Editor’s Note: This is the third in guest blogger Jeff Hartman’s series on Common Mistakes Made in Math Intervention.
Mistake 3: Using Teachers as Data Clerks
Data is a necessary pillar of intervention, but when the need to document progress consumes the available time of instructors who would otherwise be working with students, the time spent gathering data detracts from any one-on-one teacher time that students really need. If a school is using a large number of separate tools to assess and monitor students, teachers have to master the art of compiling and interpreting data from multiple sources. Using a streamlined program to both assess students and monitor progress liberates classroom teachers from spending too much time managing data, especially when real-time data is consolidated into easy to read dashboards. To quote a happy teacher from one of our Ascend Math partner schools, “There’s more of me for my kids instead of me sitting behind a desk… and my aide teaching my class.”