Making Data-Driven Decisions for the Coming School Year

The end-of-year reflection cycle offers an extra dose of adrenaline for data devotees. Edtech advances have made student performance reports richer than ever before—especially when the information is streamlined in one place to simplify access and analysis. 

During the school year, having access to timely progress monitoring and assessment results equips teachers with the tools to create cohesive learning experiences in their classrooms and adjust as needed to make sure every student is on a clear path to success. 

Now, with the year winding down, administrators have an opportunity to parse district, school and student growth patterns with an eye toward what worked and what did not. This annual routine has the potential to become more robust as a growing number of districts adopt holistic student performance platforms that facilitate more data evaluation than ever. 

Here are three focus areas where having comprehensive data is invaluable in district-wide planning for the 2025-26 year.

Student Focus: Tailored Intervention Strategies

Helping students learn is the most rewarding part of education, and celebrating students’ achievements at the end of the year is a source of inspiration before the weighty work of reviewing student data and proactively addressing challenges begins.

Teachers have spent months seeking to understand each student’s academic strengths and areas for improvement, comparing progress over time on assignments and assessments, turning raw data into actionable insights. They are also looking at nuances within the demands of every lesson, at each student’s learning needs, and at the resources available to them.

For school leaders, this data is a window into the thousands of decisions teachers make every day. Their adaptive expertise is on full display—and so are the instances where intervention strategies could be more tailored to individual students. They can be confident in advising on the strategies that are most likely to be successful given the variables because they are basing the guidance on clear and concise data. 

Classroom Focus: Instruction and Curriculum Adjustments

Data-driven instruction requires having the results from formative, summative and reflective assessments to gauge students’ subject matter understanding and mastery. Individual educators adjust instructional methods and materials in real time in their classrooms, but they also often bring their observations to Professional Learning Communities, where they can discuss the core issues with peers, creating goals and fine-tuning intervention strategies as many times as needed to get them right for their current student population.

The data collected in follow-up assessments allows teachers to track the success rate of their interventions and innovations—and at the end of the school year, not only can they share the findings with next year’s educators via articulation meetings, but administrators can review those findings in their quest to identify both broad trends and small nuggets of instructional gold. 

Refining the effectiveness of teaching methodology and curricula is a tall order. But when the changes are supported by data, potential objections are diffused. Instead, administrators who can back up their guidance with evidence foster a supportive and constructive school culture where responsibility is shared.

Educator Focus: Professional Development

More than two-thirds of Otus team members are former educators; we understand the time constraints educators and administrators are under and why efficiency is crucial. This is true in every part of a teacher’s job: creating assessments, grading, monitoring progress and planning next steps. 

Not only does the Otus platform save educators an average of two hours per week, it strengthens their power to recognize and advocate for practices that have worked within classrooms or departments and are likely to benefit the district’s entire educational community. The end of the year is a prime opportunity to gather and present this information. 

For administrators, there is a parallel round of data-driven decisions around goals such as ensuring curricula are designed to be inclusive and support all learners; aligning assessment practices across the entire district; determining return on investment; and empowering collaborative instruction via professional development opportunities such as Professional Learning Communities.  

With a unified approach to the development and improvement of curriculum, instruction and assessment, district leaders can rest assured that the important work of alignment does not rest on any one individual’s shoulders.

And for districts undergoing (or about to undergo) significant changes such as shifting to standards-based grading, the use of a platform like Otus encourages the sharing of strategies and ideas that benefit student learning. Teachers have a common reference point, which improves internal communication. Administrators have a partner to assist with ongoing training opportunities.

Fascinatingly, an article published in 1941 summarizing the dilemmas superintendents face includes political influences, revenue problems, supervision and curriculum matters. But unlike their predecessors 84 years ago, today’s district leaders have the benefit of comprehensive data to make decisions about those dilemmas and more.