Strengthen Your Classroom with Student Data: A Practical Guide of New Ways for Educators to Improve Results

Teachers have a treasure chest of student knowledge. But how can they find new ways of using these data to strengthen their classroom?

In Strengthen Your Classroom with Student Data: A Practical Guide of New Ways for Educators to Improve Results, authors Joseph Giancola, Joanne Caniglia, Justin Gates, and Linda Paulus isolate four elements that K-12 educators must employ for data analysis to be successful. They are:

• Response to Intervention
• Differentiated instruction
• Value-added growth of students
• Continuous progress monitoring

Strengthen Your Classroom with Student Data includes reflection questions and professional development activities. As teachers and administrators work together to affect school change by using student data, they must coordinate all four elements to achieve maximum success. In Strengthen Your Classroom, you will learn how to:

• adjust your plans to match your students' needs, interests, and abilities
• check students' test results to trace the roots of their core learning progressions
• demonstrate student progress to your stakeholders

Joseph Giancola, PhD, earned his three degrees at Kent State University, where he specialized in educational administration and the Superintendency. He served the Kent City School District as the Superintendent for seven years and Assistant Superintendent for fourteen years. Prior to that, he taught in Ohio public schools for fifteen years and served as a high school principal, for a total of 36 years in public education. Outside of K-12 public education, he is an adjunct professor of educational administration at Kent State University during the summer and a part-time instructor at Hillsborough Community College in Florida. His main areas of expertise are budgeting and school finance, the topics of his doctoral dissertation. In addition, his other areas of expertise are music education, theory, and composition. Finally, his work as Kent's School Superintendent culminated in Ohio Department of Education's highest rating of "Excellent with Distinction."

Joanne Caniglia, PhD, earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics at John Carroll University and her masters in mathematics at Youngstown State University. She was a secondary teacher and department chair in Niles and Akron, Ohio for twelve years and spent time as a graduate researcher at Kent State University, where she received her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Mathematics Education. She taught for fourteen years at Eastern Michigan University, where she was Professor of Mathematics Education. While there, she was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award and the Governor's Award for Distinguished Teaching. Her research activities include creating meaningful mathematical tasks to assist secondary and special education students. Her areas of expertise are differentiated instruction and the education of minority students, underrepresented populations, and students with disabilities.

Justin Gates, PhD, earned his three education degrees at Kent State University, where he specialized in special education and administration. He currently serves the Kent City School District as the Director of Student Services. Previously, he served the district as Stanton Middle School Principal and as an Intervention Specialist for elementary and middle school students with disabilities. He also served the Barberton City Schools as a middle school principal and special education coordinator. In both Kent and Barberton, his middle schools achieved "Excellent" ratings. Outside of K-12 public education, he is an adjunct professor of administration and special education at Kent State University. His main area of expertise is the legislative and judicial context for related services of students on an Individualized Education Program (IEP). His research continues in this area, the topic of his doctoral dissertation.