Your Beginning-of-Year Reading Data Is In. Now What?

“The data is in. I know who's struggling, but now what?”

By September, the beginning-of-year reading data is coming in. As a principal, I love data. It shows us things we can't see from walking into a classroom. But a score can raise more questions than it answers.

A score tells us who is struggling. It doesn't tell us why, or what that student needs tomorrow morning.

A student scores well below benchmark. But what is the problem, exactly?

• Is the student struggling to hear and work with the individual sounds in words?

• Is sounding out words (decoding) the weak spot?

• Can the student read accurately, but far too slowly?

• Are unfamiliar words getting in the way of understanding?

That's where the conversation about data needs to shift. When you look at reading results with teachers, don't let it stop at “These are my low students.” Ask why the student is struggling, what skill seems to be breaking down, what the teacher sees in class, and most importantly, what they're going to do about it.

Then step back and look at the whole picture. In September, students are showing you what they walked in with, not what this year's teacher has done. So look at where they came from. When several struggling students sat in the same class last year, or are all missing the same skill, the data is telling you something about instruction across your grades, not just about those children.

Collecting data isn't the goal. Changing instruction is.

Teachers need to understand how reading develops well enough to connect what the data shows with the child sitting in front of them. Then assessment stops being something we give a few times a year and starts shaping instruction. And when struggling readers get explicit, well-targeted instruction early, most catch up: across six early intervention studies, 56% to 92% of at-risk students were brought to well within the average range of reading ability (Torgesen, 2004).

Your next step: When you review the results with each grade's teachers, look across the whole class before you look at individual names. Ask, “What do you notice across your class? Is there a skill many of your students are missing?”

Don't worry about whether every teacher has the perfect answer. Listen to the conversation the question creates. This isn't about blaming anyone. If you see the same gap across several classrooms, pay attention. Your data may be showing you where teachers need support, too.

Try this week: Take your list of students below benchmark and add one column: last year's class. If several of them came from the same room, or are all missing the same skill, that's a question about instruction across your grades, not just about those children.

The free Fall Reading Data Meeting Agenda can help your grade-level teams move from “who's low” to “what we'll teach differently.” If the same uncertainty keeps coming up across classrooms or grades, I'd be happy to look at it with you.

Book a 15-minute literacy conversation →

Lisa Gelberman

Literacy Decoded

Source: Joseph K. Torgesen, “Avoiding the Devastating Downward Spiral: The Evidence That Early Intervention Prevents Reading Failure,” American Educator, Fall 2004. View source