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]]>Data-driven instruction has become a key element in today’s teaching strategies, empowering educators to make informed decisions that enhance student learning outcomes. But what does it really mean to use data to drive instruction? And how can educators ensure they’re using it to its fullest potential? It starts with understanding the true value of learning data. Then, knowing how to apply that value in the right places, at the right time.
By examining various types of educational data and understanding its value, teachers and school leaders can better understand student needs, tailor their instruction to meet those unique needs, and make adjustments that foster growth for every student.
Key Types of Data in the Classroom to Drive Instruction
Grasping the value of data starts with understanding the different types available and their unique value. Below, we’ll look at the key types of educational data educators should be leveraging:
Formative assessments like quizzes, class activities, and exit tickets, happen during learning to monitor student progress and inform ongoing instruction. By regularly analyzing their results, teachers can identify which concepts students are mastering and where they might need additional support. This real-time insight is invaluable in that it allows for just-in-time adjustments to lesson plans and slows, or even stops, knowledge gaps from widening. Having an instructional tool with embedded formative assessments can be even more invaluable, like DreamBox Math, DreamBox Reading, and Reading Plus because they track critical learning data to inform instruction.
Summative assessments
Summative assessments, such as end-of-unit tests or state exams, provide a broader view of student achievement over time. This data helps educators evaluate overall instructional effectiveness at both the classroom and district levels, identifying long-term trends that may call for curriculum adjustments, targeted interventions, and specialized professional learning.
Integrating both formative and summative assessments into everyday instruction can help ensure the data is not only real-time but also provides an actionable insight at the most impactful moment for each student. Here are a few tips to build assessments, specifically for math, into everyday instruction.
Student behavior is closely tied to academic performance, and tracking behavioral data—such as attendance, participation, and engagement—offers critical insight into what may be affecting a student’s success in the classroom. This data helps educators understand the root causes of challenges, whether they are behavioral or academic.
Student Growth Data
Student growth data tracks individual progress over time, focusing not just on where students currently stand but on how far they’ve come in their learning journey. Unlike one-off assessments, growth data reflects the incremental progress students make throughout the year, highlighting both achievements and areas of opportunity.
4 Ways K-12 Leaders Can Leverage Data for Smarter Decisions
Educators have access to more data than any time in history, but is it leading to data-informed decisions? Check out four key strategies to leveraging data that help educators make smart decisions that impact teachers, students, and their educational communities.
Data-Driven Decision-Making in Practice
While data-driven instruction is incredibly impactful, its application varies across different educational settings. From classroom teachers adjusting lessons to school leaders shaping curriculum changes, it’s important that educators understand the value that each data type brings so they can effectively recognize patterns, identify problems, and implement the right solutions.
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In the Classroom
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At the School
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Across the District
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At the classroom level, data-driven instruction enables teachers to respond quickly to their students’ needs. A teacher might analyze formative assessment data after a quiz and notice that most students struggle with a specific concept. This data helps teachers quickly identify when to reteach or reinforce the concept using different strategies to ensure student mastery before moving forward. |
On a school-wide level, data can help identify broader trends and inform instructional strategies across grade levels or subjects. For example, a principal might review behavioral and academic data to pinpoint patterns of chronic absenteeism in a grade. By identifying this trend early, school leaders can implement targeted interventions—such as monitoring programs or parental engagement workshops—to support students at risk of falling behind. |
At the district level, administrators rely on data to make informed decisions about resource allocation and curriculum planning. Imagine a district where summative data shows declining math scores across schools. District leaders could use this data to evaluate potential causes of the problem and design a solution to address it. For example, the district could consider new math curriculum or invest in additional resources, like an intervention program. |
Benefits of Data-Driven Instruction
When educators understand the available data and, importantly, how each data set interacts with and informs other data, data-driven instruction can yield significant benefits, including:
Personalized Learning
Data-driven instruction allows teachers to tailor lessons and assignments to meet each student’s unique needs. The Intelligent Adaptive Learning in DreamBox Math is just one example of how teachers can ensure that every student receives the targeted support or enrichment they need because they have data that can identify exactly where students are in their math journey.
