Using Data-Informed Instruction to Drive Education: Keeping Catholic Education a Viable and Educationally Sound Option in Challenging Times

Abstract

Teachers in Catholic schools are not immune from pressures to improve students' scores on high stakes tests, and standards-based education is not new to Catholic schools. Nationally, many public school systems have moved to implement Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or other similar standards. Assessment, in turn, has been tied to these standards. In many states, Catholic schools have the option as to whether to implement accepted state standards or to create standards of their own. The Committee on Catholic Education (CCE) gives each bishop the authority to lead the CCSS discussion at the local level and to eventually make a decision based on what is best for each individual diocese (2014). Regardless of implementation of government mandates, students graduating from Catholic schools will ultimately be held to the same standards and outcome-based measures when it comes to their graduates' ability to compete for post-secondary educational scholarships, national merits, and other accolades based in part on national standardized test scores. The academic achievement data provided by public school systems allow parents and others to see if their students meet grade level standards. Catholic schools then, must provide such data if they wish to measure themselves against those enrolled in the competing public and private schooling options. If Catholic schools are to remain a viable option in this ever-increasing competitive educational environment, teachers must become more comfortable collecting and analyzing data in an effort to help drive instruction and high levels of academic achievement. The collection of data to drive instruction is often referred to as data informed instruction (DII). The premise behind DII is to imbed data collection into daily classroom routines, use the data to make any necessary instructional plans or modifications, and to continuously monitor student performance to predict academic gains. When DII is used properly, it becomes an ongoing formative assessment. These formative assessments allow progress monitoring at the individual, class-wide and building levels, while providing an opportunity for teachers to adjust teaching strategies and make instructional modifications as needed (Sattler, 2001). This article outlines how Catholic schools can set up a professional development program that informs, educates, and gains buy-in from teachers surrounding the use of data-informed instruction in Catholic classrooms and across a diocese. The steps that are addressed include the need to change perceptions, inform teachers on how to collect and examine data (behavioral and educational), and end with ways to help make data collection and analysis an efficient component of daily routines.