I know when I was faced with the challenge of setting up a data wall, I didn’t really like the way I had it set up the first two years.  Since then I have developed this idea which I borrowed from the middle school teachers at a school nearby.  They used large pocket charts for each grade level and they colored students names with highlighters to indicate students’ proficiency levels.  Then they used different stickers to indicate other factors such as special ed, after school tutoring, etc.  While I really liked the middle school teachers’ idea, I didn’t like the fact that the student names were showing on the outside, which didn’t give the students privacy of test scores.

Sticker key to mark different student factors on each student data card.

Using the middle school teachers’ idea,  I revamped their data wall for our school’s math wall.  I used colored index cards to indicate proficiency level.  That way we could identify students’ initial proficiency levels on the card, and they would quickly pop to the eye when they were moving up or down the wall.  The only writing that faces the outside of the wall is the quarterly test data, and no students’ names.  So, for example, when the pink cards (proficient students) move down after a quarterly assessment to the basic level, we can easily see that these students need intervention to move  back up to proficiency.  We different use stickers to mark students with special factors such as students who go to school sponsored tutoring.  That way at the end of the year, we can determine if after school tutoring was effective by looking at students who score proficient at the end of the year state tests.

Data Wall Pocket Chart for 4th grade at the beginning of the year.             (sorry about the cardboard box)

The Data Wall Pocket Chart after one Quarterly Assessment. Notice how the colored cards moved up and down.

The key for the cards is as follows:

• Green= Advanced
• Pink= Proficient
• Yellow= Basic
• Orange= Below basic

Notice how the green cards moved down.  That means they didn’t score as well on their quarterly test.  Many of the orange cards and a few of the yellow cards moved up so that let’s us know that these students improved.

A close up of the data wall card so you can see how we keep track of the data.  The first number is the state test.  The second number is the 1st quarterly assessment.  Students names are on the back of the card so that they are hidden from public view.  If a student has been present at the school for two consecutive school years, then we stapled their card behind the initial card so that we could have two years worth of data on the wall.  Notice that you can see a little pink behind the green cards.  This means that the students scored proficient the year before this one, so they are solid low-risk students which will not be targeted for interventions .