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INFOCON Hosts Data Retreat for Schools
November 15, 2006
The United NW MN INFOCON recently conducted a Data Retreat, September 12 and 13 in Mahnomen, MN, for all participating member schools. Schools attending with teams included, St. Joseph School- Moorhead, St. Joseph School- Red Lake Falls, St. Michael School-Mahnomen, Holy Rosary School-Detroit Lakes, St. Philip School- Bemidji, St. Bernard School-Thief River Falls and the Cathedral School-Crookston, Sacred Heart Elementary and High School- East Grand Forks and the public schools from Red Lake Falls, Climax-Shelly and Stephen- Argyle.
Last spring the schools met before the Data Retreat for a half-day preplanning meeting, which helped the leadership teams, decipher what data to collect and bring to the Data Retreat this fall.
The Data Retreat was a two-day experience dedicated to building and applying new knowledge and skills toward the creation of focused improvement goals based on evidence uncovered by the data. School teams were given specific information on processes for data analysis and interpretation. They also were provided with opportunities to apply these processes using school and/or district data.
The participating schools learned how to:
- Analyze and interpret four types of school data?student achievement, demographic, program, and perception?in order to identify patterns and trends.
- Develop clear, measurable, attainable goals for improvement based on concrete findings from their data.
- Develop specific research-based strategies, build timelines, and assign roles or tasks to team members.
The objective of the Data Retreat was to enable school leadership teams to build a foundation based on using research and data to drive school improvement decisions. The teams will continue to engage in the analysis and interpretation of their own data and translate the findings into specific, measurable improvement goals to enhance school improvement planning, promote student learning, and increase achievement in their respective schools with faculty, parents, boards and students.
All of the participants received a Participant's Guide, which provides resources used throughout the Data Retreat so that the resources can be continually applied within the school setting after the Data Retreat.
The funding for the Data Retreat was part of a $337,744.00 grant that was awarded to the NW MN INFOCON last September. Fr. Tim Bushy of St. Joseph Church and School- Red Lake Falls serves as the Coordinator of the INFOCON and coordinated the Data Retreat, which was facilitated by Learning Points Associates of Elgin Illinois.
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