Essay: Importance Of School Data In Assessing Performance

Importance of teacher and student data in assessing school performance

Discuss about the Appalachian Tennessee and Virginia Schools.

Ain (2017) says that, almost all the school in the world have targets, mottos, and competition. The completions may be internal or external. However, school must evaluate the self whether its goals and ambitions is fulfilled in any occasion. During the competition, be it class completion or the field competition, the school always takes records. These records are kept inform of data in the school. The documents may be electronically stored or are just stored in the hard copies. When taking these data, whether in class or outside the course it is not done for the sake, but different reasons make the school to have the type of data they are taking in reference to Angrist et al (2016). The goals of receiving the data are the things that come out to be the importance of the school data in performing the school assessment. Data in any school refers to the statistics or facts of any event. There are several types of data in a school. For instance, school enrolment data, exam performance data, sports data among many others. This report is going to emphasize the importance of all the above data in assessing the school performance. Assessment in any school can be of the different field such as the class, infrastructure, overall school performance among many others according to Bradbury & Roberts-Holmes (2017). Several people or stakeholders in the schools have testified on the impacts of the data in getting new ideas in the school. There are much importance of data in assessing the school. Apparently, evaluate the performance of the school is not only for the management but also to the outsiders including the parents and the students. On the other hand, the data that is used for assessing the performance of any school should consist of high quality, the real evidence not a fake one citing the work of Cicutto et al (2016). The reason why the data should be actual is that the process of assessment provide some vital information that the stakeholders depend on. If three-quarter of the students performed poorly in any subject, the teacher should come openly and tell the management the truth because it has some affects that are needed in the school.

In this section, the report is going to elaborate on the data in the school is essential in assessing the performance of the school. The reasons are of various type ranging from the importance of teachers, students, and parents according to Cohen-Vogel et al (2017). The importance includes:

Benchmarking with other schools

Many schools take the data of objectives against achievements of any student in reference to Coleman (2018). The school usually give students a set of goals and at the end of the semester, students are required to bring the game of objectives comparing to what they have achieved. Using this data, the school can grade the students. It is necessary to note that there are some student who may not even meet a quarter of the teacher’s expectation. These students are graded as the last positions. However, some students try their best and achieve even all the set objectives. These groups of students are awarded the best grades. In short, the data taken by the teacher helps to grade the student according to his or her capability.

School data helps the management to assess how any teacher performed on any given subject according to Else-Quest & Peterca (2015). The data may comprise of the student marks in a class beginning from the first term to the last time. If many students are failing in that particular subject, it is apparently evident that the teacher is not doing remarkable work. The public will judge the school that it has been unable to give the students what the need. On the other hand, if the marks recorded from term one to the last are quite improving. The school is considered to be active and having the students at heart. Therefore, data helps to determine the performance of any teacher in that particular subject.

Flannery et at (2014) says that, collecting data in the school allows it to benchmark with other schools. For instance, the performance of a group of class may be compared to the particular group of course in another institution. In many occasion, the data comprise of production from the same exam. One school may outsmart the other. The record shows that there is a loophole in another school and the school needs to address the problem very first. The essentiality of the data, in this case, is that it has given a room for benchmarking and one school may be found to be of low ranking than the other according to Greeley (2017).

Taking data in any school give the school a room to improve. The management can assess whether the school has improved or not. For instance, if the school has taken part in the national exam this year, the record is kept safe. When the result of the following year comes, the school compares the performance. It will show whether the school is making steps ahead or not. It is essential for every school to make the steps forward continuously and if there is any fall in the performance, there is need to address the issue urgently.

Tracking progress and improving

The school data helps the parents to get the right picture of the child. Consequently, the teachers should not carry all the blames from the parent. There are several mistakes that the student may be doing that the parents. On the other hand, there are situations where the student performs well, and it needs acknowledgment from the parents. The only way that the parent can assess the performances is through the data provided. The performance reflects the accurate picture of the child. In this case, the parents have the best opportunity to assess both the student and the school performance in general. Students should not only be given his or her performance alone but also the performance of the whole class. In short, data helps the parent to know the capability of the child and whether the school is working to improve the situation or not.

