Small Step. Big Impact.

Collecting Student Experience Data as Part of Instructional Coaching

Reflections from Lindsay Yearta, Education Associate-Research and Impact, Personalized Learning Team, South Carolina Department of Education & Melissa Slater, School Leadership and Instructional Coach, reDesign

What if we gave all students the opportunity to share their experience with personalized competency based learning and we valued that experience as vital data? In the spirit of centering those student voices, let’s kick off this post by having Knox tell you about the new math learning pathway he is trying out in his 3rd grade class at Sunset Park Center for Accelerated Studies (Sunset Park CAS) in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

There are so many things we love about Knox talking directly about his learning. He can articulate the process of building his skills and reflect on how long he thought it would take and what it actually took for him to show competence.  The other thing we love about this video of Knox is the fact that it even exists. How many times have we, as educators, administrators, and coaches, tried a new approach, instructional strategy, or skill with our students only to wonder whether it was effective? We might have looked at assessment data or student work, but how often did we actually ask students to talk about what they did and how it worked or didn’t work for them?  

Knox’s school, Sunset Park CAS, is in their second year of the Intensive Support program, a partnership between the South Carolina Department of Education’s (SCDE) Personalized Learning Team and reDesign to pilot the implementation of the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate Competencies.  The Sunset Park CAS personalized learning team has not only embraced this as work in service of their school mission to “create a child-centered learning environment where ALL children learn at high levels,” but they have done so by fearlessly jumping in head-first. Their willingness to take risks and try new things is a direct reflection of the culture of learning led by their principal, Dr. Barnes, and assistant principal, Ms. Brown. 

As a part of this intensive support program,  reDesign and the SCDE Personalized Learning Team have worked closely together to build a statewide data collection process that can help us track the implementation of the competencies across South Carolina. While Lindsay was immersing herself in collecting authentic artifacts from professional learning sessions, Melissa was working to expand the work of reDesign’s Youth Advisory Council by thinking about ways to embed student voice into instructional coaching. Then the magic happened. The teachers at Sunset Park CAS were inspired by short videos of students talking about their learning and that was a reminder to us that centering student voice is not only about empowering young people and inspiring educators, but it can also be great data. We decided to try out one small idea for centering student voice in our instructional coaching work at Sunset Park CAS.

This fall, the team at Sunset Park CAS focused on two competencies: Navigate Conflict and Learn Independently.  At the end of the coaching cycle, the personalized learning team came together to share what they tried. For the December celebration & share out, we asked each member of the team to bring the new tool or process they tried and a video of a student describing or reflecting on that tool or process. 

The members of the team that focused on skills in the Navigate Conflict competency shared tools they created such as Ms. Heyward’s mood meter, Ms. Mobley’s calming journal, and Dr. McConneaughey’s  emotion check-in sentence starters.  Ms. Taylor and Ms. Switzer shared a collection of emotional regulation tools they secured through a grant and discussed how students are using them on a daily basis. Ms. Douglas and her students created a space in their classroom they named “The Chill Zone” where students could find a few quiet moments to reflect and process their emotions. Other members of the team focused on the Learn Independently competency. Knox’s teacher,  Ms. Cooper designed learning pathways for math where students were able to work at their own pace and Ms. Johnson’s students used a learning planner that helped them self-manage a project on the Harlem Renaissance.

At the end of our share out and celebration, we asked the team to reflect on the process of interviewing a student, sharing that video, and watching each other’s videos.

The big takeaway for us from both the coach and researcher perspective, was that this was a relatively small ask of teachers with an immediate impact . Providing manageable, structured opportunities for teachers to intentionally ask students about their learning is an often overlooked and undervalued piece of data.  This can be a powerful way to show students that their experience matters and can inform teacher decisions.  While standardized test scores,  assessments, and student work are pieces of the data puzzle, they should never be the only pieces. Student (and teacher) voice and experience are essential pieces of data that allow us to have a more complete picture of what’s happening within and beyond the walls of the classroom. 

 Implementing competencies is hard work. It asks leaders, teachers, and students to rethink the way we’ve always done things and imagine a different future for education. Throughout this pilot process we have noticed that despite the challenges, this work is energizing for educators and students.  Test scores can’t tell that part of this story, but students and teachers  can. Ms. Mobley, a kindergarten teacher  said, “I have loved working and learning with you to implement the competencies in my classroom. This is work that both myself and my students are excited about and very proud.”  

Believe us, that feeling is mutual. We are very proud to be their partners in their competency implementation journey and collecting meaningful data that highlights all of the amazing work happening at Sunset Park CAS.