In this post, I’d like to summarize the golden nuggets presented by Jennifer Edic Bryant, the Director of Metrics and LCAP, from Azusa USD at the Changing the Conversation event in Anaheim in August 2021:

To start, Jennifer opened with a powerful story about catastrophe and how we can capitalize on the catastrophe of the pandemic to build back better, much like people in coastal regions have done with their infrastructure after weathering constant hurricanes that have wiped out entire towns. 

She pointed out that what we have learned from the pandemic is that we can change and we can change fast, so we should continue to address ALL students’ needs, especially those we have not been served to our best ability. Another thing we know is that students, parents, and schools desperately need each other in partnership, now more than ever. 

Most importantly, we know that we can leverage data to measure and meet the needs of all students. That said, some barriers are holding us back: 

1. We are spending too much time on lagging data.

2. Many have negative attitudes about data.

3. We lack effective protocols for processing data. 

She offers the following as suggestions for addressing and overcoming these barriers: 

1. More frequent but shorter cycles of data analysis based on process data rather than after-the-fact summative data 

2. Use data to be reflective and have conversations that take place to support students, and 

3. Refine the protocols at your school site to process data. 

She concludes by encouraging us to remember our resilience, consider a mindset shift about data, think of silver linings, and maintain relevance and rigor (keeping standards high) for our students as we head into the new school year. Perhaps her most notable quote was “the power of data is what we’re doing with it”