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Graduate program reveals value of data-driven decisions

October 2010

Smiths Station High School teacher John Prestridge (left) and Benjamin Russell High School assistant principal Todd Haynie, both graduates of the Instructional Leadership Preparation Program, look over data as part of their capstone project.

The posters, printouts, reports and spreadsheets inside the “data room’’ at Benjamin Russell High School chart the student body’s academic progress while also demonstrating how assistant principal Todd Haynie '10 puts his Auburn University education into practice.

Haynie, who earned a master’s degree in elementary and secondary administration from the College of Education, learned how different forms of data can serve as a catalyst for school improvement through his studies in the Instructional Leadership Preparation program (ILP).

As budgets tighten, enrollments swell and the standards set forth by the “No Child Left Behind Act’’ toughen, the ILP program provides K-12 administrators with the ability to lead in an increasingly demanding environment. Based in the college’s Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology, the ILP offers a master’s degree program in instructional leadership for school principals. One of the primary components involves training administrators how to set up data rooms – places where student learning, demographic, perception and process data can be collected and analyzed in an effort to improve academic achievement.

“There are so many variables that affect our students and the way they learn and the things they learn,’’ Haynie said of his Alexander City, Ala., school. “Only through looking at the true data over a number of years can we identify recurring trends – good or bad – that are influencing the academic achievement of our students. By looking at the data with an open mind and collaborating with others, it is possible to see changes made that will have a positive effect on our students and their academic performance.’’

Aside from developing a better understanding of data-driven decision making, educators from 11 regional school districts learn more about technology, inclusiveness, community learning, reflective practice, leadership, collaboration and communication through the ILP program.

“We’re on the cutting edge,’’ said Sherida Downer, MALS, head the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology. “We’re the leaders in this state.’’

The program, in turn, produces administrators and educators who can provide effective leadership at the grassroots level. That means that Haynie and other administrators at Benjamin Russell High School are willing to have cordial but “tough conversations with each other’’ regarding best practices and commonly held assumptions about students and their learning. That means recent graduates like Tammie Richardson '10, a reading coach at Horseshoe Bend School in New Site, Ala., are preaching the value of “organizational learning.’’

“School systems everywhere are attempting to learn and grow as organizations in order to meet the needs of their students,’’ said Richardson, “and they have realized that they must become learners themselves in order to do this.’’

One of the ways the ILP program grooms leaders capable of reshaping organizational culture is by enabling graduate students to understand trends through research collaborations with College of Education faculty. Dr. Lynne Patrick, associate professor of educational leadership, said the program’s emphasis on data-driven decision making has proven especially valuable for school leaders as they try to assess how children learn and what teaching approaches are most effective. She said information about a school’s demographics, its educational processes and its students’ perceptions “gives you a clear understanding of what your school looks like and who your students are.’’

Better yet, the constant flow of information helps teachers deepen their understanding of what their students need from them. Teachers learn what approaches allow their students to absorb and retain lesson material. At Benjamin Russell, for example, Haynie and the rest of the school’s leadership team learn from the results of the Alabama High School Graduation Exam, student and teacher surveys, student population data, free and reduced lunch data and teacher attendance data.

“We look at formative assessments throughout the year to see how teachers can improve their teaching,’’ Patrick said. “We’re not waiting until the end of the year.’’

The ability to monitor progress in real time means everything at a time when school systems are trying to keep pace with rising achievement standards and adjust to shrinking budgets.

“This program is showing what our teachers are doing and it’s helping them assess and become better teachers,’’ Downer said. “That’s what’s really important when we talk about money and support for schools. We’re not throwing good money after bad. We’re putting good support into our school systems because we’re educating the people who go back there [to lead].’’

Last Updated: May 17, 2011