...
After deciding on an area of inquiry, you will need to identify sources of information that will help to answer your questions. IdeallyIf possible, you will be able to should gather and analyze multiple sources of data to help you develop a deep understanding of the CCMR problem of practice you selected. Types of information you might gather include: demographic data, assessments, accountability data, TAPR reports, interviews, focus groups, surveys, and district documents related to CCMR programs. Ideally, you will be able to gather data from multiple sources and then triangulate that information to ensure that a variety of sources corroborate your findings (see table below). Keep in mind that the people who are impacted by the potential problem of practice (e.g., students, teachers, etc.) can offer unique perspectives. Consider gathering more information from these groups through empathy interviews or through other techniques.
Depending on your district’s needs and the resources available, you may choose to focus on one or two questions or you may engage in a comprehensive inquiry that addresses all of the questions listed below. In a similar manner, for each question, you may choose to gather information from one data source or draw upon multiple data sources.
Question | Review extant existing data (quantitative) | Document review (qualitative) | Interviews/ focus groups |
Describe the district’s longitudinal performance on CCMR outcomes (see tool link below). | X |
|
|
Describe the CCMR landscape in the district (programs, district/campus roles, board goals, district vision, etc.). |
| X | X |
What resources are available to support CCMR programs (internal and external)? |
| X | X |
What strengths/assets can the district build upon? | X | X | X |
What barriers might stand in the way of improving CCMR outcomes in the district? |
| X | X |
...
Tips and Tools
Use a CCMR Indicators template and a modified version of the TEA CCMR board goals template to add historical data and generate charts that highlight equity gaps and surface opportunities to expand programs related to particular CCMR indicators. See sample charts generated by the tool below.
The TEA data links page explains how to gather the information you will need to fill out the tool template. To fill out the orange rows on the TEA CCMR board goals template for 2018, 2019, and 2020, you will need TAPR reports. You will need SOF Summary of Finances reports for the blue column. To fill out the blue rows on the CCMR Indicators template for the same three years, use academic accountability reports.
Note that because CCMR accountability data lags, the TAPR reports for 2020, 2019, and 2018 report present data for your graduates from 2019, 2018, and 2017 respectively.
Using data from CCMR Insights, CCMR Verifier, or from other sources, you may be able to enter projections for the 2021 and 2022 rows on the tool CCMR board goals template. If you add data for additional years, you will need to adjust the data selected for the graphs to include those years.
View sample graphs generated by the tool below. The “student groups” graph will illustrate equity gaps over time (if those gaps exist in your district). The “CCMR indicators” graph will illustrate the proportion of students who have earned an A-F CCMR point on different CCMR indicators over time. Note that you can add additional CCMR indicators to the blue portion of the table and then adjust the data selected for the graph to include those additional columns.
|  |
Related resources
High Tech High Graduate School of Education: empathy interview protocol
Liberatory Design toolkit, which includes some innovative ways to gather data from different perspectives (starting on p. 39 pdf)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evaluation brief: interviews
CDC evaluation brief: document review
CDC evaluation brief: focus groups
CDC evaluation brief: surveys
CDC evaluation brief: visual representations of quantitative data
CDC evaluation brief: crafting questions to guide your inquiry/evaluation
...