide valuable information for educators, administrators, and curriculum coaches. Educators use the data in various ways to enhance, support, and improve their instruction. Different types of data are used and completed throughout the year in order to provide specific and meaningful information depending on the desired data collected. 

For instance, at Swan Valley Schools in 2023-2024 students were assessed using MAPS testing, Dibels, Core Phonics Survey screener, Smarter Balance, and Aimsweb Plus. These assessments provide different information based on the designated content area being assessed. We assess for math preparedness and ability focusing on Content and Application, Numeracy proficiency, and Fact Fluency knowledge, and different composite modules that comprise of the Math Composite score presented on reports. English Language Arts includes Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, Letter Naming Fluency, Segmentation, Nonsense-Word Reading, and Oral Reading Fluency to have an accurate composite score. 

Based on the assessments of the previous year, in 2024-2025 students were assessed using Aimsweb Plus, Core Phonics Survey, Dibels, and Montana Aligned to Standards Through-Year (MAST). This data was specifically used to determine school-wide goals and instructional impact.This information is different from what is provided on Office of Public Instruction (OPI) state report card information and should not be interpreted as the general performance of students at SVS. 

What these indicators provide us with is individual student progress in areas that are necessary in order for students to be successful in math, reading, language arts, etc. and how they will be able to build their knowledge with new content as it is provided. It also provides us detailed content specific information that can be used to determine areas of need for further instruction, explicit interventions, and when a student may need additional support or encouragement to perform at a higher level. 

Parents see the importance of data collection when it is presented in a way that is equated to their students’ learning, however, this can be misinterpreted without a narrative or explanation provided to bridge the gap between the assessment results and their students’ grade or report card performance rating. 

One struggle as a school administrator is how to share this assessment information with parents so that it can be processed in the manner in which it is intended. All assessments are glimpses or “snapshots” of what a students’ ability is. They are also determined by various factors that can change the overall performance of a student based on their motivation, attention, distractibility, mental or physical fatigue, emotional state at the time of testing, the time of day the testing occurs, and if the student was present for all instruction of the content being assessed.  

National norms are used to provide baseline information as a guideline that sets specific demographic parameters that are easier to track over time. When comparing students in the same grade for instance, students should be receiving the same content instruction as the Common Core State Standards helped create consistency and expectation of grade-level proficiency across the country. Therefore, understanding how to correctly interpret the data is essential in understanding the overall performance or composite score. One additional factor to consider is that all tests use a different scoring technique that is unique to that assessment. There is not one scoring rating that exists to help isolate and determine score outcomes across multiple assessments. 

What is helpful in determining where your child(ren) is performing, is to isolate content specific areas that can be dissected to skills within the content area, such as literacy based screeners. The Core Phonic Survey screener breaks the literacy knowledge into isolated skills when reading letter names, sounds, CVC words, long-vowel spellings, R-controlled vowels, Variant Vowels, and multisyllabic words. This can help guide specific practice and intervention materials appropriate for individualized student instruction. 

There is no “right” way or “wrong” way of providing students of all ages with opportunities to learn, practice, or use information they’ve been taught. There are more effective strategies that are proven to provide higher results, and there are strategies that work for different students that do not work for other students. 

All assessments should be given to provide information on instructional relevance and allow for teachers to perfect and refine their instructional impact accordingly. One report card per year cannot adequately share and exhibit a students’ overall performance and knowledge. 

Here is a resource that may help as well:
https://www.montanapta.org/uploads/1/2/4/1/124113056/montana-assessment-guide-2016.pdf 

Many Blessings,
Angela Mock
Swan Valley Principal