Springtime signals all types of transformation. Mother Nature shifts from browns to greens, communities emerge from winter routines, and in schools, educator turnover triggers a domino effect. One predictable byproduct of turnover is gaps in knowledge about the steps needing to connect this year’s improvement efforts to a logical sequence for next school year. When leadership transitions occur, improvement work can easily stall through omissions, lost momentum, and unnecessary restarts. In our experience, many of these side effects can be mitigated when improvement teams incorporate data stories.
Whether it’s turnover in personnel or turnover in academic year, continuous improvement teams reflect to answer these questions (and more):
- To what extent did the goals and objectives we set for the year reflect our greatest needs?
- What strategies and approaches informed our improvement efforts?
- Which of these got results that accelerated improvement, fostered both student and adult learning, and are worthy of continued investment?
- What data speaks to the progress we’ve made?
- Who needs to know this information beyond the improvement team?
- How will we share this message with critical shareholders?
Short of a full school improvement plan or lengthy executive summary, continuous improvement teams have a practical tool for answering these questions: a data story. A data story is pretty straight forward and actually brings the Evidence standard to life by helping improvement teams transform multiple data points into a clear narrative that communicates need, action, and impact. The data story framework our team guides is fundamentally about helping teams emerge with strong messaging that results from critical steps. Data stories project the cadence of both improvement and the narrative arc with a grounding exposition, rising action, problem/solutions, bouts of battle, and resolution that promises a next beginning.
Here are a few lessons we’ve learned along the way:
Start with a beginning point that all audiences can understand
There is no harm in starting at the beginning. Setting up the compelling case for change must accompany an event that creates a sense of urgency.
Example A: After disaggregating our early literacy screener date with three years under our belt, the pattern was glaring. Year after year, 60% of our first graders were not meeting early literacy milestones as measured by AIMSweb.
Example B: Our school was federally identified in 2025-26 for underserving students with disabilities in the area of growth and achievement as measured by state mathematics assessment.
Sequence and scope matter
Keeping your story clearly sequenced helps all audiences follow the work — one chapter at a time, not one novel at a time.
For an onboarding audience, using a data story as an onboarding tool allows new leaders and staff to digest the big picture while also seeing themselves as part of the next chapter.
Board members serve as another audience who need to know the “just right” amount of information to be supportive and informed about improvement efforts.
For your internal team, whether you have a staff of 30 or 130, data stories can bring team members up to speed, promote reflection, and serve as a tool for internal calibration to promote a united front.
Stick to the data
A data story should be informed and guided by data — student outcomes, adult practices, and systems data. Improvement work should never have to restart when the chapter changes. Embracing data stories as a strategy can help teams advance learning and capture evidence to maintain momentum so the next school year starts stronger than the last.
Sources:
Duarte, Nancy. DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story. Ideapress Publishing, 2019.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. “WISExplore.” Wisconsin DPI, https://dpi.wi.gov/wisexplore. Accessed March 2026
