Tom Waters

Data is not new to education, but its use has many iterations. What are connected educators saying about data best practices? Why do amazing educators embrace data? How is data currently used to improve performance? What words of caution do thought leaders provide? How Do Your Teams Measure Success? Goals and plans are useless without targets. I can have the best plan, but where is it taking me? How will I know when I get there? The same applies for schools. Data does nothing alone. It requires context, culture, and targets to take on meaning. I Never Heard a Number Explain Itself A bit of caution on measurement. There is always a story behind the numbers. Qualitative observations are essential. - Douglas Reeves  @DouglasReeves Contextual factors are always present within the classroom, the school, and the home. Those factors do impact numbers. We can change contextual factors, but it takes we. When we ask why in response to data, it's easy to blame the only adult in t...

It is the strategy, approach, and set of techniques that can unleash the largest results in student learning. Its name is vague and uncertain. It comes from the research in John Hattie's  Visible Learning . At the top of Hattie's research is a simple instructional strategy called, student visible learning. But what is it? What should we look for in our schools and classrooms to ensure it's happening? Are we designing curriculum and instructional materials that embed visible learning techniques for teachers and students to use? Are we building systems of support and development to increase the use of this powerful instructional strategy? Visible Learning: The Big Picture How do we help students become their own teacher? Helping them to see their learning and make the best choices about how to learn? That is visible learning. Student visible learning is the set of strategies teachers use to help students gain ownership of their own growth. These strategies incre...