The data that is collected in the school each year helps the management to compare the performance of different faculties in the school. For instance, the science department may be performing better than the literature department. The administration can know this through the data that the school collects. In addition to that, the management can organize on ways on how to improve the failing department. The data may show apparently the cause of the poor performance. If the science department is experiencing good scores, it may be because of the quality materials that are in the department or the teachers are well equipped. Using the data, the management can improve in the necessary areas.

The other way in which data in the school helps in assessing the performance of the school is that data helps in evaluating whether the school is accountable for the things that take place in the school. For instance, if the students in that particular school have performed poorly this year, the school should do it best to redeem the reddened image of the school. The data of the performance of students in the following year should reflect the accountability. However, the responsibility should not only be seen in the field of the academics but also on the area of sports and other fieldwork. The government also needs the school data to assess the school performance on how they utilize the set resources. Positive results in the data show maximum accountability. However, the contrary record shows lack of accountability in the management of the school.

Helping parents evaluate their child's performance

In this part of the report, it is going to illustrate the way school data provide the way data is essential in the assessment of the school performance. In the below data, Warra State School enrolled five boys and six girls in a year. When represented in pie chart, girls have 54 percent while boys have 46 percent.

The above data is important in knowing the enrollment in each gender hence the school enrolled more girls than boys. The graph above is used according to the work of Greeley (2017).

In the above data, the graph shows four schools and the performance fluctuation from the year 2009 to the year 2013. At the beginning of 2009, St. Louis has been leading in the production. From this data, it shows clearly that St. Louis school have been taking care of every stakeholder in its performance. The management of the school seems to be accountable for any change in the result according to Grissom, et al (2017). For any school to maintain the steady performance, it must be keen on all the things around it. Good performance may not only come from the commitment of one teacher or a student. For example in the above data, St Louis seems to be taking record of every subject. When data is received keenly, the loopholes are identified, and any improvement is made accordingly. The other stakeholders such as parents should see the data and provide anything that the school should do to achieve the objectives in reference to Heiman et al (2016).

On the other part as evident in the graph, St Louis Charter seems to be not keen on the records each year. However, at the beginning of 2011, the school is improving drastically according to Lapidot-Lefler & Dolev-Cohen (2015). The importance of data as stated earlier in this research allows the school to benchmark. When they benchmark, the loopholes, abilities and any other necessary things are identified. The school mostly compare the result of the performance. However, the Kansas City is not making use of the data. From the graph, it has shown poor outcome and no any other improvement is evident. The graph is in reference to Salomon & Kolikant (2016).

In the above data, it shows the performance in mathematics citing the work of Horner& Sugai (2015). This data is essential in evaluating the performance of the subject in the school. For instance, it is evident in the data that Nation has been improving drastically in their performance since 1992. The continuous record makes the Nation to keep the outstanding performance. The reason is that everyone knows that the subject has the history of performing well and therefore there is the responsibility to maintain the graph at a higher point. When the data is always recorded in the school, even the teachers know that there is a target they should ever reach in reference to Ikeda & Ando (2016). However, the data in the graph shows that Kentucky is not keen on the performance in mathematics. The data have exposed the performance. Jacob et al (2015) says that, if there were no data that the school is continuously recording, Kentucky might not have known that they are performing dismally. Apparently, the collection of data have provided the management the opportunity to see that they are not good. The graph has compared the two groups. This is an importance of data in assessing the school performance. In many cases, the school should use the opportunity that the data provided to improve or maintain their performance according to Mandinach, et al (2015).

Evaluating department performance

Consequently, Noe (2018) says that, school data do not only help in assessing the school performance on the side of academics but also sports. For instance, if it is a matter of games, the school record contains the way the school has been performing in competitions. In any case, the school starts playing poorly; they can confirm the files on how they were training the players. In addition to that, the record may also elaborate that there was some equipment used in the sport that are not used nowadays. Data is essential, and the school should have the best mechanism for recording the data. The good recording provides the opportunity for quality assessment in all fields.

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