Weaving Data into a Culture of Belonging with Jennifer Ferguson - Ep 4

🎙️Who's on the Mic?

In this episode, I’m chatting with Jennifer Ferguson, the school testing coordinator from Caroline High School. Jennifer has a unique background, starting in group homes for adults with intellectual disabilities before transitioning to education, where she's worked in special education and as a middle school assistant principal. In her current role, she's built data systems from the ground up. We'll be exploring her experiences in creating a data-informed culture in a school that initially didn't use data and how she uses data visualization to inform decisions. You know how I'm constantly beating the drum about data being a guide, not a dictator, and how it should bring people together, not scatter them in fear? Well, Jennifer is out there making that a tangible reality, especially when it comes to student success and the often-underestimated power of "belonging."

💬Episode Snapshot

Jennifer hit on a key point that resonated with my own journey of turning tangled data into clear dashboards: the straightforward yet profound impact of strong visuals. She recounted how, at Caroline High School, she encountered a minimal data culture, quickly recognizing the need to make data accessible to everyone. Her solution? A universally recognized visual language – green for go, yellow for caution, red for "Houston, we've got a problem." This approach helps dismantle the "math trauma" many educators carry.

What truly impressed me was Jennifer's direct connection between data and belonging. She's using data to illuminate student relationships and how those connections directly influence their overall school experience. Her work is about informing decisions that genuinely integrate students and foster their sense of connection. Ultimately, if I can use data to help us figure out how to enhance that feeling of belonging for our students, you can sign me up a thousand times over.

Jennifer's dedication to leveraging data to uplift both students and staff is genuinely inspiring. She's not just crunching numbers; she's scripting new narratives for students and cultivating a more nurturing environment for educators. Building a data-informed culture is a marathon, not a sprint, but as Jennifer so clearly illustrates, the ripple effect on student success and teacher well-being is priceless. It’s about empowering everyone to ask smarter questions, engage in more meaningful conversations, and make better decisions. And when that happens, those student success stories practically write themselves.

💡Key Takeaways

• Visual Simplicity is Paramount: Complex data becomes digestible when presented with universally understood visual cues (e.g., the green/yellow/red system). Overly ornate or dense dashboards often hinder, rather than help, comprehension.

• Democratizing Data Access: Truly effective data systems empower all educators, not just specialists. This reduces intimidation and increases teacher agency in using data to inform their practice.

• “Belonging” as a Metric: Data can be a great tool for understanding and cultivating a sense of belonging among students, directly impacting their academic achievement, behavior, and social-emotional health.

• Framing Challenges as Puzzles: Shifting the perspective of data implementation difficulties into "puzzles" to be solved fosters a more collaborative and less intimidating environment for problem-solving.

• Human-Centric Data Culture: A truly impactful data culture prioritizes collaboration and empowers educators, recognizing that human insight and conversation are crucial drivers for informed, data-backed decisions.

🎬Actionable Insights

• Simplify Your Visuals: Review existing data reports and dashboards. Can you simplify the visual language to be more intuitive? Consider incorporating a traffic light system (green/yellow/red) for quick comprehension.

• Assess Data Accessibility: Reflect on how accessible data is for all staff members. Are there barriers to understanding or utilizing data that could be addressed with clearer visuals or more focused training?

• Connect Data to "Soft" Skills: Explore how your existing data points (e.g., attendance, participation, discipline referrals) might indirectly reflect a student's sense of belonging. What new data points could be collected to directly measure this?

• Facilitate Collaborative "Data Puzzles": When encountering data challenges, frame them as collective "puzzles" for your team to solve. Encourage open discussion and problem-solving rather than assigning blame.

• Prioritize People in Data Conversations: Ensure that data discussions are collaborative and focus on student impact, not just numbers. Empower teachers to bring their qualitative insights to the data table.

If you’re grappling with implementing data-informed practices in your school, or if you simply want to hear more about how data can spark more than just spreadsheets, you absolutely need to connect with Jennifer. Her insights on reframing challenges as "puzzles" and constructing systems that genuinely empower educators are nothing short of transformative. I definitely left our conversation with a renewed sense of purpose and a fresh perspective on the immense good data can foster.

