Data Meeting Facilitation Guide

Introduction

The Colorado Multi-Tiered System of Supports (COMTSS) Data Meeting Facilitation Guide was developed to assist school educators as they engage in dialog during decision-making team meetings. The foundation of this tool was based upon the handbook Implementing Structured Data Meetings developed by the Meadows Center at the University of Austin TX and the English Learner Institute for Teaching and Excellence (ELITE). The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) would like to thank the Meadows Center and ELITE for granting permission to use their facilitation guide as a springboard for the CDE COMTSS Data Meeting Facilitation Guide. 

The tool is organized into three sections that roughly align to the cadence of a typical school year (beginning, middle, end) to add a level of specificity to data collection, analysis, corresponding questions, and decisions that teams generally consider during different times of the school year. Within each of these broad sections, the document is further divided into Tier 1, 2, and 3 as the layered continuum helps with organization and access to the supports through layers that increase in intensity.  

Starting with tier 1 adds a strong universal foundation that is essential and ensures that prevention is emphasized so that the entire system can anticipate learning needs and respond more quickly and systematically to those needs.  As supports intensify, decision making teams naturally move from system level analysis and decision-making activities toward a more individualized approach as increasing the ability of school systems to provide equitable academic and behavioral support matched intentionally to student need.  

• The Beginning of Year (BOY) facilitation guide is designed to support teams in looking at data and goals set at the end of the previous year and any beginning of the year data to determine intentional BOY instruction, intervention, and progress monitoring for all students. 
• The Middle of Year (MOY) guide is designed to support the team in looking at data gathered since the BOY and to determine what adjustments to instruction and intervention are necessary to support the academic and behavioral growth of all student groups.  
• Finally, the End of Year (EOY) guide is designed to support teams in analyzing data gathered throughout the year to determine successes and areas of need regarding instruction, intervention, progress monitoring and systems implementation to better support all student groups. Additionally, the EOY facilitation guide includes using EOY data to set instruction and intervention goals and identify needed systems changes for the next year to better support all student groups. 

Purpose

The COMTSS Data Meeting Facilitation Guide is helping teams by increasing efficiency and productivity by adding structures and processes that help guide them through data selection, organization, analysis, and decision-making. The Data Meeting Facilitation Guide follows the Four Step Problem Solving process in the following ways: 

Step 1: Problem Identification. The Data Meeting Facilitation Guide can assist teams in identifying a system, school, grade, class-wide or an individual academic, behavioral or social-emotional problem that is preventing them from achieving grade-level expectations.

Step 2: Problem Analysis. The Data Meeting Facilitation Guide can effectively assist teams in analyzing the root cause of the problem.

Step 3: Plan Implementation. The Data Meeting Facilitation Guide will help inform decisions around intervention implementation.

Step 4: Plan Evaluation. The Data Meeting Facilitation Guide will guide teams in determining if the intervention resulted in positive outcomes for the targeted population.

Use and Considerations

The COMTSS Data Meeting Facilitation Guide is intended to be used by school decision-making teams across tiers 1, 2, and 3. We loosely define decision making teams as any team in the school that influence implementation and outcomes of various initiatives and student groups.  Some examples of decision-making teams include grade-level teams, department teams, implementation teams, multi-disciplinary teams, student intervention teams, curriculum and instructional teams, and team that are responsible for unified improvement and/or school-wide strategic planning. It is important to consider the purpose and function of a team when determining which section of this guide would be most helpful to the team’s decision-making efforts. 

• Teaming Structures: The Data Facilitation Guide includes a list of recommended attendees. Because teaming structures look different from one school to the next, the list of attendees for data meetings should be looked at as a suggestion. A school may have a different way of making sure the correct perspectives are represented at problem-solving meetings, depending on available resources. Additionally, membership may also be influenced by the types of decisions that need to be made and the targeted student population that has been identified.
• Role and Responsibilities: Within the COMTSS Data Meeting Facilitation Guide, activities are suggested, roles or titles are listed, and preparation activities are identified.  These are general considerations and may or may not reflect the make-up of the team, staff, or needs. The main purpose of this section is to make sure the meeting runs smoothly, there is shared responsibility, and the team has what it needs for data discussion, analysis, and decision making.  
• Data Gathering: Prior to the meeting, an administrator, instructional leader, or other staff member responsible for assessment, non-assessment, and data systems should analyze data that will be shared during the meeting to provide specific information about high-level trends, prioritize certain data sets, and suggest specific discussion prompts. This will make for more efficient data analysis and decision-making and allow teams to dig deeper into the root cause of those trends. Comprehensive assessment systems that house data and format data in such a way to make it easier to digest decreases stress on those that are tasked with organizing data prior to the meeting.
• Discussion Prompts: The prompts listed for meeting discussions are suggestions. Teams do not need to discuss all of them unless they are all relevant, and if there are topics not covered by the listed prompts, facilitators should feel free to go off-script.
• Enabling Context: To ensure an enabling context to support data-based decision-making, there are some foundational pieces that, if in place, will support an effective data-based decision-making process:
  • A master schedule that supports collaboration among problem-solving teams. 
  • A data management system that makes gathering, storing, organizing and disaggregating data more efficient. 
  • Educators are familiar with and use scientific and evidence-based instructional programs and assessment methods. 
  • Progress monitoring happens at all three tiers. 
  • Teams regularly check the fidelity of school systems using CDE’s School Fidelity Tool or other comparable fidelity monitoring tool. 
  • Teachers familiarize themselves with their students prior to data meetings.  This includes reading the cumulative files of new students, knowing which students have individualized plans (e.g., Individualized Education Programs, Advanced Learning Plans, 504, Safety Plans, Behavior Support Plans, English Language Development Plans) and understanding the accommodations/modifications written in those plans. 
• Scheduling Data Team Meetings: When crafting the master schedule, or before the start of the school year, consider designating time in the yearly calendar for data team meetings and monthly data meetings addressing tier 1, 2, and 3 to ensure that these meetings are held within regular scheduled intervals.
• Parent Notifications and Permissions: Whenever schools discuss data to inform decisions around programming for individual students, groups of students, grade levels, or school-wide, consideration should be given to support bi-directional communication with families. For more in-depth guidance on effective communication with families, see the Strategic Multi-directional Communication for Educational Teams.