Effective use of data

4. Interpreting and analysing data

Practitioners
The national model of professional
learning

The national model of professional learning | Professio

nal Learning | Education Scotland
Draft Group Agreement and
Protocols
• Work together
• learn from, with, and on behalf of
each other
• create a safe space to share ideas and
build learning
• agree that everyone is an equal and
valued participant
• remain in the room (emails and
phone protocol).
Connector

In groups/pairs:

Share the job you thought you

might do when you were a
child/teenager?
Re-
cap
• In workshop 1 we looked at the purpose and use of data
including: the meaning of data and evidence, the ways
in which data is used and what we mean by ‘big’ and
‘small’ data.

• In workshop 2 we considered different categories of

data and how these may be intersected to support
improvement.

• In workshop 3 we examined how we create effective

systems and processes
Aims

In this workshop we will consider:

• national guidance and research including signposting to

national data sets
• questions to explore when analysing and interpreting
data
• the use of comparator data, and
• how to use a data analysis to inform next steps.
Content coverage

National guidance and research

Using data

Getting started

Interpreting the data

Comparator data
GTCS Standards for Full
Registration and Career Long
Professional
Curriculum and Pedagogy Learning
• 3.1.1 - Plan effectively to meet learners’ needs
• 3.1.4 - Effectively employ assessment, evaluate progress, recording and
reporting as an integral part of the teaching process to support and
enhance learning.

Professional Learning

• 3.3.2 - Engage in reflective practice to develop and advance career-long

professional learning.
GTCS The Standard for Full Registration
GTCS - The Standard for Career-Long Professional Learning
HGIOS 4
• Staff make effective use of current available data on
levels of child poverty and apply this to ensure equity
(1.5)

• All teachers have well-developed skills of data

analysis which are focused on improvement (2.3)

• We use data to evaluate the effectiveness of

interventions designed to improve outcomes for all
learners (2.3)
Rapid Evidence Review
Paper
Section four of the Education Scotland
Rapid Evidence Review on interpreting and analysing data
highlights the points below.

• Educators often report a lack of confidence in being able to

interpret data.
• Educators should be familiar with a range of key measures
and measures should be embedded into improvement
plans.
• Educators should gather and analyse improvement data
frequently and look for patterns, trends and variation.
• It is important to intersect data and evidence to
understand why a pattern, trend or gap exists.
• Schools and settings should utilise local and national
comparator data.
Using data

• Data analysis involves examining information and

breaking it down for understanding and meaning.

• To analyse data effectively educators should be

confident in:
o reading and interpreting a range of common
tables, charts and diagrams, and
o analysing and utilising the information gathered to
inform improvement.
Reflection activity
“Using data is not separate from planning and from routine decisions in
schools. Instead, data is a necessary part of an ongoing process of
analysis, insight, new learning and changes in practice.”
(Lorna M Earl and Steven Katz, 2009)

• How confident do we feel when it comes to analysing data?

• What school / classroom level data do we currently analyse?

• How do we currently utilise this data to inform improvement?

How do we start to
analyse data?

Key questions to ask:

• What do we wish to explore or find
out?
• Which data sets will help us to do this?
• Is the data we plan to look at easily
available and reliable?
What are we looking
for?
Examples:
• evidence of progress/ lack of progress
• surprising outcomes/anomalies (good and bad)
• patterns or trends emerging over time
• gaps in attainment
• the impact of a change we have implemented
• to make comparisons in relation to local/national data.
Using
attainment
data
What are we looking for? Examples

pattern There is under attainment of EAL boys in writing in

most year groups.

The attainment gap between SIMD Q1 and SIMD Q5 in

trend the current P4 has increased for the past three years
(P2 – 15%, P3 – 20%, P4 – 22%)

anomaly Girls are outperforming boys in all year groups in

reading apart from P5.

gap
• There is a 20% gap between P4, SIMD Q1 learners
and SIMD Q5 learners in numeracy.
Which data sets will help
us do this?
Examples:
• class/setting checklists or spreadsheets
• establishment tracking files (if available)
• local authority tracking tools (if available)
• national data tools, e.g. ACEL data, Insight data(secondary), BGE
benchmarking tool.
Using contextual
information
Consider  Key demographic groups (boys, girls, English as an Additional Language (EAL), ASN,
SIMD Q1 etc)
 Attendance and mobility
Analyse  How many learners are living in areas of disadvantage?
 Who are the significant demographic groups of learners within your context?
 What is the cohort attendance?
 What is the attendance of different demographic groups?
 What is the demographic profile of different cohorts?
 What stands out (i.e. because there is an imbalance or particularly large numbers of
X)?

Understand  What implications might this data have for learning and teaching? Consider:
o Understanding needs
o Developing relationships
o Attainment and achievement including pedagogical approaches or curriculum
offer
 What key questions might you ask?
Using attainment
data
Consider  –The
part
attainment 2
of cohorts and key demographic groups in different subject areas.
 How groups compare to each other and local/national comparators.
 The attainment of learners living in the areas of deprivation (SIMD Q1) against those living
in the least deprived areas (SIMD Q5).

Analyse  Attainment in each subject and cohort.

 Any trends, patterns, gaps or anomalies between groups of learners / subjects / cohorts.
Think about: Boys, girls, SIMD Q1, FSM, EAL, BME, ASN, CE etc.
 How cohort compares to national / local groups.

