Data-Rich But Insights Poor: A Crisis In Our Schools

Every year, every school in the country collects hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of pieces of data about the students in their care. With the advent of digital platforms and tools, we gather data on academic performance, attendance, behavioural patterns, and mental health. We have data for almost every aspect of a child’s time in our schools.

Despite having access to large quantities of data, many schools need help to derive meaningful insights that genuinely inform teaching and learning practices as we are data-rich but insights-poor.

To understand why this is a problem, we need to think about it from a different perspective – why are we collecting the data in the first place, and then how can that data play a more effective role in teaching and learning? 

Swimming in data but where are the details that matter?

Failing to have a clear strategy or purpose in mind for the data you’ve collected can, in my experience, result in teachers and senior leaders feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data and finding it almost impossible to navigate and extract any meaningful insights. I imagine we’ve all sat in front of a spreadsheet full of fascinating data and struggled to find the time to drill down into the exciting bits we know are there.  

The problem is about more than just time; the current teacher workload crisis has a large part to play. The problem is also one of skills and training. The job of a data analyst is highly skilled and is currently one of the most valued and marketable skills in our economy.

Education technology can play a crucial role in helping schools to analyse their data effectively – to do the heavy lifting if you like. Most EdTech companies will employ any number of data analysts whose job is to understand your school’s data in great depth.  Add to that the vast power of AI and machine learning. Why would we ever expect a teacher to have the time, or the skill set to compete?  And why should they have to? 

It’s a well-worn phrase because it’s a good one; teachers should have time to do what they love to do: teach.  Fantastic tools and platforms, such as Elastik and SixIntoSeven, can help schools process and make sense of their data, often in real-time, which can be hugely timesaving and genuinely empower teachers to get on with the job that they have been trained to do. 

Big Bubble, Big Trouble  

Lisa McGiveron teaches at St Monica’s in Liverpool: ‘Elastik has been very good because it was so easy for the children to use. They had no issues logging in and completing the assessments. Their big catchphrase is ‘Big Bubble, Big Trouble ‘and that was helpful to me as a teacher because instantly in my data I could see where the children had struggled and what areas they were having difficulty with. So, for example, if it was fractions, I could see that they couldn’t add or subtract fractions, so straight away I knew that could be a lesson to focus in on while the small bubbles showed me the areas where they didn’t have any difficulty. 

Time constraints and time limitations are probably the biggest issue in teaching. I think Elastik really supports me as a teacher because it helps me with my time management. I don’t have to spend a lot of time really trying to see what areas they’re struggling with, it’s instantaneous – there at my fingertips’

Low stakes assessment builds confidence

Matthew Low is Assistant Head Teacher for KS2 at St Andrews and St Francis Primary School in London.

 

‘The bubble display is a great graphic – and the intervention/mini-test element to shrink the bubble is a great tool for targeting learning and improving outcomes for children. Classroom teachers used the gap analysis to see where the biggest gaps were for their classes. This helped prioritise their teaching and curriculum content. They could focus on larger bubbles, knowing that those concepts would benefit their students.

Teachers are also incorporating Elastik into more frequent testing for formative learning. We run quizzes at the end of each unit, and the children have found them an enjoyable way of doing an assessment. They can show what they have learned over the last week or two, and the low stakes approach means they feel less anxious, so it builds their confidence.’

Seven things the staff love about Elastik

(1) Gives teachers insights that would be too labour-intensive to access without technology.

(2) Pinpoints the exact problem areas – for example, it’s not just subtraction but subtracting a two-digit number from a three-digit number.

(3) Groups children according to their curriculum gaps so teachers can efficiently manage learning gaps without losing sight of individual needs.

(4) Shows the insights using ‘Big Bubble Big Trouble’ so that teachers can focus on the children not on the numbers

(5) Provides targeted lesson guides, which are gold dust for the teachers as a planning starting point for the next lesson.

(6) Supports intervention groups – and whole class teaching

(7) Covers maths and science but also English, with the AI-enabled RealTime writing tool.
Elastik provides insights that are specific to each child, not just for intervention classes but right across the cohort. We’ve never had a curriculum so personalised – that is what Elastik enables you to do in your school.’

So, what can tools like Elastik help schools do?

Identifying areas of weakness – One of the most powerful uses of data in school is to help identify areas of weakness in student learning. For example, suppose we can see at a glance, from the analysis of our data that many students are struggling with a particular topic or skill. In that case, teachers can use this information to adjust their teaching methods and provide targeted support to these students. This could include providing additional resources or implementing interventions such as focus group work. If that information is available in real-time for teachers, it is even more powerful, allowing the teacher to tackle any misconceptions or misunderstandings before they take root. 

Personalising learning – Data can also be used to personalise learning for individual students. By tracking and understanding each student’s progress, teachers can identify their strengths and weaknesses, which could involve providing differentiated instruction, setting individualised learning goals, or providing personalised feedback. The granular level of the insights is so powerful because it means that no child is left behind; it can be impactful for students of all abilities. Even high achievers may need help with particular concepts or topics. Understanding exactly where the problem lies allows teachers to deal with it before the class moves on. 

Monitoring progress – Teachers can also use data to monitor the progress of students over time. Regular low-stakes assessments can help teachers track their students’ progress and identify areas for further support. This can help to ensure that all students are making progress and can help to identify any students who may be at risk of falling behind. 

Collaboration and sharing – Finally, data can promote collaboration and sharing among teachers and help inform senior leaders of effective practices in single schools and across school groups. By sharing data on student progress, teachers can learn from each other and identify effective teaching strategies. This can improve teaching practices across the school and ensure that all students receive high-quality instruction.

So where does that leave us?  Data without insights is just data and collecting it for the sake of it has little value.

However, the insights that data can provide are supremely precious to us as teachers and senior leaders. We should embrace the opportunity that powerful teacher-led technology gives us to support ourselves and enhance the skills that we already bring to our jobs.

Jeremy Waters is CEO and Founder | Elastik Learning