School Data Rooms - Should Your School Use One?

In the staff-only data rooms of schools, it is customary to display the student’s assessment results in charts. They show the proficiency levels (below basic find out here or advanced, basic, or proficient) for a specific subject, such as math or reading. The goal is to assist teachers focus on students who are the most behind in their peers and require more intensive interventions.

But with all the talk about privacy of students these days, an open display of student data could do more harm than good. If the display has names of students, this can lead to humiliation or shame among students who struggle. It is important to consider how your school uses the displays and to think about more secure alternatives.

Online platforms that save learning data securely are a great alternative to the traditional school wall of data. These platforms can pull data from LMS assignments, formsative and summary assessments, demographic information and even integrate with your SIS for reports. Teachers can then access these data sets at any point in a safe and secure dashboard. They can use a wide variety of filters to focus on various trends or cohorts of students. They can also view the progress of their goals in real time, and drill down into assignments, students, and individual learning trends.

Regular discussions about data are vital for data rooms to be useful. This allows teachers to focus their attention and leave with concrete steps to help students move forward. If a team notices for instance that many students struggle with math, they could decide to design a particular intervention and track the progress until the students are proficient.