Edstar was helping a Title 1 elementary school write its School Improvement Plan. We started by using their school data to make a Data Profile for them, so they could visualize their school in terms of data.

We inventoried the remedial programs and services they already offered, and helped them identify clearly who the target group was for each of them in terms of academic data. We wanted to determine whether services were aligned to student needs in terms of academic data. They could not describe the programs they offered in terms of academic goals or targeted populations other than to describe them as being for low-income or minority students, or students referred by teachers.

They had no over-arching records of which students got which services. All the staff members kept their own records their own way. The person running each program or service knew who they served, but many of them couldn’t produce a list. They had files on each student. They tried to put together a file of students and services from everyone's records, but none of the staff had the right skills for doing this, and they were not able to.

We helped them put together a master data set of all services, and which students got them. We created an electronic file that contained all programs, which students were in those programs, information about who the intended target group was in terms of academic data, the program goals, and relevant data.

From this data set, we could see that many students who were scoring at or above grade level were getting pulled from core courses to receive remedial services that they did not need. Some students were receiving the same service twice, from two different staff members. Many students who were in the target group for services were not getting them.

They decided that before starting any new programs or initiatives, they would use this information to get the students aligned with the proper services and stop providing services to students who did not need them. They would also start using our record-keeping system (a simple, well-designed spreadsheet) so that they would have a big picture of who was getting what services that they could compare with the data.