Multi Academy Trust (MAT) leaders are all too aware of the need to have accessible and reliable data available to inform their decision-making. It’s crucial to be able to respond appropriately to dynamic contexts in their schools, and to ensure that every decision makes the best use of resources for improving student learning outcomes.
There is complexity at every level when evaluating the data that is available from schools, so clearing a way through the clutter is essential. Effective leaders are aiming to spot patterns without getting bogged down in the minutiae. But we frequently hear from Trust leaders that this is easier said than done.
Rapid Response
The past two years of delivering services through a pandemic have shown how crucial it is to have a full understanding of the localised context. Absence rates can vary enormously across a trust on any particular week, for example. So how can we ensure that pupils who are at risk of becoming persistent absentees are supported at the earliest possible point? Being able to deploy interventions to targeted groups of pupils has been made possible through tools that bring data to leaders’ fingertips.
Collaborative Practice
Trust leaders need oversight of data that helps them to ask all the right questions as well as being able to have collaborative and reflective dialogue with senior and middle leaders. Of course, collaboration is only possible when everyone is speaking a common language, so the use of data warehouse and dashboards puts your data into a consistent format that everyone can understand, albeit at different levels of granularity depending on staff roles. Read how Questa has been used to give shared ownership of strategies to improve pupil outcomes.
Efficient and Effective
Complex data from a range of different sources, in a range of different formats, can take time to unravel. It makes sense, therefore, to use tools that free up staff time for focusing on targeted interventions rather than needing hours of in-depth analysis before decisions can be made. Narrowing the time-gap between data generation and actionable insights can make all the difference to pupil outcomes, because needs are being picked up at a much earlier point in time. Learn how Questa has made significant improvements to this time-gap and freed up over a day a week of administrative time for Marsh Academy.
Conclusion
Having the right data is part of the answer. Having the right tools to have visibility and make sense of the data is the next part. Abby Sharp, Senior Administration Assistant, The Marsh Academy, says: “The whole leadership team are seeing the rewards of clear visibility of what the data is telling them as well as recognising the time gained through using Questa.” Find out more about Questa modules and how they bring together data sources into a consistent format that aids decision-making, school-level collaboration, and improved student outcomes.
