Behind The Numbers
Giving Teachers The Tools They Need

When a baseball coach starts a new season, it's assumed he has a certain level of information about his team. He might have statistics about each player from previous years, with insight into their individual strengths and weaknesses. With this data, the coach can set goals for improving the team's standing overall, or benchmarks for progress in targeted areas.

The New York City Department of Education believes teachers need access to the same kind of information about their students—their strengths, weaknesses, and individual needs. In 2007, the DOE supported the creation of an Inquiry Team in every school, as a core way of improving student learning.

"We have so much new information about students in our schools, and how they perform over the years," says Alexa Shore, a deputy director in the DOE's Office of Accountability. "Inquiry Teams look for patterns in the data, and help teachers find ways to improve instruction."

Inquiry Teams consist of three or more educators at each school, including the principal. Teams typically begin by selecting a small target group of students who have consistently struggled academically. Team members pinpoint specific difficulties these students are having, and look at ways to improve outcomes. As these strategies yield results, members explore changes that can be made school-wide to accelerate achievement for all students. Team members receive special training to prepare them for their work. The Fund for Public Schools secured critical private funding to support this training.

At P.S. 166 on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Inquiry Team members recently convened to discuss their work. Nadine Kornreich, a fourth-grade teacher, finds Inquiry Team work particularly valuable in developing early intervention strategies.

"Our goal is to find the places where the kids struggle in the upper grades, so that teachers can deal with the problems in the earlier grades," she says. "If we can fix a weakness when the students are younger, teachers can take them above and beyond as they grow."

"We had always collaborated, but usually just within our own grade. The Inquiry Teams allow more collaboration across grade levels."

Jon Huston agrees. A fifth-grade teacher, he also sits on P.S. 166's Inquiry Team, and sees the importance of learning from his colleagues.

"We've increased communication vertically," he says. "So now we can learn what's already been covered, and what we should spend more time on."

Kornreich and Huston agree that setting specific goals for improving a small group of students is the best way of learning how to raise achievement for an entire school.

"Not every student learns the same way," adds Shore. "Something that works for 80 percent of the students in a class might not work for the other 20 percent. Inquiry Teams focus on the students who are struggling, and look for ways to move them forward."

The feedback so far, Shore adds, has been largely positive. "Teachers are being empowered with new information about their students," she says. "It's really rewarding to focus on the students that haven't been as successful, and watch them progress. Inquiry work can be equally effective with high-performing students. Our vision is that eventually, all teachers citywide would be engaged in inquiry."

Like other teachers, Huston understands the potential benefit of carving out time with other teachers to interpret data and discuss strategies for improvement.

"We're here for the students," he says. "Let's start to meet, and see where we can improve."