Northville Elementary Students Love to Crunch Numbers

While many upper elementary students learn about means and medians, few put them into practical use. 

Moraine Elementary School has a group of Student Data Leaders who collect data on students' performance at the end of every school quarter. Shrey Udupa, Marissa Coley, Maggie Chen and Anna McGowan work with Principal Denise Bryan to crunch the numbers.

Udupa, Coley and Chen helped Bryan present the data at a board of education meeting earlier in April in the form of graphs and charts. 

"My job is to help Dr. Bryan display the data," Udupa said. 

Every Moraine student has a leadership notebook to keep track of their "Wildy Important Goals," or WIGs. Students use goal setting worksheets to create their personal goals, Bryan said.

One school goal is to have 70 percent of students reach their individual literacy target by June. Other goals include decreasing the number of discipline referrals given and increasing the number of jumps when jumping rope in all physical education classes.

The Student Data Leaders also track MEAP scores for third, fourth and fifth grade. 

"MEAP science scores are going down and we're not sure why," Bryan said. 

The data team came up with some reasons for the low scores:

• the focus in those grades has been on reading and math
• there isn't as much hands-on science teaching
• science is often taught at the end of the day, so students may be tired or excused from school for doctor appointments
• it's difficult to make up science work, like labs, when it's missed

The board was impressed by the students' clear presentations and applauded their efforts at keeping track of the data. 

"Now having the kids as the data keepers in the school is raising the bar even higher," said Northville schools board of education President Ken Roth.

What do you think of the Student Data Leaders? Tell us in the comments.