A picture's worth a thousand words: Charts change data into information

Improvement efforts manifested by the Palatine School District, Illinois (a 2004 Baldrige Award winner in education) include widespread use of improvement and problem-solving tools to bring results. Of course, this is the case in many school districts throughout the U.S. and abroad; teachers have discovered the power of using these tools to bring about specific learning goals, to help students take responsibility for their learning, and to provide a data folder record of student performance.

What is unusual about Palatine’s efforts is its use of control charts. Many times, teachers and administrators stop short of using this key tool, citing its complexity as a barrier. As Palatine educators have demonstrated, the control chart offers a way to understand systems—classroom and district-wide—and their variability.

Understanding variability helps to avoid either over-reacting or under-reacting to data that is being analyzed, putting it into time perspective and planning for change based on long-term trends. For example, we’ve all been in classrooms where the temperature was excessively cold in the morning, causing us to turn the thermostat up. Later, the room becomes unbearably warm, so we turn the thermostat down. These adjustments do not reflect an understanding of other components to the system, such as the sunlight that may reach the room in the afternoon, the warmth generated by students who occupy the classroom, or the reliability of the thermostat. Collecting data and using a control chart to analyze it will help to predict the temperature of the room in a consistent way.

Run charts, also known as line graphs, often represent the first step toward using control charts. These charts give a visual understanding of data over time, are versatile and easy to use, and help one to begin to identify trends. Run chart/line graph data can later be used to create control charts in order to analyze the ways in which a system is working. Before leaping into the statistical analysis of variation that comes from control charts, let’s look at the ways in which run charts can be useful in the classroom.

If you use a traditional grade book, where you write students’ performance records in time sequence (and even if you use an electronic version of this grade book), you are preparing data for run chart analysis. A run chart, like a grade book, reflects data sequentially over time.

Beginning with the idea of a grade book, here are some ways in which run charts can support your understanding of how well students are doing.

a) Without calling attention to students’ individual scores, you might chart the class average on a series of assignments over time. For example, if you give weekly spelling tests, you might see your class averages improve, as in the following case, as the weeks go on:

b) Individual students can chart their own progress. Students love keeping track of their own grades; the process helps them know exactly where they are with respect to their mastery; and if you also have a run chart of class averages, individuals can assess how well they’re doing by comparison to these averages.

c) You will find that student progress is far easier to assess with the visual record that a run chart provides, not only for you but for other interested parties as well: parents or administrators, for example. Having a student lead a parent-teacher conference, showing his or her progress by means of a run chart, is an empowering process for the student and an exciting moment for parent and teacher. You can imagine the discussion that might ensue when the following run chart is produced, for example:

One can see that a visual representation of data provides far more insight and focuses questions more clearly (“Why did the scores all go down in December?” for example; or “What did you do differently to make your scores go up progressively?”) than reporting only a series of numbers (68, 73, 69, 70, 74...etc.). Comparing “my scores” with class average scores gives a sense of my own progress with respect to that of the group, without diminishing any student’s performance record.

Teachers and students alike benefit from seeing a picture rather than only studying words or numbers. So whether it’s referred to as a run chart or a line graph, this useful tool provides this benefit while offering a clear record of performance over time.

For more information or to schedule Mathematics Standards training for your school or district, call Soren today at 800-777-3020 x133.

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Many of you have used the Process and Tools to improve classroom processes and support learning. We’re opening Quality School Line to a series of these stories, and invite you to send details of your experiences with the improvement tools. If we use your story, we will send you a copy of Alfie Kohn’s book, Punished by Rewards, a stimulating discussion of the role of external and internal motivation in student learning. All you need to do is describe how you’ve used a particular tool, tell us a little about your school (its location, number of students, and a little about its quality journey), and indicate your position in the school. We can identify you and your school or not, as you prefer. Your colleagues who are looking for concrete ways to apply these tools will thank you! If you have applications of your own that you’d be willing to share with other teachers e-mail them to K12@pqsystems.com