SAC Members Learn about Analyzing School Data at SAC Academy Workshop
At the April SAC Academy Workshop, SAC members learned about the importance of looking at school data before making any decisions around planning steps for supporting academic achievement.
Experts from the District Performance Office trained SAC members on how to analyze and utilize their School Progress Reports (SPRs) during SAC meetings.
The SPR provides a snapshot of each school in the District, explaining how schools have performed on standardized tests in reading, science, and math, as well as what the school's climate is like and how much progress the school has made in the past year.
Keren Zuniga-McDowell, Director of the District Performance Office, helped SAC members understand the complicated, data-heavy SPRs.
"This is just numbers," Ms. Zuniga-McDowell joked. "I don't know the story behind these numbers."
"This is an opportunity for SACs to tell the story behind those numbers," she continued.
Some SAC members pulled out their phones to follow along as Ms. Zuniga-McDowell and her colleague Allison Smith led them through how SPR scores get calculated. Ms. Zuniga-McDowell laughingly told SAC members, "Pull out your calculators! We're gonna do some math!"
Both presenters emphasized the importance of attendance, which counts toward 10% of the school's overall SPR score. "If you're not in school," Ms. Zuniga-McDowell pointed out, "how are you learning?"
The presenters also stressed how literacy scores function as an indicator of proficiency in other academic areas. "If you can't read, you can't understand how to read math problems, or science questions," Ms. Zuniga-McDowell explained.
After the presentation, SAC members took time to analyze a sample SPR, identifying the areas of success and opportunities for improvement.
Materials from Workshop:
