Check out this awesome visual that we created below to see the “big picture” as far as our students reading levels. A data wall unites a school by bringing a staff together to see students as “our students” versus his students or her students. We are going to use it to help identify students for reading interventions, to visualize common trends in data, and to set goals for where we want our students to be. We keep the data wall in the hallway that leads to our teacher’s lounge. It is not out in the open for students/parents to see.
Here is the best I could do at getting a “full snapshot” of the data wall.
Here’s another shot of part of the data wall above and below.
Each card on the data wall represents a student in our school. We used little stickers to identify students who are have had a reading intervention outside of the language arts block this year, are identified as special education in reading and/or writing, are English Language Learners, and Gifted and Talented.
This is the key for the data wall. Each student is represented by a different notecard. Each color of card represents a different grade level. We use the Fountas and Pinnell grade level expectations. It is a leveled continuum from A-Z that is measured by the Benchmark Assessment. We use students’ benchmark levels to work with students during guided reading.
Currently, at this point in the year, our 5th graders are expected to be reading at a level U or above, our 6th graders are expected to be at a level X or above, and our 7th and 8th graders are supposed to be at a level Z or Z+.
Each student notecard contains the student’s ID number, their benchmark score from the first, second, and third round on benchmarking, and any stickers to identify students with different circumstances.
That’s it! That’s our data wall! So excited that it’s up and ready for us to use!
