Graphic Displays of Student Progress Increase Student Achievement

Most teachers are part of a data team that works together to gather and analyze student data, but you don’t necessarily have to be working as part of a data team for your students to benefit from tracking achievement data. Research shows that teachers who create graphic representations of students performance, like charts or graphs, see a 26% gain in student achievement on the chosen objectives over time.

In addition, when students track their OWN progress on a specific objective over time, research shows a 32% gain in achievement.

There are many ways to graphically track individual student data. This graph is just one example.

To get the highest return on the investment of taking time to track student data, researchers have found that there are 3 important things to keep in mind:

1) It works best to have the students track their progress on a single objective. Trying to track multiple objectives at the same time can get overwhelming and confusing, especially for students and teachers new to the process.

2) Students and teachers must have a clear and consistent rubric to successfully track achievement data.

3) It is best to use many types of assessments while tracking data, not the same one over and over. Written questions are only 1 type of assessment. Discussions, observations, and demonstrations can often be assessed using the same rubric as a written test.

For more information on the research behind tracking students data, read: Marzano, Robert. “The Art and Science of Teaching / When Students Track Their Progress.” Educational Leadership 67.4 (2010): 86-87. ASCD. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.