Partners Presents at Learning Forward 2024 Conference How to Reimagine Use of Data in Schools
The Partners in School Innovation team was excited to join Learning Forward at their 2024 conference as a session presenter. Their annual conference brings together thought leaders, experts, researchers, and other practitioners to collaboratively share the latest learnings, knowledge, and techniques.
From December 8-11 in Denver, CO, attendees rallied around the theme of “Reach New Heights for Students” and learned how to bring this to life.
Partners in School Innovation’s Managing Design Partner Sarah May and Senior Improvement Partner Jesse Roe presented a preconference session titled, “Data for Liberation: Moving Beyond the Numbers,” which was attended by district-level professional development leaders, principals, assistance principals, and teacher leaders.
Session attendees learned to reimagine how data gets used in schools so that they could disrupt inequitable patterns and create more lively, loving, learning school environments for Black and Brown students.
In this six-hour session, Sarah and Jesse helped education leaders identify what’s getting in the way of using data for liberation (e.g., racial bias, an over reliance on testing, or not adopting a systems view) and learn how to facilitate more equity-focused conversations about data to bring about meaningful change.
Their presentation and collaborative workshopping supported attendees’ discovery of the nuanced stories hiding in their data and how to look through a different lens at how data could inform equity-focused change initiatives.
The team was thrilled to receive positive feedback from attendees such as:
100% rated the learning experience as highly engaging and/or thought-provoking
100% believed the knowledge and skills would impact their work
96% shared that they would share their learning with their team and colleagues
52% shared that they planned to immediately use the information presented
Whenever our coaches are able to help educators and education leaders learn about and practice more equitable ways to approach initiatives for student success, especially using data, we are motivated by the momentum. We hope you’ll join us at future conferences where our team will continue to share stories of and frameworks to move towards equity in education.
If you didn’t make it to the conference but want to learn more about data for liberation, we have an on-demand data liberation course in our Community. Enroll for free here.
If your school and/or district could benefit from professional development in this area of data for liberation that is tailored to your community, contact us.