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Learn more about WeCollab at jigsawlearning.ca/wecollab

Learn more about Jennifer Ferguson at http://www.sapience-ed.com/

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Connect with Jennifer Ferguson

Email: jennifer.ferguson@sapience-ed.com

X: https://x.com/_MrsFerguson_

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-dickson-ferguson

jennifer.ferguson@sapience-ed.com

Transforming Schools using Data-Informed Collaboration with Kurtis Hewson - Ep 1

Alright, friends, I just wrapped up a chat with Kurtis Hewson, lead learner and co-founder of Jigsaw Learning, and let me tell you, my mind is blown. You know how I always say data should guide, not decide? Well, Kurtis and his wife Lorna are right there with me. We dove deep into how to make data work for everyone in a school, not just the "super cool number crunchers" (that's me, by the way, and maybe you too! no shame).

First off, can we just acknowledge the parallel journeys Kurtis and I have had? We both stepped into leadership roles super early in our teaching careers! It’s as if the universe knew we needed to figure out how to leverage the collective expertise in a room, rather than just being the lone "expert". That led him to champion collaborative structures in schools, and it completely resonates with my philosophy of bringing everyone to the data table for their own "data donut".

Now, let's get to the gold. Kurtis introduced me to his "four layers of team" concept, and here's the overview:

• Collaborative Planning (Layer 1): Think your typical PLCs. This is where teachers come together to look at overall data, identify strengths and gaps, and plan for all students. The goal here isn't to talk about individual students, but the whole picture.

• Collaborative Team Meeting (Layer 2): This is the game-changer, my friends. This is where you mix it up! Diverse groups of educators, including administrators and special education coordinators, come together with a very specific, tight protocol. You start with celebrations – seriously, what did you do that led to that student's success? And then, instead of diving into the whole saga of your most complex student, you focus on one key issue for a student who is "yellow" – meaning, they're approaching expectations, not at greatest risk. This is where the magic happens, where teachers share strategies that actually work in the classroom, growing everyone's toolbox.

• School Support Team (Layer 3): This consistent team (think principal, assistant principal, learning support teacher) looks at students who need support beyond the classroom. This is where the red-coded students (those not meeting expectations) would be discussed.

• Case Consult (Layer 4): This is the most intensive layer, where you bring all the right people to the table to focus on one student with complex needs. The goal is that fewer students should reach this layer because of the proactive work happening in the earlier tiers.

And here's why this is so brilliant: Kurtis believes that by focusing on the "yellow" students in the Collaborative Team Meetings, we're actually supporting the most kids. Why? Because a strategy that helps a student "on the cusp" often benefits everyone in the classroom. It’s a proactive approach that prevents students from becoming those "at-risk" cases later on. Plus, when teachers see success with these strategies, it's a huge motivator (I talk about this part all the time!).

I absolutely love that Kurtis reshapes the idea of tiered students into "tiered supports", similar to the way I do, as well. It’s not about labeling a kid as "tier three," but acknowledging that they currently need tier three support. This seemingly small shift in language has a massive impact on how we think about supporting kids.

And how do we make all this happen? Color coding your data! Seriously, if you take nothing else from this, start simple with red (not meeting expectations), yellow (approaching), green (meeting), and blue (exceeding). As Kurtis said, this simple visual cue can transform conversations in your school. It aligns perfectly with my belief that effective data visualization reduces cognitive load and makes information easier to digest.

Kurtis will be diving even deeper into these topics at our upcoming Data in Education Virtual Summit on June 10th and 11th. He's talking about how to create these layers of teams in his keynote, because, let's be real, you can have all the beautiful dashboards in the world, but if you don't have intentional structures to ask "So what are we going to do?" the data is meaningless. His breakout session will focus on five mistakes leaders often make with data (he's made them all, so you know it's gonna be good!).

And speaking of the summit, get hyped! We're doing a "7 Speakers in 7 Days" podcast series leading up to it, so you can get a sneak peek of the amazing insights coming your way. Tune into Kurtis's podcast, "Building a Culture of Collaboration," or mine, "Data and Education," starting June 2nd to catch those episodes.

