Parental Involvement in Data-Driven Education

In a recent blog post, we discussed four ways data can fuel a student’s motivation to achieve Indeed, when students are empowered to view and analyze their performance and progress via reliable, understandable data, they “become active agents in their own growth,” according to Ron Berger, Chief Academic Officer for EL Education.¹

As educators utilize more data-driven teaching strategies to improve student performance, the role of parents in education must evolve simultaneously. This shift starts with educators creating an open data-sharing culture with the parents of their students.

Strengthening Your Partnership with Parents by Sharing Student Data

When educators discuss and share robust, yet understandable student data with parents, powerful student achievement can result. Here are three reasons why parental involvement in data-driven education matters:

1. Increased understanding of student progress data

Gone are the days when a standard letter-grade report card – which was delivered just a few times a year – was parents’ only evidence of their child’s performance in school. Now, with some form of data system in place in most schools nationwide, detailed, timely student insights are being generated.

Helping parents access this information and understand what it means for their child is a crucial first step in partnering with parents to fully leverage student data.

2. Stronger partnership with parents

Parents who are informed on what and why instructional or intervention efforts are being delivered to their child – and see the data that is driving these strategies – feel empowered and more equipped to help progress day-to-day teaching efforts outside of the classroom.

3. Enhanced communication between parents and teachers

When student data is shared, both educator and parent know they are viewing the same information and, thus, tend to remain aligned.

Additionally, since the nature of student data is primarily real-time, depending on which data management and reporting system your school uses, educators can provide parents with prompt, valid insights on student progress. In turn, parents can deliver valuable feedback to educators on what they’re experiencing at home when their child is working on homework, studying, and engaging in extracurricular learning activities.

By using a secure, web-based assessment, data management, and reporting system, your school and district can capture, manage, report, and share powerful assessment data with parents. Start fully leveraging your school’s data-driven efforts by discovering aimsweb^TMPlus.

Resources:

¹ Berger, Ron, Rugen, Leah, Libby, Woodfin. MindsShift. “Leaders of Their Own Learning: Transforming Schools Through Student-Engaged Assessment:” [Excerpt from chapter: Using Data with Students]. Retrieved August 19, 2016. https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/09/08/how-students-can-be-partners-in-data-driven-approaches-to-learning/.