Oberoi International School (OIS) opened its doors in 2008 with an initial cohort of 38 students. By its second decade, enrollment had swelled to nearly 3,000 on two campuses, with more than 500 teachers implementing the International Baccalaureate program across all divisions.
Throughout those years of rapid growth, data conversations were not a priority. Indeed, when Peter Murphy arrived as Head of School on the Oberoi Garden City campus four years ago, he found “less-than-zero culture of data.” That was a sharp contrast to his prior experience at Vienna International School, where he and his team recognized “the richness of the journey” of leveraging data to improve teaching and learning.
Today, OIS has identified digital literacy (including data literacy) as a strategic goal. A core team of data champions has emerged from the faculty to lead professional learning. Data visualizations are helping teachers gain a richer, more holistic picture of their students. There’s more work ahead, but already there are important lessons other schools can learn from OIS about how to build a data culture.
Starting with Questions
What do you know about the kids you’re responsible for?
How do you know if what you are providing meets the needs of the kids you serve?
What informs your decisions?
Those are among the questions Murphy posed to his senior leadership team early in his tenure. Starting with provocative questions rather than directives engaged the team in thinking about data in new ways.
With the board’s buy-in, OIS joined the Learning Analytics Collaborative (LAC) and began to gather and organize existing data, which was plentiful but scattered. The initial goal was simple, as Murphy recalls, “Put the stuff in a place that we could all access easily. Then start to have senior leadership conversations about what it is telling us.” Bringing teachers into those conversations was delayed by the pandemic.
After Covid restrictions eased, allowing for the return to in-person learning, Murphy gathered the entire faculty and invited them to inquire together about data. When a group of primary teachers pressed him on which information they should collect, he replied with more questions: “What do you need to know about what’s happening in your classroom? What will inform your professional practice? Collect the things that you think are important.”
Sidney Sutton, Digital Lead for OIS, recalls how that meeting started to shift the culture. Some educators, himself included, had prior experiences in which data was used for teacher accountability (and sometimes for assigning blame if students fell short of achievement goals). The message that data would instead be used to improve teaching and learning “was a big relief,” he recalls. “The culture became much more open and inquiry-minded.”
Growing Organically
Although some schools adopt specific protocols, structures, and schedules for looking at student data, OIS has taken a grassroots approach to growing its data culture.
“It’s been more organic,” Murphy says, with an emphasis on teacher ownership and storytelling with rich narrative data. He’s encouraged to see small groups of teachers organizing around common questions and then sharing their experiences with colleagues. In the post-COVID environment, many of their questions focus on students’ social and emotional wellness.
Rather than creating random noise, each conversation advances the school’s mission of helping every child achieve their potential, Murphy says. To succeed with personalized learning, “you’ve got to have a sense of where the children are and what will take them to the next level in their journey. Giving people tools to enable them to do that makes it easier for us to be true to our mission.”
Encouraging Data Champions
Across divisions, teachers and team leaders have mobilized to build their own data literacy and support their peers in professional learning. These early adopters have become the school’s data champions.
Middle school Head Priya Ramteke has been with OIS almost since its founding. She and a few colleagues were quick to see the potential benefits of data-informed teaching and learning—but only if others joined them. “I knew that we have data, we have a tool for visualizing data, now we just need to get everybody to use it and make sense of it. We can’t do this alone—we need a bigger team that’s fascinated and invested in data.”
To recruit colleagues in a fun and non-threatening way, Priya Ramteke and Faye Fraser, Dean of students from Grades 6-12, launched the Great Ideas Group (GIGs), “The Data Culture Force,” during the 2022-23 school year. “Data is our superpower,” Ramteke says. They even designed a superwoman logo, befitting their all-female cohort.
(Photo source: Slidesgo. Icons are also from Flaticon and Freepik.)
Weekly discussions addressed common questions: What is data? What is data telling us? What are we doing with the LAC tools? As the cohort’s data literacy increased, they began to investigate more challenging questions: What are our areas of strength? Of growth? What actions can we implement based on what the data is telling us?
Another powerful learning experience was a series of sessions for middle leadership with Matthew Savage, founder of The Mona Lisa Effect and a global advocate of using data to promote student wellbeing.
To share their learning and inspire others, the early adopters facilitated a professional development day for their peers focused on data. “We empowered them to go and teach the rest,” Fraser recalls. Each workshop focused on a specific question, emphasizing the inquiry approach to understanding data. For example, to build critical thinking and analytical skills around data, teachers looked at anonymized data of their own students and discussed these prompts:
Going Deeper
As data literacy has increased across divisions, LAC has provided a robust suite of tools to visualize data. Teachers are starting to engage in more challenging conversations and conducting action research to fine-tune their practice.
At the primary level, for example, a closer look at reading scores prompted teachers to reconsider their assumptions about student achievement. As Primary Head Gunilla Bengtsson explains, “We saw a trend of high-achieving students but low growth. What does this mean for us?” In response, teachers have started leveraging their observations, knowledge of students, and daily assessment collections as part of their decision-making. Reading scores offer a starting point for differentiation but are not the only information that teachers consider.
To encourage teacher buy-in when it comes to discussing data, Bengtsson emphasizes asking good questions rather than jumping to conclusions. “Teachers can feel vulnerable if your students have not displayed the growth you would expect,” she says. “You can’t start the journey with a lot of anxiety. Teachers need to know they are not alone.”
To gain a richer picture of student wellbeing in secondary, every student completed a short survey. Fraser prompted teachers to make sense of the results. “What does it tell you about students’ interests? Are they feeling stressed? Do they meet deadlines? Do they have good time management?” Once teachers started noticing themes, they were better prepared to consider appropriate support for students of concern. “It was a lightbulb moment,” Fraser says. “We’ve come a long way toward understanding that data is not just a snapshot in time.”
Next steps in the data journey are still in the planning stages. Teachers’ questions will continue to drive investigations, with results shared both in data visualizations and in powerful stories. Eventually, students and parents will be included in data conversations. Perhaps most important, adds Ramteke, is ensuring that “we actually use that information to inform what we do in the classroom.”
Questions to Consider
Each school’s journey is unique, but OIS offers strategies to consider in the early stages of building a data culture. Questions for others to consider include:
Closing Reflection
Finally, encourage your team to reflect on these insights from OIS:
We have to remember that creating safe, non-judgmental, and inclusive spaces for dialogue and dissent is crucial for fostering a healthy data culture. It's essential to recognize that while data may be numerical and analytical, the individuals utilizing it are deeply influenced by their emotions, experiences, and values. Acknowledging this human element is key to navigating the complexities and uncertainties of teaching and learning effectively.
At OIS, emphasizing the balance between heart, head, and hands reflects a holistic approach that integrates both data-driven decision-making and empathetic understanding. By valuing both analytical reasoning and emotional intelligence, we have created an environment where teachers and students alike can thrive and grow. This commitment to inclusivity and building trust and empathy is foundational to driving positive change and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
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Suzie Boss is a writer and global educational consultant who focuses on the power of teaching, learning, and storytelling to improve lives and transform communities. The author of a dozen books on project-based learning and other innovative practices, she is a regular contributor to Edutopia and an adviser to Consilience. A frequent conference presenter, she consults with schools around the world interested in shifting to a more student-centered approach to teaching and learning.
Website: https://suzieboss.com/