New Vision Academy Counts on Data
to Fuel Staff Collaboration and
Student and Parent Buy-In
Count eighth-grader Sydney Lee among New
Vision Academy’s many fans of academic
growth data.
instruction, facilitates teacher collaboration, and
aids communication with students and parents.
“Once they start to believe, then they start to own
Sydney was earning C’s and B’s in math and Entheir education,” said Executive Director Timothy
glish until she was introduced to her own diagnos- Malone. “Everybody’s not on the same level, and
tic assessment data by educators at 2015 SCORE we recognize that. But we want to see that growth
Prize-winning middle school New Vision Academy in every child. The data doesn’t lie. We try to tie
(NVA). After challenging herself to put in more
that data into everything we do.”
effort on daily assignments, Sydney has closed the
gap between potential and performance. She’s
Teachers use data to inform lesson plans, so
now earning A’s in math and English.
instruction is differentiated and targeted. While
NVA has the small-school benefit of natural collab“The diagnostics represent what I can do if I put in oration, teachers say the different data open lines
the effort,” Sydney said. “It just makes me realize
of communication even further. The team works
that I can do way better.”
together to consider interim assessment results,
what needs to be retaught, and how to improve
A small, single-hallway school with nine instrucmastery.
tors on staff, NVA has an exceptionally data-rich
culture. Many tools for monitoring student growth For English language arts teacher Sarah Leach,
are in use at this public charter school in Nashnow in her second year at NVA, this atmosphere
ville – assessments, benchmarks, math, and
was initially intimidating. Over time, she realized
reading levels – and NVA sets a new standard for that openness to feedback and honesty about her
using this information productively. Data improves work helped her become a better teacher faster.
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