This conversation with Kurtis truly reinforced my belief that data should be a catalyst for more school success stories, not a source of fear or confusion. It's about letting data inform, but people drive. When we do that, data can spark the right questions, invite teachers to the conversation, and truly lead to student success.

So, how are you leveraging data to impact your students? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! And seriously, consider joining us at the summit – I promise it'll be illuminating and inspiring.

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Check out Data in Education: A Virtual Summit - bit.ly/datasummit2025

Overview of Collaborative Response - bit.ly/CR-overview

Introductory chapter for the book Collaborative Response (includes numerous templates and resources from the book) - bit.ly/CR-intro

Learn more about Kurtis Hewson at https://jigsawlearning.ca

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Connect with Kurtis Hewson

Email: kurtis.hewson@jigsawlearning.ca

X: @hewsonk27

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kurtishewson/

Facebook: facebook.com/JigsawLearningAB/

School Stories: The Value of Data at a Secondary Level - Ep 3

I recently sat down with Jessica Bucceri, the school testing coordinator from Caroline High School, and her story is a masterclass in building data systems from scratch in a school that initially didn't use data at all. Her journey is inspiring, and I'm so excited for you to hear her insights.

Jessica has a really unique background. She started in group homes for adults with intellectual disabilities, then transitioned to special education, and even served as a middle school assistant principal for seven years, looping with her students. Now, as a school testing coordinator, she gets to do what she loves: organize things, work with spreadsheets, and make everyone happy with her organizational skills. She still gets to be involved with teachers and kids, and she shared a heartwarming story about a senior telling her, "You're the reason why I'm gonna graduate". That's real impact.

What struck me about Jessica's data journey is how organically it grew. Before her current role, data use was pretty unstructured. "There was nobody doing anything," she said. She started "dabbling" with numbers in middle school, learning from others, and then, in her current role, with a bit more "downtime" (a foreign concept to most educators), she started building things in Google Sheets. She even got into a "whole argument about vlookup versus xlookup" with her husband, a cost analyst who also works with spreadsheets. Been there.

Jessica's superpower is turning complex data into something simple and actionable. She can now get a raw snapshot of state test results to a middle school in half an hour, a process that used to take days. Her testing calendars are color-coded and built with lookups, making them "simple" for teachers, even if the "hidden sheets" behind them are a crazy web of formulas. This really resonated with me, as I (obviously) also love turning data puzzles into clear, easy-to-use visualizations.

We talked about how she's built data systems in her high school, including:

• PLCs with a data focus: She goes into PLCs once a month to discuss data from common assessments. She noted that different departments have different levels of comfort and engagement, with her history group now heavily relying on data for performance-based assessments.

• Remediation groups: They've created dedicated blocks in the schedule for remediation, using data and teacher feedback to ensure the right kids are getting the support they need. This is a game-changer for secondary schools that often struggle with implementing tiered interventions without disrupting the entire schedule. I hear this question all the time, and her approach is a fantastic example of how to make it work.

• Senior support teams: These teams leverage data to identify students who are struggling, even those "nice kids who just kind of do what you're supposed to do and you don't rock any boats, you don't get noticed" (that was me!). By tracking grades and state assessment scores, they can pinpoint students with multiple Fs or those consistently scoring low, leading to interventions like counseling, therapeutic supports, or even special education assessments. This proactive approach helps ensure kids graduate on time and are better prepared for their next steps.

Jessica is a huge advocate for using red, yellow, and green color-coding in her visualizations. She noted that teachers "love to open it up and see somebody who's gone from yellow to green". It’s quick, clean, and universally understood: green means good to go, yellow means slow down, and red is a warning flag. I wholeheartedly agree—my own journey in data visualization led me to this same conclusion after realizing my "super pretty" colorful dashboards were actually adding to cognitive load.

Looking ahead, Jessica is diving deeper into Looker Studio to build a dashboard that will connect all their accreditation data, allowing them to see student performance both individually and as a whole. This will help them track trends over time, like the common phenomenon of freshmen having more Fs than any other grade level (because, let's be honest, freshmen are like wild little puppies – they're still figuring things out!).

Jessica will be presenting on building these student support team dashboards at Data in Education: A Virtual Summit, likely on the second day around 1 PM Eastern Time. If you're struggling to implement data-informed practices in your secondary school, her session is a must-see. She's a fantastic example of turning challenges into "puzzles" and building systems that truly empower educators.

