7. Analyst

Analyst. Educators understand and use data to drive their instruction and support students in achieving their learning goals. The program shall prepare candidates who:  

• Provide alternative ways for students to demonstrate competency and reflect on their learning using technology;

• Use technology to design and implement a variety of formative and summative assessments that accommodate learner needs, provide timely feedback to students and inform instruction; and

• Use assessments and other qualitative and quantitative data to guide progress and communicate with students, parents, and education stakeholders to build student self-direction.

 As an analyst, I used the digital tool JASP to analyze the student data set derived from my instructional unit on fundamental reading skills.  JASP provided immediate feedback that was used to create personalized learning plans for my students. 

This standard was one that I found both enjoyable and challenging. I am firm believer that assessments should be extended beyond the standard written form. In compliance with standard 7, I created assessments aligned with specific content areas using differing assessment categories and styles. My assessments include multiple choice, performance assessments, and those that prompt higher order thinking. Quality should be both valid and reliable with clear differentiation.  Using technology, I explored methods by which my students may digitally respond to formative assessments via web tools such as Google JamBoard, SMART "shout it out", gamification, and more. Digital assessments often allow instant feedback which may be provided to students and parents. Such assessments provide the framework for active and continuous engagement as well. Communication and feedback are key in guiding student learning and academic success. Technology plays a key role here. In addition to feedback, analysts must evaluate the data to inform future instruction. Gone are the days when assessments where limited to written form. In my current role, I am constantly evaluating data from to determine how to best meet the needs of my students. I continue to explore Lumio by SMART and other learning platforms to discover other methods to easily extract and examine the data.