"A wonderful tool! No educational jargon to weed through. The author meshes the real world with the ideal world and provides a concrete guide for principals to work with their faculty." -Marie Blum, Superintendent Canaseraga Central School, NY "Provides insight, evidence, humor, and most important, practical tools every educator and school leader can use. With the wisdom earned through decades of work in schools of every conceivable description, Cox guides us through the belief systems and data analysis, as well as the impact of demographic characteristics, teaching practices, and leadership decisions on student achievement." -Douglas Reeves, Chairman Center for Performance Assessment Focus on program quality-not just test scores-and watch student achievement climb! In this remarkable book, renowned educational consultant James Cox offers a smarter way to look at data, putting test scores in context, not in isolation. Rather than focusing on last year's findings for school improvement, educators can learn how to evaluate the processes and practices that lead to those data by using a user-friendly, three-pronged framework for school improvement: teacher quality, program elements, and leadership. This concise, practical guide offers easy-to-use tools and techniques for schools and districts to evaluate their programs using both quantiative and qualitative data. School leaders will learn to look at data, program evaluation, and school improvement differently and discover how to effectively: Define a quality program Analyze what is and is not working Avoid "test score fatigue" Packed with worksheets, step-by-step instructions, and an extensive appendix of tools, this book provides readers with a complete improvement plan to put into action today!
Preface Acknowledgments Author's Note About the Author 1. The Four Pillars of Program Quality 2. Defining the Quality of an Educational Program 3. Planning and Professional Development 4. Setting Your Improvement Plan in Motion Resource A: Reproducible Tools Resource B: Sources of Characteristics of Effective Teachers References Index
"Provides insight, evidence, humor, and most importantly, practical tools every educator and school leader can use. With the wisdom earned through decades of work in schools of every conceivable description, Cox guides us through belief systems, data analysis, and the impact of demographic characteristics, teaching practices, and leadership decisions on student achievement." -- Douglas Reeves, Chairman "A wonderful tool for every person associated with student learning! There is no educational jargon to weed through. The author meshes the real world with the ideal world and provides a concrete guide for principals to work with their faculty, not just 'at' them!" -- Marie Blum, Superintendent "Provides principals and teacher leaders with tools to assist them in drilling deeper than summative test scores. The numerous checklists and surveys are extremely beneficial and can be put to use immediately." -- Bruce Deterding, Principal "From defining and analyzing the qualities of a program to honing in on what objectives are not being reached and why, Finding the Story Behind the Numbers is not limited to one type of instructional routine but is applicable to all, making for a very flexible, solid analysis reference." -- California Bookwatch, March 2007 "Cox does a lot of work helping school districts analyze large sets of data to identify central strengths and weaknesses within programs. This book is a must-read to acquaint yourself with the popular MAP planning process." -- Teacher Librarian, April 2007
