Data Literacy for Educators: Making it Count in Teacher Preparation & Practice [Book Review]
By: Kristin Hunter-Thomson
Data-based teaching vs teaching with data?
WHAT, IF ANY, IS THE DIFFERENCE?
There are different opinions about this question, but let me share mine. I think of data literacy as the ability to collect, organize, visualize, analyze, interpret, and share data for yourself and other people to use and understand.
There is a lot packed into that definition of data literacy. By no means do you need to be an expert in each one of those things, nor do you need to do all of those things each time you work with data. But that is the full kit-and-caboodle of what working with data entails. Therefore, to best prepare future citizens in the data-driven 21st century, our students need to be aware of and understand all of these different components.
This is also why I believe that data literacy is to the 21st century, what numeracy and literacy were for the 19th and 20th centuries. These are big, integrated, complex, interconnected things for our students to learn but hugely necessary for them to be successful in society…regardless of what job they pursue in the workforce.
Ok, so coming back to data-based teaching vs. teaching with data. I differentiate between these as:
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Data-based teaching / data-driven instruction / assessment literacy / [insert other “data” phrase here that is used in your setting] has grown in emphasis and scope since the early 2000s. This is an approach that focuses in using information from our learners to inform our practice and approach to teaching in the short, medium, and/or long term.
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Teaching with data is integrating learner-generated and/or professionally-collected data relevant to the subject area / topic being explored into the learning experience so that learners work with the data to learn the content material.
The broad definition of data literacy above, and all of the skills required to be confident in that literacy, is relevant to both data-based teaching and teaching with data. In both instances we are using data to understand more deeply a phenomenon. Who is working with the data (i.e., teacher/educator vs student/learner) and to what purpose (i.e., to inform next steps in teaching vs to learn subject area content) differs, but the how of working with the data is the same.
https://www.wested.org/resources/data-literacy-for-educators/
WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DATA-BASED TEACHING?
But, what are some aspects that can help us be more successful in working with data from and/or about our students/learners when we are doing data-based teaching? Ellen Mandinach and Edith Gummer provide a fantastic overview of things to consider and concrete examples of places to start in their 2016 Data Literacy for Educators: Making it Count in Teacher Preparation & Practice book.
The book is extremely relevant today, accessible for all interested in getting some ideas about how to approach data-based teaching, and a relatively quick read. There are four general sections:
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Introduction, norm setting, and brief history of data-based teaching
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Discussion of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and dispositions around data for teachers/educators to consider and pursue
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Case studies of ways teachers/educators are leveraging their data for data-based teaching
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Discussion of how we can better prepare and support teachers/educators in using the data they already have (or could easily collect) to inform their practices by using data-based teaching
So…if you are looking to take your data-based teaching to another level, check out this book.
If you are unsure what everyone is talking about with data-based teaching, check out this book.
If you are thinking about integrating data-based teaching into your pre-service course work and/or in-service professional development, check out this book.
Enjoy, and as always let us know what you think and/or how it is going for you.
