As educators, we know that each child learns differently and begins the development ofplanning with data new
concepts at different points, based on prior learning. Your task is to identify each child’s strengths and areas for
growth through the use of data. The data may be summative, such as a comprehensive assessment, a state
assessment, a lab report, a project, or may be formative, such as an independent reading record, observations,
or a short quiz given to inform instruction.
Before you begin the project, you need to think about the following:
What do I already know about each student’s strengths and areas for growth?
Are there some students for which I need additional data/information to better understand their needs?
Are there other staff members on campus who might have additional insights?
For the project, you will select a previously given assessment from the types listed above, and use the data
from the assessment to determine next steps for instruction for each student.
As you look at the data and develop your project, you will want to address questions such as:
Given this data point, which students “got it,” which students “kind of got it,” and which students “didn’t get it at
all?”
Would all students falling into these categories benefit from the same intervention or do they have different
needs/skill sets/gaps that would require different interventions?
What research-based strategies would be best for each group or individual student?