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Educational Strategy Data 

Collaborative Data Analysis

How can I evaluate and improve all of my schools' educational strategies?

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Overview

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Class

What are educational strategies? 

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Educational strategies are any things you do to improve educational outcomes.  Examples include:

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  • Professional development for staff.

  • Instructional practice coaching.

  • Curricula by grade and subject.

  • Educational practices.

  • Educational policies.

  • Educational products & services.

  • Educational programs & initiatives.

  • Other things that may improve educational outcomes.​​​​​​

Teacher Assisting Student

Why is it important to evaluate educational strategies? 

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Evaluation leads to better educational strategies.  Better educational strategies lead to better educational outcomes.  This includes better:

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  • ​Standardized test scores.

  • Attendance & engagement.

  • Graduation rates.

  • Student behavior. 

  • College & career outcomes. 

  • School culture & climate.

  • Parent satisfaction.

  • Teacher satisfaction & retention.

  • Other outcomes.​​​​​​

Kids Walking Backpacks

How do I avoid educational strategy evaluation mistakes & problems?​
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Do NOT rely too heavily on any of the following.​

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  • Your intuitions and hunches.

  • Studies shared by sales representatives regarding their products & services.

  • Quick, data dashboard analyses by people who are NOT trained in educational research.

  • The assumption that staff buy-in & implementation will happen without significant effort.

  • One-size-fits-all approaches that claim to work for every school and situation.

Boy Reading Book

How do I conduct high quality educational strategy evaluations?

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  • Use your intuition, but support your intuition with data whenever possible (or when people have different intuitions).

  • Have an objective third party help you evaluate & improve current and potential new educational strategies.

  • Use a team of evaluators with expertise in all relevant program evaluation and data use areas.  

  • Allocate appropriate resources to evaluating & improving educational strategies and staff buy-in & implementation.

  • Avoid cookie cutter approaches that may not work for (or may not be implemented well by) all of your unique schools.

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Who should I work with to conduct educational strategy evaluations?

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  • We suggest working with Sprelp - Program Evaluation and Data Help for Schools.

  • Sprelp staff have training from Yale University and other top universities.

  • Sprelp staff have decades of experience helping Chicago Public Schools and other districts. 

  • Sprelp staff have won awards for their program evaluation and data use work.

  • Sprelp staff have been invited to speak at the AASA National Conference on Education.

  • Sprelp staff can help you evaluate and improve educational strategies now (and not have regrets later).

Schedule a Brief Meeting!

Get your questions answered and learn quick & easy ways to start.

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