Jessica's commitment to using data to support students and staff is truly inspiring. If you want to connect with her, her email is below.

This conversation was a great reminder that building a data-informed culture takes time and consistent effort, but the impact on student success and teacher well-being is immeasurable. Let's keep working towards more "growth stories" in education.

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Check out Data in Education: A Virtual Summit - bit.ly/datasummit2025

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Connect with Jessica Bucceri

Email: jmkst82@hotmail.com

Facebook: Jessica Keener Bucceri

A Global Perspective on Data-Informed Schools with Tom Kaster - Ep 2

I recently had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Tom Kaster, founder of the Datafied Classroom! And let me tell you, this man has a journey. From aspiring firefighter to corporate life, then teaching, and now data consulting across the globe – his perspective on data in education is incredibly unique.

Tom and I instantly connected over our shared past as high school math teachers and I was excited to hear about his experience teaching internationally. He's lived and taught in places like Trinidad and Tobago, London, Cairo, Delhi, Buenos Aires, and is currently living in Chile. I had to ask if he was a fan of moving, but spoiler alert, he is not (is anyone?).

What really struck me about Tom's story is how he stumbled into the world of data dashboards. Like me, he started creating them because he saw a need. At international schools, students take IB exams (similar to AP, but more holistic) and while the data came back, it was often in overwhelming spreadsheets and PDFs. Even as a math teacher, he just didn't have the time to really dig into it.

Then, two separate people introduced him to the magic of data dashboards – specifically, Looker Studio (a tool I'm also a huge fan of, btw). He started playing around with his school's data, and his coordinator was blown away. Teachers who had been teaching for 15-20 years were finally digging into the data.

We dug into why teachers often feel overwhelmed by data, and it boils down to a few key things:

• Time is a precious commodity. Teachers are already stretched thin, and asking them to become data analysis wizards on top of everything else is just not sustainable.

• Clunky platforms and tedious steps. Tom and I shared stories of platforms that require multiple steps just to get to the information you need. As I often say, the goal isn't for teachers to master conditional formatting; it's for them to analyze, reflect, and act on the data!

• The "40,000-foot view" vs. the "nitty-gritty." Sometimes, leaders are looking at big-picture data, while teachers need to drill down to individual student needs. Looker Studio, in my humble opinion, is a fantastic bridge for this, allowing you to fluidly move between the big picture and the tiny details.

Tom shared a fantastic example of a time when the data revealed something unexpected. Teachers at one of his client schools thought students were struggling on a particular paper for an exam. But the dashboard clearly showed that it was a different paper where students were consistently underperforming. This perfectly illustrates that while our gut feelings are often right, that crucial 10% where they’re not can make all the difference for a student who might otherwise slip through the cracks.

Tom’s work with Datafied Classroom extends beyond just IB data; he also creates affordable, standards-based gradebooks for teachers that focus on multiple metrics and help track student trends. He’s all about providing tools that are intuitive and easy to use, so teachers can focus on the insights rather than the mechanics.

Btw, Tom is one of our amazing speakers at the upcoming Data and Education: A Virtual Summit on June 10th and 11th! He’ll be leading an introductory session on taking your spreadsheet data and turning it into powerful Looker Studio dashboards. If you’ve been wanting to dive into data visualization, this is your chance!

We ended our conversation with a powerful reminder: just start. Don't wait for the perfect time, and don't wait for the perfect data. As his friend Marshall Baker says, "all data is bad data" – meaning it's the best available data. So, take that first step, build momentum, and you’ll be amazed at the impact you can make.

Seriously, this conversation left me so energized! If you're looking to make data less daunting and more dynamic in your school, connect with Tom Kaster on LinkedIn and check out datafiedclassroom.com. And definitely snag your ticket for the Data and Education: A Virtual Summit – you won't want to miss it!

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Check out Data in Education: A Virtual Summit - bit.ly/datasummit2025

Learn more about Tom Kaster at www.datafiedclassroom.com

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Connect with Tom Kaster

Email: tom.kaster@datafiedclassroom.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-kaster-datafied/

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563973349106

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheDatafiedClassroom