Data Doesn’t Have To Be A Four-Letter Word: Creating Systems to Manage Data and Move Students Forward
8:30 am - 9:20 am CT
Room: B8
NWEA MAP. AIMSweb. IAR. F&P. ODRs. CICO. Benchmarking. Progress monitoring. Formative assessments. Summative assessments. Schools are awash in data, but what are we doing to make sense of it all? Freeport School District #145 began to address this challenge through the reimplementation of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) across the district. After Lincoln-Douglas Elementary School in Freeport, Illinois, learned that it had received a summative designation from the state as a Comprehensive School, Principal Melissa Sago, working with district leaders, including Alex Valencic, and school improvement partners, including A*Net and Urban Learning and Leadership Center led her instructional teams through the process of using MTSS to focus their efforts on what would make the biggest impact by reviewing and selecting priority standards, engaging in root cause analyses, creating a sense of shared responsibility for all learners, and allowing space for staff to feel empowered to make appropriate adjustments based on the needs of the students in each classroom.
Presenter
Alex T. Valencic is an educator, former small business owner, Boy Scout leader, volunteer drug prevention specialist, and geek of all things. Alex has worked as a substitute teacher, fourth grade teacher, and curriculum coordinator Since July 2021, he has been serving as the Professional Learning Coordinator in Freeport, Illinois, organising summer institutes, new teacher academies, and supporting ongoing professional learning for all staff through a variety of differentiated learning pathways. An avid fan of the outdoors, British and Australian culture, and community service, he can be found camping and hiking throughout the summer with his family, serving in leadership roles in various community organisations, and determinedly using the letter S instead of Z whenever he can get away with it.