Understand • Are there any ‘gaps’ between a specific group of learners and ‘all’ learners in your class?
• What is the poverty related attainment gap in subjects and cohorts?
• Are any one group doing particularly well? Above expected expectations?
• How does your whole class or cohort compare to the overall school picture, national or LA
cohorts?
• Which groups of learners are most ‘at risk’ of underachievement for their age and stage?
• Are learners on track to meet their predictions?
• Which groups may need to be supported to make rapid or accelerated progress?
 Availability and
reliability
• try to keep ongoing records e.g. assessment results
• find out what data tools the local authority have available
• triangulate data – one source is unlikely to give you the full
story
• look outwards – how does the data compare to local and
national data?
Digital tools

Example tools:
• Microsoft Excel/ Google Sheets
• Microsoft Forms/ Google Forms
• Power BI
• Graphs e.g. bar, line, scatter, etc

How to sort and filter your data in excel Power BI Tutorial for Beginners
 Analysing the data

Data for illustrative purposes only

Observational/statistical
interpretation of data
Examples:
• Child A and Child D’s results have continued to decline. Has there been a change in e.g.
attendance, behaviour, confidence etc? How does this compare to other curricular
assessments?

• Child B, H, I, K & M’s results are lower than the rest of the cohort. We notice that these
children are all EAL children.

• Child J has a steady positive increase in their results. What could have impacted this
change?
Intersecting data
• Once data has been analysed, it is important to consider ‘why’ a gap, pattern or a
trend may exist.
• The next step may be to intersect different categories of data as, outlined in
workshop 2, to understand ‘why.’
Observational/statistical
interpretation
Example: of data
• You have a P3 class and you have identified from your assessments and observations that
there is an attainment gap between boys and girls in reading.

• You can see from tracking data that males are not progressing in first level as well as their
female peers. Observational data would suggest that they don't read for enjoyment. You
carry out a pupil voice survey and it confirms that that males don't enjoy reading in class
or at home.

• You decide to try test of change, using a Plan/Do/Study/Act (PDSA)* cycle. You will
introduce some new genres and texts into the class library such as comic's and books of
interest which pupils have suggested etc.
continued on next slide

*https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/2274/quality-improvement-zone/qi-tools/p
Observational/statistical
interpretation of data
Example continued:
• You introduce some new texts to
the class library/resources and you
will track reading engagement with
all pupils (with particular interest
in the males) over the next 2
months.
• Based on the data and pupil voice
you can see whether this has been
successful and can be adopted or if
a new theory can be tested.
Model for Improvement
Local examples of data – tables,
charts, graphs
• This slide is a place holder for facilitators to consider adding in any local authority
examples of data.

• This slide can be added to or removed as appropriate.

 Analysing attainment
• data - summary
Look for attainment ‘gaps’ in subjects, cohorts, across the whole school and/or
within specific demographic groups.

• Identify groups of learners who are working below expected standards and
highlight those who are showing particularly good progress.

• Explore whether common trends or patterns are present within your school.

• Consider progress against local and national comparators and use this information
when considering expectations, target setting or collaborating with other
schools/settings.

• Identify a starting point for understanding ‘why’ a pattern, trend or a gap exists.
Making data comparisons
Why? What do we compare? What are the benefits?

• to self-evaluate • previous cohorts • supports moderation

• to make better • year on year data process and
informed decisions • stage partners within encourages reflection
• to identify trends, our own school • highlights best practice
similarities and • local authority • can encourage
differences comparator schools collaboration across
• to improve standards • national comparator settings
• to support the schools • can encourage further
interrogation, exploration
interpretation and
analysis of data for
improvement
Using nationally available
comparator data
Attainment data can be compared against national or local authority
data sets.
• There are nationally available improvement tools, such as the BGE
Benchmarking tool or Insight which have been created to support
schools to make comparisons out with their own establishment.
• In these tools a virtual comparator is created using learners from
others schools with similar characteristics e.g. SIMD, ASN, Gender.
• Virtual comparator values are included to provide context for the
data.
o A virtual comparator is a sample group of pupils from other
parts of Scotland who have similar characteristics to the
young people in the school (e.g. matched on gender,
additional support needs, stage and the social
context in which they live).
Comparator data within and
across schools and settings
• Comparisons can also be made within settings and across settings in
order to: support self-evaluation, improve standards, support the
interrogation, interpretation and analysis of data.

• Data can be used to compare cohorts and attainment and progress

over time.

• Comparisons can also be made with stage partners within schools

and departments, as part of moderation processes, and also with
other local authority groupings.
Comparator data within and across
schools and settings -part 2
• Comparisons can also be made between big data and small data, as outlined in
workshop 1
• This may involve practitioners exploring whether whole school patterns, trends and
gaps are reflected in class level data.
Reflect

• What do you compare when analysing data to review the

progress of learners?

• How does this inform our teacher professional judgements?

• How confident do you feel when using comparator data?

Aims Review

In this workshop we will consider:

• national guidance and research including signposting to

national data sets
• questions to explore when analysing and interpreting
data
• the use of comparator data, and
• how to use a data analysis to inform next steps.
Reflection Activity
TASK

• How confident do we feel effectively analysing data?

• What key messages or actions have you taken from the

workshop?

• What might you do differently in school?

Feedback

Insert you own evaluation code here