Pub. 6 2016-2017 Issue 1

10 How to Talk with Data: Seven Questions to Ask While Using Data to Make Better Educational Decisions T eaching is an interactive, collaborative process. At its most basic level, it is an interaction between one teacher and one learner. The learner informs the process by exposing the teacher’s success or failure. If the learner is able to demonstrate what was taught, the teacher judges the col- laboration to be successful and it continues, either to confirm the learning by replicating the demonstration or by extending the process to another objective. In schools, teaching is even more collaborative as it involves numerous learners for each teacher and several teachers working together across classrooms. Learners enjoy the benefits of col- laboration as they observe the successes and failures of other students in their classrooms and throughout the school, and adjust their own performance accordingly. Teachers, often working in teams known as professional learning communities, consult and collaborate with one another, review one another’s practices, and suggest revisions. As Glickman (2002) said of a teacher’s quest for success, “I cannot improve my craft in isolation from others. To improve, I must have formats, structures, and plans for reflecting on, changing, and assessing my practice [which]…must be continually tested and upgraded with my colleagues” (p. 4). In a true community of collabora- tive learners, teachers work with their students, professional colleagues, parents, and administrators to improve their practices through observation and inspection, data analysis, intervention planning, and further revision of practices based BY Richard P. West, Ph.D. Tetra Analytix, LLC and Utah State University