3 Tools to Inform Your Teaching with Data

Collecting and using student performance data to inform one’s instructional decision-making is a fundamental part of the teaching and learning process. For many teachers, the collection process is manageable; that said, analyzing and applying the data can be more challenging. Fortunately, there is a growing number of digital tools that empower teachers in the area of data-driven instruction.

Digital technologies with robust data collection capabilities can help teachers:

• Develop hypotheses about student learning

• Identify patterns of student proficiency on specific content

• Test the effectiveness of various teaching interventions and strategies

• Conduct evidence-based discussions on instructional decisions

• Collaborate with colleagues, parents and students for increased success

Consider adding these 3 digital tools that enable teachers to better inform their professional practice to your teacher toolkit:

1. Socrative

Engage and assess students with this free, formative assessment tool by posing questions to students and instantly collecting results. This is a great tool for tracking the progress of each student or the whole class as the class lesson progresses. Student progress during these informal formative assessments can be determined with a quick glance thanks to the tool’s instant feedback visualizations.

(Available on laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones)

2. Google Apps for Education’s Productivity Tools

Google Apps for Education has a free suite of 8 productivity tools that encourage data collection and collaboration. With Google Forms, teachers can create and send informal formative assessments to students. With Google Spreadsheets, they can then extract and analyze assessment performance. Most important to this process, teachers can easily invite parents, students and school leaders to participate in the learning improvement process by leaving comments. Although this suite of tools requires more heavy lifting than Socrative, teachers have the opportunity to establish unique performance measurements.

(Available on laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones)

3. ClassDojo

Track classroom behavior in real-time throughout the day with this free, classroom management tool. With ClassDojo, teachers can award students feedback points for positive behavior, learning habits and accomplishments. At the end of each day, students, teachers and parents can reflect on how a student’s behavior compared to the rest of the class, or to the rest of the school year in the tool’s reporting. This tool enables teachers to better use data to inform their classroom management goals. It also equally, if not more importantly, supports teachers in boosting parent engagement with students’ behavioral progress.

(Available on laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones)

All three of these digital tools have robust data tracking and analytics capabilities that enable teachers, parents, and school leaders to more effectively understand, communicate and respond to students’ classroom learning strengths and weaknesses.