Quick Start to Using GWAEA Data Tools for Teachers

By Grant Wood Area Education Agency

Office of Planning & Development

March, 2004

Data Tools Coding System:

All of the tools in the “Toolkit” provided on the website were designed with a coding system to assist users. The code types are as follows: The sheet “tabs” are color-coded for XP users. The sheet “tabs” are consistently named where

appropriate. Fields within each sheet are color-coded to

prompt users where to input data and what to leave alone.

Typical Layout of a Data Tool

Yellow shaded fields indicate fields which may be modified by the user. These typically are for input of student name and class information although they can also indicate fields to input data/dates, etc.

Typical Layout of a Data Tool

Gray shaded fields typically indicate fields where student data is to be entered.

Purple shaded fields indicate fields which require whole class assessment totals or assignment totals. In this example it is the number of items being sampled on that given assessment.

Typical Layout of a Data Tool

Some tools have “tips” boxes. They will typically appear near the top of the tool with a descriptive title.

The “tabs” along the bottom allow users to move from sheet to sheet to view the different input screens, charts and graphs. Note in this example “Tallies” is bolded indicating that this is the sheet currently in view.

Typical Layout of a Data Tool

Tabs titled “Tallies” indicate a sheet where student data is to be entered. In certain tools it may be titled “Assessment” or titled by month. If you have Windows XP the tabs will be color coded. Red tabs indicate sheets where data may be entered.

Typical Layout of a Data ToolTabs have names that help indicate their purpose:

“Tallies,” Assessment,” “Nov,” i.e.: data input sheets

“Group”: indicates composite data for the entire group or class.

“Class”: indicates a graph showing all class members on one graph.

“Individual” or “Student”: indicates a graph for displaying a single student or subset of students.

“Sort for”: indates a sheet designed to filter students for display on a graph.

Typical Layout of a Data Tool

For XP users, the tab color scheme is as follows:

Red: input sheets

Blue: whole class or group graphs

Yellow: individual student graphs

Green: a sheet of compiled data for sorting ENTER NO DATA ON A GREEN-TABBED SHEET!

Typical Layout of a Data Tool

This is an example of a “group” chart. The data input in the “Tallies” sheet is automatically displayed throughout the sheets in the tool.

In this example, the group’s overall performance is displayed in a line graph. Since there have been only 3 assessments, only 3 data points are displayed. As more assessments are added, the line graph will build automatically.

To print this graph, simply click the print icon.

Using a filter to build a student graph.

Some data sheets include a “filter” option. This filter allows the user to select a specific item to display on a chart.

In this example, a student will be selected to be displayed on the “Indiv Student” sheet.

Use the mouse to click on the small down arrow above the student fields.

A drop down menu appears.

Using a filter to build a student graph.

Use the mouse to select the student.

Using a filter to build a student graph.

The filter will hide all data except for the student chosen

To view this student’s chart, click on the “Indiv Student” tab.

Using a filter to build a student graph.

Since all students except “Jim” have been filtered, only Jim’s data is graphed. This may be printed or copied and pasted into another file.

To remove the filter, return to the “Tallies” tab.

Using a filter to build a student graph.

Click on the arrow above the student field and scroll up to find “(All)”. Select “All” to return all the students to the screen.

The same process exists for the “Sort for” tabs. Each “Sort for” tab will sort for the tab immediately following it.

Clearing contents in fields.

In order to preserve the color and function of the fields it is important to NOT simply highlight and “cut” data to be removed.

INSTEAD, use the “Clear contents” feature. Simply highlight the field(s) you wish to clear and right click the mouse or select the “edit” menu. Select “Clear Contents.”

Clearing contents in fields.

The content will be removed without altering the color or function of the fields.