Last year, I opened Teacher Data Literacy Week with commentary on the pandemic and the uncertainty of schooling across the country. We were reeling from the new situations we found ourselves in and unsure when the global health crisis would end. In many ways, we still are.
What we discussed during Teacher Data Literacy Week last year holds true for this year. Data is key to helping students and educators navigate the remainder of this pandemic and begin to recover. And without the time and training to become data literate, teachers are unable to use effectively data to support students. Leaders can and should prioritize teacher data literacy to ensure that teachers have the skills and training they need.
The difference is that we know more now. We know that teachers and students across the country have adapted and learned from their virtual schoolwork. We know that teachers like Caylah Green, who we’ll hear from on the DQC blog tomorrow, have new appreciation for being given time and school-wide tools to analyze data with their peers.
In DQC’s 2020 annual poll of teachers, we found that teachers want data to understand the impact of remote learning and training to use it effectively. Eighty-nine percent of teachers agreed that they want data about which of their students are furthest behind so that they can provide targeted interventions to get their students back on track for success. Teachers have always valued data and data literacy, understanding that it supplements the in-classroom experiences they have with their students. And as teachers transitioned online, data became even more important to understanding student progress.
2021 is the third year that DQC has hosted Teacher Data Literacy Week – and we hope you’ll join us for this year’s conversation. We’ll be digging into the impact of the pandemic on how educators used data this past year and importantly, what worked. We want to know what educators have learned and how that will impact their data use in the future. We can’t wait to hear what you think.
This blog post is the first in a two-part series as part of DQC’s Teacher Data Literacy Week 2021. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post sharing a teacher’s perspective on time and tools for teacher data literacy. And don’t forget to join the conversation on social media throughout the week using #TDLMatters.
