Each afternoon when teenager Matthew Friedman picked up copies of The Pittsburgh Press for his newspaper route, he would eagerly thumb through the broadsheet to the sports section. With the scent of ink and newsprint in the air, the future Ed.D. and superintendent of the Quakertown Community School District immersed himself in the game scores and individual stats of his favorite athletes. The sport hardly mattered; Friedman loved them all, and he bled the black and gold of the local teams. This was the era of a young Barry Bonds and Jay Bell, Bubby Brister, Rod Woodson, and Mario Lemieux – a time not so long ago when yesterday’s events were still today’s headlines.
Friedman did more than glance at the data during his daily newspaper ritual, he interacted with it. He calculated the number of victories a team would need to win the division, for example, and the total hits a player had to accrue to reach .300. While playing baseball in high school and college, adult league ball, and fantasy football, data developed into an even more important part of his life.
Working with numbers became second nature to Friedman. Over his 24-year educational career, he cultivated his analytical skills, realizing the transformative potential of data to shape educational outcomes. Sworn in as Quakertown superintendent on July 3, Friedman quickly began planning to reboot the district’s use of data. His two years as chief academic officer of Downingtown, a high-achieving district of 13,000 kids and 17 buildings, taught Friedman the importance of systems thinking and uniform procedures across all schools – elements he planned to bring to his new district.
Quakertown prides itself on being a very good school district. Niche.com, a popular website that ranks schools and school systems across the nation, most recently awarded Quakertown a B+, with an A- in academics. Programs are firing on all cylinders, and teachers and support personnel are at the top of their game. It would be easy for the district to rest on its laurels.
Friedman, though, recognizes that the quest to maximize student learning and provide more opportunities to kids should never end. One of his first steps to move the district forward is to ensure that all schools use the same operational frameworks – many of which involve data. This lays the foundation for all future improvements.
“You have to step back and take a 30,000-foot view,” he said. “We need to use a district lens versus a building lens.”
Discussion, Reflection, and Action
Quakertown has been a member of the LinkIt! family since the 2019-20 school year. The district makes impressive use of the online platform and custom Navigator Analytics reports to gain insights into student learning, trends, and areas of concern. Utilized are in-depth reports on LinkIt! Benchmarks, 5-year PSSA & Keystone results (to identify trends and cohort performance), Fingertips (which are used at the start of a school year to familiarize teachers with their new students), DIBELS, and ACCESS for ELLs.
Keeping his strategic perspective and “district lens,” Friedman has initiated districtwide data review meetings, a page taken from the playbook he used in multiple other districts. Building principals meet with the central office team quarterly during the academic year to examine state, benchmarking, and other local data to seek to understand the underlying messages behind the data. These sessions are a deep dive into the why’s and how’s of student achievement. Areas that require attention are pinpointed, and discussions then turn toward creating action plans.
To ensure focused discussions, the meetings are segmented: Elementary school principals gather on one day, while their secondary school counterparts meet on a separate day. Discussions about instructional materials and resources often arise. The meetings also serve as platforms for principals to share insights into effective teaching methodologies and learn from each other. For secondary school leaders, this time is an invaluable opportunity to discuss curriculum and help ensure seamless progression and consistency from middle school to high school.
“It’s not a data inquisition,” Friedman said of these sessions. “These are conversations where we’re sharing highlights and openly discussing strengths, areas of concern, collaboratively looking at where the peaks and valleys are. As everyone rises, everyone helps each other. And collectively you move in the same direction.”
The first data session, held in the fall, was dedicated to analyzing state test scores through LinkIt! PSSA and Keystone Navigator Reports. These show student achievement in ELA and Math broken down by school, grade, teacher, and demographic, and compared to state averages. Attendance and behavior/discipline stats were also examined. The subsequent meetings will revolve around scores from LinkIt! Benchmarks carried out during the year, along with other local assessments.
The specific improvement tactics developed in these meetings, says Friedman, can serve as important messages for stakeholders. Discussing them fosters trust and builds awareness of school goals.
“When we share reports with the school board or the community or the parents in the district, really any stakeholder, we can easily say ‘Here’s what the buildings are doing. Here’s how they’re doing it. Here’s when they’re doing it. Here’s what we’re looking at. Here’s the questions that we’re asking.’ We’re able to consistently tell the story of how the district is moving forward.”
Thursdays are for Data
Quakertown’s dedication to professional growth is virtually unrivaled. Short PD sessions of approximately 20 minutes are conducted every morning before student arrival. These concentrated chunks of time put the focus on a single, easily digestible topic or process.
Recognizing the immense potential of these sessions, Friedman created the position of district supervisor of professional development which is charged with programming this critical time. The PD is self-directed three times a week; teachers usually select a subject or activity from choice boards. Twice per week, principals and school leadership teams organize and develop PD to meet their own staff’s needs.
A specific theme/subject has been assigned to each day. Mondays focus on collaboration, for example, and Tuesdays focus on instructional technology tools. Every Thursday morning is reserved for data. This time is spent analyzing data, presenting tips on using the LinkIt! ecosystem, and running reports, and discussing teaching strategies and supports. Over the course of the school year, this provides up to a dozen hours of data PD.
The rethinking of professional learning again shows Friedman’s holistic approach. But it also does something more: It underscores the importance he places on developing teacher capacity and introducing new instructional strategies that will inspire creativity in the classroom. As the son of two teachers with more than 70 years of combined experience, it’s no surprise he places a high value on allowing talented teachers to spread their wings.
“I’ve always believed if you focus on best practices and quality instructional practices, quality curriculum, quality resources, you’ll always see strong student achievement,” said Friedman, a former high school social studies teacher like his father. “I’ve always tried to push the envelope as a teacher and administrator, and paint outside the lines, but I’ve always tried to keep organized. I’ve learned from some amazing people over the years to be forward-thinking. I believe the antiquated industrial model of schools where you sit in rows of desks and an adult talks at you is something of the past. We’ve got to think outside the box on how we can do innovative things for kids that are in our classes every day.”
At each school, teachers from individual grade levels and teams/departments also meet, often with the building principals, to examine data and chart the progress of students. The meetings use the same step-by-step administrator-developed procedures for data review and decision-making. This ensures that the same analysis processes are used across the district, providing an important continuity, particularly for MTSS.
Next Steps
Looking into the near future, further integration of data into Quakertown’s educational culture and instructional planning seems to be in the cards.
One objective is to further unify the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) across the district, establishing common performance indicators and cut scores. Instructionally, Quakertown is reinforcing Tier 1 supports this year while also enhancing and broadening Tier 2 interventions.
Further down the line, Friedman envisions a classroom environment in which teachers actively engage students in discussions about their own performance data. This reinforces expectations and helps students understand who they are as learners. More importantly, it encourages students to set academic milestones and gives teachers the chance to explain how they will support each child in reaching those goals.
The sharing of data with parents may also be in the future. This expands the transparency of school decision-making and establishes data as a common language. Using data at parent-teacher conferences is one possibility; another is opening LinkIt’s parent portal so parents can directly access information and better understand their child’s academic trajectory. No matter how it happens, sharing data cultivates parental involvement and fosters collaboration between educators, students, and families.
Said Friedman, “It’s next-level data usage, where everyone knows what needs to be done and is working together to get there. That’s how you move the needle forward.”
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We would love to share more about how we can help maximize your district’s use of data as well. We are currently offering complimentary 4-year M-STEP district and school reports analyzing achievement and growth by grade, subject, school, cohort, subgroup, and content area. Visit linkit.com/miconnect to learn more about our solutions and get in touch.