Training & Support
Teachers want easy-to-use data that works harder for them so they can focus on helping students. Crispin Chatterton unveils the latest digital tool to help them do just that – the GL Data Dashboard
If the past couple of years have proved anything, it’s that schools will do what they can to deliver the education their students deserve, even in the most challenging of circumstances. Technology and reliable data have played a vital role in helping them do that.
But teachers, understandably, want to use assessment data to do more. Technology is always advancing so is there a way, they asked us, to make GL’s platforms and assessments even more user-friendly? What we really want is a data system that lessens our workload and does more of the heavy lifting.
Was it possible to devise a platform that means less time is spent administering the data, for instance, and that’s easy to use and accessible for all teachers? Could we arrange things so trends could be easier to spot? Above all, would it possible to bring the results of all of our most popular assessments together in one place?
We listened, we consulted, we did a fair amount of experimenting – and we discovered that yes, all those things were possible.
The new GL Data Dashboard
Welcome to the new GL Data Dashboard. Launching soon, our new platform will allow schools to join the dots and connect all their assessment results, making them simpler to access and easier to understand.
For the first time, teachers and school leaders will be able to see their key datasets – CAT4, the New Group Reading Test, the Progress Test Series and Pupil Attitudes to Self and School – all in one place.
Our Data Dashboard will make it easier for teachers to figure out what assessment results will mean for a student, a cohort or the whole school. In the future, this will be possible for groups of schools, too. Instead of pulling in different reports for each of those groups and having to match separate datasets and analyse them, the dashboard will simplify the process, deliver the top lines for each subset and produce a snapshot of the data instantly.
Saving schools time and effort
It will save teachers and school leaders a huge amount of time and effort. What’s more, it will allow them to spot any trends or patterns – at a school, cohort or student level – much more easily, enabling them to focus on which students need most help and what interventions may be most suitable.
Its enhanced accessibility and streamlined reporting will help break down barriers between teaching staff, SLT and governors, as well as facilitating collaboration between assessment leads, classroom leaders, SENDCOs and teaching assistants. And because it’s simple and easy to use, our dashboard will give teachers the freedom to explore and handle data and help them in their classroom practice.
But that’s not all. As the dashboard enables users to access historical data, it will allow teachers and school leaders to go back to previous years to compare and contrast new data and pick up any meaningful trends. All in one place.
From four days – to under an hour
For school groups, we will be launching our GL API in the next academic year - specifically designed to cut down on group administration. Instead of schools having to input and transfer results manually to their head office, the GL API will provide an automatic data transfer solution that will give leaders of school groups instant results with zero time-lag and minimal manual intervention.
We estimate that data handling and administration tasks that previously took an average of four days for large school groups will now be drastically reduced to under an hour – allowing leaders of school groups to access data much more quickly.
Not only will the GL API pinpoint connections in the data to give school groups a fuller picture, it will also allow colleagues to work together much more effectively and enable them to target help and support to those students who need it most.
Next generation
But this is only the start. Our GL Data Dashboard heralds a new way of working at GL Education. Future upgrades will be part of a constant iterative process, enabling us to introduce improvements frequently and seamlessly – and giving teachers the increased processing power and flexibility they have asked for.
Over the next few months, we aim to give school leaders and teachers even greater insight by making our data even more interactive and comparable.
For now, if you would like to see how our new Data Dashboard can help your school or school group, click here.
