The Rollins Center for Language & Literacy team was accepted to the Harvard Strategic Data Project to learn more about Data Visualization

As a group, our team spent time reflecting on data visualization that can represent our work to realize literacy and justice for all.

Last month, Harvard’s largest Strategic Data Project (SDP) Institute for Leadership in Analytics cohort of more than one hundred and fifty participants who largely represent policy professionals who work in the education sector, participated in learning modules dedicated to sharpening their data visualization and communication skills.

The Rollins Center for Language & Literacy Data and Evaluation Team, as well as the Technical Operations Team attended the four days of training to increase knowledge around various types of data visualizations, dashboards, practice strategies, and how to facilitate data-driven storytelling.

On day one, we were introduced to the Science of Visual Perception. Our facilitator, Rebecca Marshall, began with knowing your audience, and considering intentionality when choosing font styles and colors. Author, President of Jodon Maclem1, and data strategist LaCole Foots provided us with great insights on how to “Do No Harm and Do Good Equity”.

Our team spent time reflecting on data visualizations that can represent our work to realize literacy and justice for all. Representation, equity and inclusion are central to our approach and to this professional learning opportunity.

"Our data, like our work, must honor the diverse children, families, teachers and other practitioners we have the privilege of partnering with every day."
- Laura Bollman

On day two, we were energized by the great examples, wonderful analogies, and powerful storytelling of Erin Waldron from Data Dozen2. Our focus was on “Keeping It Simple” and respecting the intrinsic load of data visualizations. Erin showed us how to correct the most common mistakes when sharing data with great techniques to convey what is often inherently complex information.

It is important as we collect information from both our work in the field and our learning platform, that we are intentionally engaging our fellow colleagues, stakeholders, subject matter experts, donors and partners. Our goal of building structured literacy advocates across early childhood educators requires consideration of the cognitive load we are placing on those we share our story with.

By day three we already felt like stronger data storytellers, when Senior Director of the Strategic Data Project3, Miriam Greenberg reminded us to remember our stakeholders. A great data story is only better when everyone can digest and this is achieved through good explanations, labeling, and simplifying. Miriam reiterated the effectiveness of the McKinsey SCR framework.

"As a data evaluation facilitator at Rollins, it was great SDP enhanced our understanding of crucial data communication areas, visual and coaching conversations."
- Zehra Ozturk

Our final day engaging with other data education peers from around the world deepened our alignment with how we approach our data story of the early childhood educators we reach and the children they serve. As our newly formed communities of data leaders rounded out our fourth day, Ellen Fugate of The Connecticut Project4, had us wonder, focus, and set goals. We began to think about sharing our learning with our colleagues to develop a practice and culture around data-driven decision-making. We defined successful data coaching with examples from our current work.

Each day was filled with various examples, data visualizations, analogies, practice activities, workshop breakouts, and powerful storytelling. I might have predicted I’d be energized and refocused after four days of sitting with top data experts on how to be a perceptive, thoughtful, thorough yet concise, and effective data storyteller. However, I was not prepared to learn important techniques to share and engage with my colleagues and stakeholders through mindful collaboration exercises.

"With everything I took away from the Harvard Strategic Data Project, I look forward to building fluency, creating rich visualizations and using the power of data as a spotlight, not a stick."
- Trina Heath

To sum it up, our collective experiences with SDP as an organization with individual departments have better equipped and empowered us to create meaningful ethical data stories using unbiased visualizations which will ultimately be shared with both our internal and external stakeholders within Georgia and around the world.

About the Author
Trina Heath is the Cox Campus Technical Product Manager for the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy. Trina manages the completely free online learning management platform for more than a quarter million early childhood educators who depend on Cox Campus for science-based literacy development each year. Trina discovered a passion for data analytics when she learned the power of data to inform web development. Although she spent her early career in web design and front-end development, she leaned into data driven decisions that support the user’s journey during the eight years she managed an Atlanta-based professional association’s CRM, e-commerce site, and multiple conference microsites.  
 
When she is not collaborating with the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy operations, marketing and content teams to realize the vision of delivering literacy and justice for all, Trina is enjoying local Chattahoochee River trails, volunteering for the YMCA, the local food pantry, consuming a constant diet of audiobooks and podcasts, and adding to her forever changing home decor wish list. 

1 Jodon Maclem: https://jodonmaclem.com/
2 Data Dozen: https://datadozen.com/
3 Strategic Data Project: https://sdp.cepr.harvard.edu/home
4 The Connecticut Project: https://ctproject.org/

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Cox Campus provides language and literacy resources to over 300,000 members across all 50 states and in more than 80 countries globally at no cost.  Cox Campus has delivered more than $82 million worth of professional learning coursework – completely free. 

Our Members include: Teachers, Families, Childcare providers and site directors, Instructional coaches, Community leaders, Healthcare professionals, Agencies and social services. Become a member here: https://learn.coxcampus.org/register/

This work has been made possible by the support of local and national philanthropists committed to literacy and justice for all.