Switch course ▾
Session 5. From Data to a Teaching Decision
Objective. Turn a classroom data set into one clear teaching decision, act on it, and check whether it worked, while keeping pupil data safe.
Data has no value until it changes something. Many teachers can spot a pattern but then stall, because it is unclear what to do about it. This session gives you a short way from number to action: say the pattern in plain words, name the most likely reason, choose one decision for the next lesson, and plan how you will see whether it worked. It is the same thinking a good doctor uses, and it is deliberately small, so that it actually happens.
Key ideas
The cycle: question to check
- Data is useful only when it ends in action. Work in a short loop: question, data, pattern, possible reasons, decision, action, check.
- State the pattern in plain words first ('13 of 24 gave a reason; 7 said 8 is bigger'). Only then guess at reasons, and list more than one.
- Choose one decision you can carry out in the next lesson. A plan that needs three new resources will not happen.
A menu of decisions
- Whole class: move on, quick re-practice, or re-teach in a different way. Small group: a few pupils with the same gap. Individual: one pupil, a private word and one next step.
- A rough guide, not a rule: about 80 percent right or more, move on; about 50 to 80 percent, re-practise and help a small group; under about 50 percent, re-teach in a new way, but first check the question.
- Match the decision to the reason. A misconception needs a new explanation or picture; a slip needs practice; a poor question needs a better question.
Check your reading with a second source
- Before a big change, ask three pupils to explain their answer, or look at five pieces of their written work.
- Change one thing at a time. If you change the explanation, the groups and the homework together, you cannot tell what helped.
- Be honest when the data is too thin to decide. 'I will ask again next week' is a good decision.
Close the loop and share it
- After acting, ask a similar question a few days later and compare the tally. Did the number you worried about move?
- Keep a five-line note: question, data, pattern, decision, result. It takes five minutes and it is the best material for a talk with a colleague.
- Share patterns, not pupils. In a subject team ask: what did you see, what did you try, what happened? See also course 5.10 (Reflective Teaching Practice).
The data-to-decision loop
Five reasons, five different decisions
The same low result can come from five different causes, and each needs a different response. A misconception (pupils firmly believe something wrong) needs a new explanation or picture. A slip (they know it but make careless errors) needs practice and checking habits. A gap (it was not taught or was forgotten) needs teaching or review. A poor question needs a better question. Low motivation needs a conversation and a look at the task. Re-teaching the same way fixes only the gap.
To tell the causes apart, use a second source. Ask three pupils to explain how they got their answer. Misconceptions sound confident and consistent; slips sound hurried; gaps sound blank. Two minutes of listening will often save a week of the wrong remedy.
Small experiments and shared reading
Treat each decision as a small experiment. Write what you will change, the number you expect to move, and when you will look again. Change one thing. A week later ask a similar question and compare tallies. If the number moved, keep the change; if not, you have learned that the reason you guessed was probably wrong, which is also a result. This habit protects you from the pleasant but false story that every change you made worked.
Share the experiment with a colleague. Twenty minutes in a subject team with three questions is enough: what did you see, what did you try, what happened? Pupils are never named; the pattern is the topic. Colleagues often supply the missing reason, because they have met the same misconception in their own classes.
Examples from the classroom
One misconception, one fix
Scene. In Aziz's Grade 5 class in Tashkent only 9 of 24 can find a fraction of a quantity; many divide by the numerator. He listens to three pupils and hears the same confident idea. Next lesson he spends 15 minutes sharing 20 sweets into groups, and changes nothing else. Three days later 17 of 24 get a similar question right.
Insight. A named reason led to one targeted change, and a second question showed the result.
When the number said 'wait'
Scene. Malika's Grade 8 exit ticket on a poem in Uzbek shows 12 of 22 pupils explaining the metaphor. Last week the same question gave 18. She does not rush to re-teach. She asks five pupils; three were absent for the previous lesson, and two had misread the question. Her decision: a two-minute recap for the absent pupils and a clearer question next time.
Insight. When the pattern is unexpected, check a second source before choosing a decision.
A team meeting without names
Scene. The Grade 6 mathematics team in a Samarkand school meets for 20 minutes. Each of three teachers brings a one-page note with codes only. They find that in all three classes about a third of pupils choose the 'add the denominators' answer. They agree to use the same fraction-strip picture next week and to compare results, instead of each inventing a remedy.
Insight. Sharing patterns, not pupils, turns private guesses into shared learning.
Common pitfalls
- Changing several things at once so that nobody can tell what helped.
- Re-teaching in exactly the same way when the cause is a misconception.
- Skipping the second check, so that a lucky or unlucky day decides the plan.
- Naming pupils when sharing results with colleagues instead of sharing the pattern.
Data Pack to Decision Note
- In pairs (15 min): use the results table from Session 3 and the exit-ticket tally from Session 1 in the Activity Kit. For each of the six items, complete the decision table: pattern, likely reason, decision.
- Alone (15 min): choose the most important decision and write the five-line note: question, data, pattern, decision, how you will check.
- Swap notes (10 min): use the peer checklist. Is the pattern stated in plain words? Does the decision match the reason? Is it doable next lesson? Is pupil data safe?
- Group (10 min): revise your note using the feedback, then plan with your own class data: which of your notes from Sessions 1 to 4 will you turn into your final decision note?
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which decision changed most after you named the reason, not only the percentage?
- Where was the data too thin to decide? What second source would you add?
- What will you do first in your own class this week, and how will you check it?
Reflect
- What is one thing I now do differently because of data?
- Where do I still decide only by feeling, and could a small tally help?
- Who can I share my five-line note with?
Try it tomorrow
- Turn one of your earlier notes from this course into the five-line note and carry out its decision in one lesson.
- A few days later, ask a similar question, tally it and write one line on what changed.
- Share your note, with codes only, with one colleague for a 10-minute conversation.
Further reading and links
Name the pattern, find the reason, make one decision for the next lesson, then check again.