The 2004 Invitational Urban Indicator and Evaluation Workshop Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite, Fish Camp, CA March 17-19, 2004
The 2004 Invitational Urban Indicator Data and Evaluation Workshop was held at the Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite in Fish Camp, CA on March 17-19, 2004. More than 100 participants including PI/PDs, Data Managers, and Program Evaluators from 51 different CPMSA, USI, and USP sites, urban education researchers, technical assistance providers, National Science Foundation (NSF) and Systemic Research staff came together to learn about and discuss data management and evaluation issues. The theme of this year’s workshop was “Inside and Beyond the Classroom: Accountability and Storytelling” addressing the following objectives: • • • • To discuss and share best practices in advancing high quality mathematics and science education for all students To share feedback from evaluative students and the midpoint reviews To share new developments, technologies and tools in key indicator management and evaluation To confirm sustainability of data continuum through strengthened urban network and infrastructure.
Wednesday Afternoon, March 17th
Early Sign-In and Reception (3:00-7:30 PM) The workshop began on Thursday evening with an informal reception hosted by Delta Education/FOSS. Participants also had an opportunity to sign-in for the workshop. More than half of the participants arrived early enough to enjoy the reception and network with their peers. At the end of the reception there was a brief meeting for presenters and facilitators to outline their responsibilities for their respective sessions.
Thursday Morning, March 18th
Dr. Jason Kim, President of Systemic Research welcomed the participants Friday morning after breakfast and registration. Dr. Bernice Anderson, the National Science Foundation’s Acting Division Director of EHR/ESR, also welcomed the participants and charged them to think about the workshop objectives during the day and a half workshop as well as cautioned them that the workload would be heavy through the duration of the workshop. Celeste Pea, Program Director for NSF, then gave the logistics for the workshop. The Keynote address was presented by Dr. Sharon Brown-Welty who addressed the Ten Deadly Obstacles for data collectors and Evaluators; a useful list of potential problems of which all data managers should be aware. Amongst the most deadly of the obstacles are Data Poor Thinking and Past Data Collection Regret. Data Poor Thinking is the temptation to take the easier path when working with data, often leaving important questions unanswered. Collection Regret is when the data is presented only to discover too late the existence of useful questions that were never asked. Following were Concurrent Breakout Sessions I and II. For a list of all presenters and copies of their respective powerpoint presentations please visit OBTAIN URL.
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Thursday Afternoon, March 17th During lunch, Dr. Lourdes Rivera, Assistant Superintendent of Miami-Dade Public Schools gave a presentation on the financial difficulties facing the schools in Miami and the steps taken to overcome the obstacle. According to Dr. Rivera, Miami is listed as the poorest city per capita in the United States, a distinction they would be more than willing to pass along to another city. Despite this financial handicap, however, Dr. Rivera addressed the significant improvement in Miami assessment test scores of recent years. Thomasena Woods of NSF and Linda Crasco of Systemic Research Inc. facilitated a round table discussion of the sustainability and major challenges with STEM reform beyond NSF funding. Russell Agostaro of Newburgh Enlarged School District, Gary Anderson of Kansas City Public Schools, and Andrea Bowden of Baltimore City Public Schools first spoke on sustainability. Among the topics discussed was how to effectively deal with a changing administration, which can subsequently result in changing priorities or ideas within a school system. Andrea Bowden drew an analogy to sailing, that no matter the direction of the wind, it is the teachers’ responsibility to change the sails so the student can still be moving forward. Speaking on the major challenges were Robert Rodosky of Jefferson County Public Schools, Jonathan Wilson of Morgan State University, and Leonard Winkle of Prince George’s County Public Schools. All speakers agreed that funds, or lack thereof, can be a significant obstacle for everyone involved in education. But equally as large an obstacle can be data measurement. Specifically, one needs to determine what data needs to be collected, analyzed, and evaluated. Spending time working with the wrong data, or approaching a problem without a well-planned path in mind can be a tremendous waste of resources for a district. A third concurrent breakout session was held to further allow for more individual presentations by workshop participants. Bernice Anderson, Celeste Pea, and Thomasena Woods of the National Science Foundation presented “Documentation for the Committee of Visitors Update on Fiscal Compliance Program Accountability.” This was addressed to all the urban sites in attendance and it dealt with what is expected in order for their programs to remain in compliance and to continue to receive funding from the National Science Foundation. Amongst the topics discussed were the importance of documentation of any and all dispersal of funds, a policy that will be stricter than it has in the past, and various details of fiscal compliance. Linda Crasco addressed the participants in a brief wrap-up session. Afterwards a networking dinner was planned for the participants. During this dinner, Daphne Minner spoke on sustaining a successful teacher leader model. She prompted workshop participants to think what it is they actually strive to sustain in these teacher leaders, and encouraged discussion to share what strategies are employed in various school districts.
Friday Morning, March 19th
After breakfast and an introduction by Thomasena Woods, the day began with an address from Gene Harris, superintendent of Columbus Public Schools. Dr. Harris stressed simplicity when presenting your data; often times all that is needed is a brief outline of demographics, any more and it will confuse or bore your audience. Focus on newsworthy items, and when reporting district information focus on several indepth areas rather than glossing over the entire project. She then illustrated the unique characteristics that
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made Columbus Public Schools a success despite a constant budget crisis. In a racially diverse school system, an effort was made to attract an equally diverse staff in the school system. Money and time were devoted not only to curriculum and staff development, but an effort was put forth for sustainability. Staff retention was seen as important so that teachers aren’t receiving training throughout the year only to leave for another school system the following year. Dr. Harris closed with the equation: World Class Curriculum + Motivated Teachers + Research-Based Instructional Approaches = High Student Achievement. The fourth breakout session followed, again allowing for smaller presentations by the participants. A Plenary Session was provided by Gary Silverstein and Joseph McInerney from Westat, Inc. During this session Westat Inc.’s “Findings of NSF’s Systemic Initiatives Activity Matrix” was disseminated amongst the workshop participants and further explained. Contained within it were Mathematics Strategies and Policies, Summaries of USP Mathematics Strategies and Policies, Curriculum Development and Instruction as well as similar strategic breakdowns for Science. After describing the data collection procedures, the potential for use of the activity matrix was outlined. The question was also raised as to whether or not it is an accurate reflection of the data and the school systems it is supposed to be representing. Participants were stressed to identify the “cornerstone” of their project that represents a strictly fundamental approach to improvement while separating itself as a legacy of their efforts at improvement. Darnella Davis presented “Implementing Workable Reform Strategies and Confronting Common Challenges” during a working lunch session. Dr. Davis reviewed strategies for implementing a standardsbased reform while outlining the hypothetical states of a reforming system. She also discussed the difference between formative and summative research questions and their function within the data collection of various school districts. Aimee Stern and Joanna Kapper addressed the participants with a brief summary of various presentations they had participated in, highlighting any of particular interest to them. Jason Kim and Bernice Anderson issued the closing remarks and evaluation forms while providing participants a chance to have any final questions answered. Evaluation results indicated that the workshop was informative and enjoyed by the participants. It was generally agreed that the annual workshops provide a valuable resource for data and evaluation training and discussion.
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