Use data for curriculum design

Find the school and district profiles provided by the Ohio DOE. Use this site to stimulate discussion about using data to facilitate test preparation courses in your school: Do you need more language support services? How does your school or district compare to others in the state. Truly mine the data for information that will directly alter the way you teach.

As we prepare our students to take OGT and Ohio Proficiency Tests, teachers all over the state are looking for effective ways to teach to curriculum standards without just teaching material that "might" be on the test. OGT Mentor has researched some of the data produced by the Ohio Department of Education and other organizations. Our intent has been to learn if there are common factors that may have led to poor showings in some school districts.

Also, we urge teachers to learn to use database software to analyze classroom data. Close inspection of individual student responses to answers on tests (or item analysis), reveals much about areas where a teacher can boost skills. These kinds of statistics are distributed to school district leaders and Principals after the tests have been given.

If you learn to use database and spreadsheet programs like Testwiz, FileMaker Pro or Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel, you can read and create your own databases and spreadsheets. To teach kids how to use spreadsheets and learn a few things yourself, we like The Cruncher, well worth the price.

2010 is a big census year, use the census to teach students about data, Statistics and Probability.

All About Data:

Learn to use database software (start by learning Excel™) to analyze classroom data. Close inspection of individual student responses to answers on tests (or item analysis), reveals much about areas where a teacher can boost skills. These kinds of statistics are kept in files at the Department of Education and are distributed to school district leaders and principals months after the tests have been given. It might be useful to look at the last two years of OGT test results for your classroom to see what information you can use to help refine classroom goals.

A simple database tutorial