Power Session #4 Companion · For Your Leadership Team

Whole Child Data Conversation Guide

Run the same three steps with your team: see the whole picture, find the pattern, and decide one thing that deserves attention.

60 minutes 3–6 people One shared canvas One decision

Before you meet

Gather

One focus question, not a group. Example: "Why are Grade 6 math outcomes declining?" The data you already have for each lens: academics, attendance, behavior, culture and belonging, family engagement This year's master schedule and last year's Current staffing and sub coverage, and any changes to advisory or intervention time The canvas, open on one shared screen: definingmyway.com/pages/whole-child-data-picture

Assign roles

Facilitator: keeps the team on the three steps and asks the questions in this guide
Recorder: types into the shared canvas
Timekeeper: holds the agenda below
Systems voice: one person whose only job is to ask, "What about the gold row?"

Tip: Rotate the systems voice each time you meet so everyone practices the question.

Three ground rules

Say what the data says.Not what it feels like. Don't say "rising" or "declining" unless you have the comparison.

Pattern before person.Before anyone explains a student, the team checks the system.

No names.No student names or details that identify a child, on screen or in the canvas.

The 60-minute agenda

Time	Step	Outcome
0–5	Set the focus	The team agrees on one focus question and reads the ground rules aloud.
5–25	Step 1 · See the Whole Picture	Every lens marked Yes / Partly / No. What we're seeing and where it shows up, filled in.
25–45	Step 2 · Find the Pattern	A pattern statement that has passed the Pattern Before Person check.
45–60	Step 3 · Decide	ONE pattern, ONE question, and ONE leadership action with an owner and a date.

"We're not here to collect more data. We're here to see enough of the picture to make a better decision. Let's start by being honest about what we have."

Facilitator moves

Mark Yes / Partly / No for every lens first. Don't discuss yet. Just mark.
Count the P's and N's out loud. "No" is data too: if you don't collect it, or nobody connects it, that's a systems finding.
For each lens: What are we seeing? Push for the trend, not the anecdote. Where is it showing up? Grade, class, day, period, setting.
Spend real time on the gold row, Systems & Adult Practice: schedule, staffing, routines, how adults respond. Put this year's schedule next to last year's and ask, "What moved?"

Watch for: stories instead of numbers ("kids just don't care"). Redirect: "What would we see in the data if that were true?"

"Stop reading down the rows. Start reading across them. What keeps showing up in more than one place?"

Facilitator moves

Ask the four questions: What repeats across lenses? Where are the differences? Where does what we believe conflict with the data? What are we missing?
Have the team draft a pattern statement: We are seeing… in… and it may be connected to…
Read the last line out loud and ask: "Does this point at students, or at something we can change?"
Run the five system checks, then revise the statement together.

Pattern Before Person: the five checks

Schedule & time: When and where does this happen? What changed?
Environment & routines: Are expectations clear and consistent across spaces?
Instruction & access: Can every student get to the learning?
Adult practice: How are adults responding, and is it consistent?
Family connection: Is communication two-way, or announcements only?

When you hear… ask instead

These sentences come up in every building. None of them are wrong to notice. They're just not finished thinking yet.

When you hear…	Ask instead…
"These kids don't come to school."	When and where are absences concentrated? What changed this year in the schedule or staffing for that grade?
"Families aren't engaged."	What opportunities did families get? Were they accessible? Whose schedule was the engagement model built around?
"These students have behavior problems."	Where and when does it happen? What happens right before? Does the same pattern show up across different adults and settings?
"They're just not motivated."	Where do these same students engage? What's different about that class, adult, or time of day?
"We need a new program."	What do we need to know before we choose anything? What would tell us we picked the right thing?

"We're leaving with one decision, not a to-do list."

ONE pattern: the one that deserves attention first.
ONE question: what we need to investigate before we act.
ONE leadership action: what happens next, who owns it, and by when.

Decision discipline: the best first action is often an investigation, not an intervention. Example: "The AP and the Grade 6 team lead compare 4th-period referrals and Monday/Friday attendance against last year's schedule. Findings go to next week's leadership meeting." It has an owner and a date. Nobody bought a program.

Protect: paste only school-level or grade-level numbers. No names, IDs, or details that identify a student.
Verify: check every claim against your data. AI can sound right and still overstate.
Own: AI can offer explanations. Your team makes the decision, and your name goes on it.

Prompt 1: See what changes as the picture gets bigger

Run it in a fresh chat with only your academic data. Then run it again in a new chat with every lens, including your systems row. Compare the two answers.

I'm reviewing data from a school. Based only on the information provided below:
1. What story does this data appear to tell?
2. What are the 3 most likely explanations a school leadership team might consider?
3. What should the leadership team examine or do next?

Do not assume information that is not provided. Keep your full response under 120 words.

DATA:
[paste grade- or school-level data here — no names or identifying details]

Prompt 2: Challenge your pattern statement

Here is the pattern our leadership team identified:

"[paste your revised pattern statement]"

Give us three plausible explanations we should investigate, including at least one systems-level explanation. Do not recommend an intervention yet.

For each explanation:
- explain why it is plausible based on the evidence,
- tell us what additional evidence would help confirm or rule it out,
- and identify what we should be careful not to assume.

Then tell us which unanswered question matters most for the leadership team to investigate first, and why. Keep your full response under 200 words.

After the meeting

Within 24 hours: the recorder saves the canvas as a PDF and sends the ONE action, owner, and date to the team.
Next leadership meeting: the action owner reports what they found. Put it on the agenda now.
In 4–6 weeks: open a fresh canvas and run the three steps again. Watch for what moved, and what didn't.

Before explaining the student, examine the system.