How to Build a Data Dashboard for your Teachers' Daily Use
I started a project 10 years ago, and I failed at it.
Last Saturday, I decided to tackle it again, and I nailed it.
What is the difference in those ten years?
Embrace the idea of life long learning
Learning is a lifelong process, and this is something that, in the context of schools, we forget all too often.
We have this pressure to focus on the short term, and what we really need to do is focus on the long term.
Education should not be about teaching someone just facts and information. It should be about helping them to be the kind of person they are proud of.
Truly, the only education that matters is the education that makes you into the kind of person that you are, and this is important.
Why I succeeded this time
I’m a nerd. I do nerdy things all the time. Ten years ago, I thought I wanted to have my own website and make it simple, fast, and not have to worry about a bunch of other stuff. I wanted it to be mine, and be something that I could own, and continue to work on.
I tried doing that in 2013, and it didn’t work. I gave up, because it was too hard.
However, I went back and tried the exact same process again this last weekend, over ten years later, and I got it.
I did it.
To be clear, some things have changed in those ten years.
- The tools have become a little bit easier to use.
- My abilities have improved.
- And this one is the most important: my perseverance, patience, willingness to go slow, and determination to push through difficulty have all improved.
Why does number 3 matter so much?
Because that is the only thing that matters! My idea for a web site was possible ten years ago, and people were doing it in the same way. The tools were available, but I wasn’t mentally ready to push through the failure, frustration, and annoyance that I needed to experience.
This weekend, I was ready. It worked. And I can’t tell you how excited I am that it did.
The important thing is about being the kind of person that we want to be.
Why this matters today:
This week on the podcast, I’ve got an amazing episode with Rick Meyer, who’s talking about the data dashboard that he created for his teachers.
This is amazing.
He’s done an excellent job of pulling in data, training people how to input data so that teachers have the information they need right at their fingertips every single day. I think this is incredibly powerful for the work that we’re trying to do in our schools.
The reason this means so much to me today is that I have tried and failed numerous times to put something like this together for my staff.
I’ve never been able to do it, but I really wanted to.
What I loved about seeing what Rick created is that it’s very simple.
Why Rick’s data dashboard is awesome.
It is the information that he believes his teachers need the most available to them in a dashboard, and it’s all run using Google Sheets and Google Forms.
There are a couple of things that he includes.
- Students check in every single day. He’s in a kindergarten through second grade school, so this isn’t like high schoolers. This is little kids figuring this out.
- He’s also able to pull in all of their intervention data
- He pulls in their assessment scores and
- He pulls in behavior data and how they respond and react when they’re facing challenges.
I’m so grateful that he shared it with me so that I could share it with you because it is really cool.
This is one that you definitely want to watch also because he’s got a video showing the data dashboard.
Go check it out at transformativeprincipal.org.
P.S. One of the new things I created recently is the EduNews web site. It’s a collection of education-related news that you can join to discuss, share, and comment on as it suits your fancy. You can also get a digest of all the news and podcasts shared to that site. Join EduNews for FREE today.
If you like what we’ve got going here, there are multiple ways you can get more.
- Subscribe to my Podcast where I interview the most amazing leaders out there.
- Read either of my books on how to redesign your school or how to be a transformative principal
- Join my coaching program, enrollment starts every six weeks. Would love to have you in the next cohort.