Early Identification of Struggling Students
Data can act as an early warning system, helping educators spot subtle yet critical shifts in student learning patterns. By regularly analyzing student data, educators can identify those who may be struggling before it’s too late. Whether it’s through behavioral data or early assessment scores, teachers can step in and provide interventions to prevent students from falling further behind.
Targeted Group Instruction
Data empowers educators to confidently make decisions grounded in evidence. Rather than having to “teach to the middle” or rely on anecdotal evidence, teachers and administrators can deliver targeted instruction and support to the right students, at the right time. For example, if a teacher sees from assessment data that only a small group of students is struggling with a particular concept, they can offer targeted small-group instruction while the rest of the class moves forward.
Efficient Resource Allocation
For administrators, data-driven decision-making allows for the strategic allocation of resources. This means investing in programs, tools, or support staff where they are most needed. For example, if a district identifies one school with a high number of students falling behind in math, resources like math specialists or tutoring programs can be provided to that school to offer targeted support.
Improved Collaboration
When educators across a district have access to the same data, collaboration naturally improves between classrooms and schools. Teachers can share strategies based on data insights, principals can align school-wide goals, and district leaders can make decisions that benefit all schools in the system.
Data in the Classroom is Essential to Successful Learning
Using data to drive instruction isn’t just a trend—it’s an essential strategy for empowering educators and students alike. By harnessing the power of data through understanding their innate value, schools can create more personalized learning experiences, improve student outcomes, and make informed decisions that benefit the entire school community.
Discovery Education and Otus have joined forces to deliver a powerful combination of proven teaching & learning solutions and state-of-the-art data analytics. With clear, actionable insights at both the classroom and district levels, it’s easier than ever to make strategic, data-driven decisions that improve student outcomes.
Kendell Hunter
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]]>The DreamBox Math Difference
Every student is a math student. That’s why DreamBox is dedicated to personalizing learning to meet every learner’s unique needs. We’ve worked closely with dedicated educators and their students to learn how we can continue building on this work with new product enhancements that remove more barriers to math engagement for every student. Students will notice improved opportunities to access and engage in the program, making the math experience more enjoyable for all.
Research demonstrates that when students are meaningfully and regularly engaged in DreamBox, it can drive real learning growth.
Boosting Independent Engagement through Improved Accessibility
Access to great learning experiences is in our DNA, and we aim to set a whole new standard. To go beyond just compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards, we have worked together with teachers, special education experts, and students with disabilities to deliver product improvements that make the experience more equitable and effective for all students.
With DreamBox every student is empowered to independently engage in interactive problem-solving— equipped with access to the tools and mathematical vocabulary they need, in the way they need them— so they can develop conceptual understanding, apply a variety of strategies, and gain competence and confidence in mathematical reasoning and skills. K-5 lessons now include:
Compatibility with assistive technology tools such as magnification and screen reader.
Screen reader with enhanced alternative descriptions supports concept understanding and streamlines problem-solving for students with limited and low vision.
See how a student with limited vision can work independently in DreamBox.
Easy-to-tap, -move, and -place elements ease interaction and accommodate a variety of devices, physical needs, and learning styles.
Intuitive keyboard navigation lets students know where they are on the lesson page and within the manipulative.
Clear visuals enable students with low vision and color blindness to distinguish selectable foreground elements from the background.
In addition to these exciting updates, the team is ensuring that all lessons have the ability to replay instructions so that students can easily refer back to the task at hand.
Easing Lesson Interaction for Racecourse Lessons
We’ve channeled the enthusiasm that last year’s updates to the Clocks lessons generated. This year, we are pleased to announce a major update to our Racecourse lessons.
In this lesson, students learn to represent equivalent fractions as part of a whole, using proportional reasoning to ensure their car reaches its destination. A number line is represented as a course where students place distance markers and add stops at equivalent distances along the way.
Guided by student and teacher feedback, we made a series of improvements that make it easier for students to get started and interact with the manipulative as they progress through this lesson.
A new “Road Trip” context is more relatable for students and makes the tasks clearer.
Numbered intervals along the course allow for easier skip counting and streamlines the problem-solving process.
