Organizing Your Data

There are several commercial software programs that specify ways to organize quantitative data. District policies in this regard may determine the practice employed. Whatever system is used, it is critical to be able to connect different types of data electronically to that it is possible to compare how students with different characteristics perform and how differences in the experiences they have in school and outside of school might account for variations in students’ learning and engagement. There is often considerable variation within groups of students with seemingly similar characteristics. Ideally, every student will have a distinctive identification number that can be linked to their achievement and behavior in school and to potential explanations for variations in such evidence of school effectiveness.

In a brief book commissioned and published by the NEA (Assessing Learning in the Classroom: 2000), Jay McTighe and Steven Ferrara provide ways of organizing and analyzing alternative ways of assessing student performance that serve different purposes. 

The software that supports the KEYS survey organizes data for you.

KEYS presents responses at the school level.  In addition, how the school compares with (1) all schools that have taken the survey and (2) schools whose students are high achieving is presented.  The survey can be taken as many times as the school desires so that trends can be identified.  When the school district and the local NEA affiliate works with the NEA to administer the survey, it is possible to compare conditions in schools throughout the district. 

KEYS data is grouped in six categories called Keys:

1. Shared understanding and commitment to high goals.

2. Open communication and collaborative problem solving.

3. Continuous assessment for teaching and learning.

4. Personal and professional learning.

5. Resources for teaching and learning.

6. Curriculum and instruction.

Each of these broad categories is comprised of five or more indicators. There are 42 indicators embedded in the six Keys.  Each indicator is made up of responses to particular questions and responses to some of these individual questions provide useful information. These questions are identified in the discussions of the KEYS survey in each of the Steps in the KEYS-CSI process. To learn more about the topics covered by the KEYS survey, CLICK HERE. [link 2c]

Because the unique school identification code assigned by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) is recorded in the questionnaire on school characteristics that is part of the KEYS survey, all of the data provided by the school and the district over time to NCES can be readily retrieved from the national data base (”Common Core Data”).

To learn more about the content of the KEYS survey, the research on which it is based, and how the survey is administered, click here: www.keysonline.org/guide/