When flowers are blooming and the sun is staying longer in the sky, we know the seasons are changing. When leaves fall and morning dew turns to morning frost, we know the seasons are changing.

Nature is full of metrics that inform us about change. These metrics cue us about plants growing and dying. Seasonal metrics are important cues.

Schools are the same. It is critical to know and understand the seasonal cues. Schools have life cycles just like nature and knowing the seasonal data is vital. Here are a few questions related to seasonal data in school:

• What metrics do you have in your school to inform you about change (positive and negative)?
• What metrics do you use to gauge the effectiveness of professional learning efforts?
• How do you know when teachers are getting high growth rates?
• How do you diagnose instructional climate changes?
• How do you know when seasons are changing?
• Are you planning to start your year gathering data on school culture (here are 3 surveys to help)?

Speaking of seasons, we are entering season 2 of the Mafost Mashup. Yesterday, I shared the season 2 prelude. Check it out below.

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You can subscribe to the podcast and read the show notes here.

In this prelude, you will find:
> Peek into the Season 2 Interviews
> John Hattie’s Worst Factors on Learning
> Bad Data is Worse than No Data