Meters deplete and refill to provide visual feedback on station placement as the car now moves along the course.
Larger visuals and more space make it easier for touchscreen (and all) users to place markers along the course.
Clearer instructions and updated scaffolding ensure students have support and meaningful feedback as they progress through the lesson.
When you put all of this together, it makes a profound difference in the student experience. This is reflected in students’ reactions.
Personalized Learning For Every Student!
We’re not stopping here. We are committed to making every moment matter more in DreamBox Math, to ensure each student can work in their own place, progress at their own pace, experience joy, and gain confidence on their individual journeys toward mathematical excellence.
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]]>The post Effective Academic Intervention Strategies appeared first on Discovery Education.
]]>At Emerson Elementary in Owosso, Michigan, Principal Jessica Aue is helping her teachers transform their approach to student intervention with the innovative Child Study Team—a unique initiative that delivers personalized academic intervention to address the whole child.
Here’s how Jessica and her team have established an empathetic yet results-driven process that’s changing students’ lives, empowering teachers, and strengthening family relationships.
Child Study Team: A Collaborative Strategy for Personalized Academic Intervention
A Child Study Team (CST) is a collaborative group of educators, psychologists, social workers, and parents who come together to identify and address challenges affecting students’ academic and social success. The purpose of the team is to implement effective, personalized academic intervention strategies that support the school’s goal of educating the whole child—not just through academic metrics, but by understanding their personal experiences, relationships, home life, and challenges.
The Child Study Team at Emerson believes that every child is more than just their academic scores. They dig deep to understand the whole child—exploring hobbies they enjoy, any trauma they’ve endured, their family dynamics, and their social environments. This holistic perspective helps determine personalized interventions that truly resonate.
The Child Study Team is about collaboration — bringing together different perspectives to create the best possible outcomes for students.
Identifying and Implementing Targeted Academic Intervention Strategies
It’s a comprehensive process to identify students needing intervention and the type of intervention they need. But Emerson’s team has a successful process put into place to ensure all students get a fair chance at success.
Here are the steps to the CST process:
- Identification and Data Collection – Before students begin receiving extra support, teachers and staff collect comprehensive data through a prepared packet. This includes academic performance, social behaviors, and input from parents, all of which ensures the team has a complete view of the child’s challenges and needs.
- Collaborative Planning – The CST meets to create an action plan, assigning tasks to specific members. Educators and specialists work together to outline specific, research-based interventions.
- Implementation and Flexibility – The Title I team carries out interventions, which can be one-on-one, in small groups, or within the classroom. Flexibility is key—if a child isn’t progressing, the team evaluates alternative options.
- Follow-Up and Accountability – The team then holds ongoing meetings to evaluate progress, discuss plans, and refine strategies as needed, working closely with each student’s teacher.
The Title I team may lead the intervention strategies and implementations, but collaborating with the students’ teachers is also key to the CST success. Jessica recognizes the importance of the CST working closely with the rest of the staff. “The teachers are the experts,” she says. “Trust them. If there’s a lack of trust, figure out why and address it.” This trust allows flexibility and creativity within the intervention process while ensuring students receive the highest level of care and support.
Balancing Data and Relationships in Successful Academic Intervention
A huge strength of Emerson’s Child Study Team lies in its ability to balance data-driven decision-making with the context that comes from strong personal relationships with students and families.
“We use data, of course—things like test scores and progress monitoring results,” Jessica explains. “But we also know what students like to do and what their home life is like. This context helps us create interventions that are effective.” Jessica also emphasizes, “The people on your team make a huge difference. Our teachers, social workers, and psychologists know each student so well, which allows us to make better decisions. They’re not just staff members—they’re truly advocates for our kids.”
Prioritizing relationships has had ripple effects. Jessica’s philosophy of involving families closely in the process has fostered trust and collaboration between parents and the school. Families know they can rely on the team to care for their child while also holding them accountable, creating a balance of empathy and high expectations.
The focus on the whole child has made Emerson Elementary’s approach stand out. Teachers and staff have seen firsthand how a deeper understanding of each student leads to better outcomes—whether that’s catching phonics gaps missed by traditional assessments or creating unique behavioral interventions tailored to a student’s personality.
