SOMERS — Data driven teaching is sweeping Racine Unified.

At a data retreat this week, staff will spend today, Thursday and Friday analyzing test results and other data about their respective schools. That analysis will lead to the creation of school improvement plans that will drive teaching and professional development across the district.

“It’s a true new beginning in all the best, positive meanings of that word,” said Laurie Friedrich, a teaching coach who gave a presentation to Unified staff Tuesday about data analysis. “Our challenge in the next three days will be to look at as many data sets as we can to understand what is going on with the entire student body and a single kid.”

The data analysis is happening as part of an annual district data retreat and leadership conference for administrators and teachers. The event, held this year at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, was expanded from past years to include a data team from each Unified school. Only about three schools attended last year and they have seen positive results from their data analysis.

Tuesday, retreat attendees each got papers piled three inches high and filled with district guidelines and school-specific data like test results, progress reports and achievement gap information. They will use those materials to analyze student achievement, teachers’ abilities and parent perceptions, among other things.

Based on their analysis, staff should be able to determine what areas, like math or reading, most need work. Then they can target teaching to improve those areas.

Unified staff started the data analysis process Tuesday by setting purpose goals for the week. Starbuck Middle School staff set a goal to analyze federal yearly progress data to see what is working in the classroom and what is not, said Principal Sandra Brand.

She said her eight-person data team will focus especially on the students that lack basic skills, on special education students and on black students that lag behind.

Today they will start data analysis on math and reading. They will share their results and processes with other groups so that schools can learn from each other.

In the data analysis process, Friedrich advised data teams to keep asking why. If kids are reading poorly in class, ask why instead of assuming they cannot read. Knowing the real reason why can help staff target solutions that will actually work, she said.

On Friday, staff will start school improvement plans based on their data analysis. After the retreat, data teams will share their work and improvement plans with other school staff. Plans will be implemented and evaluated as the school year goes on, Friedrich said.