Scaling Academic Intervention Strategies: The Emerson Child Study Team Model
While Jessica acknowledges that the close-knit nature of Emerson Elementary helps make their Child Study Team successful, she believes the model can be scaled with the right commitment.
Some of her recommendations for scaling include:
- Consistency in Documentation – Ensure every team member is on the same page regarding student needs using standardized forms.
- Clear Action Plans – Assign specific responsibilities to team members and set deadlines to maintain accountability.
- Commitment to Relationships – Prioritize building strong relationships with families and students to sustain the success of the CST process.
- Open Communication – Maintain consistent and open lines of communication to avoid any potential mistakes that could ultimately impact the student negatively.
- Training and Resources – Ensure all team members, from teachers to social workers, have the tools and professional learning they need to succeed.
The Child Study Team at Emerson Elementary goes beyond typical interventions. It represents a philosophy rooted in trust, empathy, and high expectations for every student. By prioritizing relationships, using data effectively, and empowering staff to make professional decisions, Emerson models what intervention can look like when the whole child is considered.
For principals, educators, and parents wondering how to get started, Jessica offers this advice: “Be consistent, value relationships, and always listen to the families. They know their children in ways that data never will.”
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]]>There are fewer pages to turn in the 2024 calendar, and as we head into 2025, the Discovery Education team has identified key trends that will shape how students learn, how teachers teach, and how administrators make decisions. These insights aren’t just predictions—they’re paired with actionable insights to help create impactful learning in the new year.
Three Education Trends to Watch in 2025
1. Engaging Student Interest Will Emerge as Top Tool to Combat Absenteeism and Learning Loss
2024 was full of conversations on keeping students engaged in learning and, in 2025, a focus on student engagement will continue to be a top priority.
In Discovery Education’s 2024 Education Insights Report, 15% of parents stated lack of interest or motivation for learning is a primary reason for student absences, second only to health-related issues. Chronic student absenteeism is a national issue, and as the challenge to keep learners attentive and invested continues to intensify in 2025, districts will focus on investing in engagement-focused solutions to empower teachers to build lessons that leave students curious and inspired.
Throughout the next year, gamified learning platforms, interactive digital assets, Augmented and Virtual Reality technology, and immersive learning experiences are expected to take center stage. These tools are capable of capturing and holding students’ attention while promoting deeper learning outcomes.
Gamified learning platforms, interactive digital assets, and immersive learning experiences are expected to take center stage in 2025. These tools will help educators build unique learning experiences that capture and hold students’ attention while promoting deeper learning outcomes.
2. Revisiting Future Readiness
In our 2024 Education Insights survey, 80% of students reported that they believe content that connects to real-world experiences is important for long-term success and day-to-day learning. In 2025,
This continued desire for career exploration will cause the line between core instructional materials and supplemental resources to continue to blur—and for good reason. Educators and policy leaders are now leveraging resources that focus more on career exploration and building future-ready skills. Supplemental resources are being introduced to bridge the gaps in students’ different learning journeys, offer tailored materials to better differentiate instruction, create interest-based lessons, and keep students engaged in the overall learning process.
3. Prioritizing Personalized Learning to Meet All Students’ Needs
Our 2024 Education Insights Report shows that two-thirds of teachers feel that students exhibit a wider range in knowledge and skills compared to five years ago, reflecting persistent learning loss among many students. Additionally, 81% of teachers find navigating these varied skill levels challenging. These skill level differences have created a larger need for personalization tools to address each student’s needs in real time. Educators will continue to seek out solutions that focus on reading and math intervention and acceleration by meeting learners where they are, differentiate instruction, allow self-paced learning, and integrate scalable best practices. Educators can prepare by exploring platforms and tools that emphasize personalization and by developing strategies to incorporate them effectively in their classrooms.
2025 is set to be another game-changing year for education with exciting opportunities for educators and leaders to adapt, innovate, and positively impact all students.
For district and state administrators, the upcoming challenge lies in prioritizing investments that maximize outcomes while aligning with your school system’s unique needs. Focusing on engagement, personalization, and mindful technology integration can ensure students and teachers thrive together throughout 2025.
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