Teacher Training on Data Literacy for School Evaluation and Improvement: A Teacher Professional Development Experience in Italy

Abstract

This paper presents a teacher training experience involving 674 Italian teachers working in primary and secondary schools in Liguria Region, in the North of Italy. The course aims to train teachers in analysis, interpretation and use of data emerging from the census-standardized tests by the Italian National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI) for the assessment of students’ learning in Reading, Mathematics and English language at different school levels. The paper contributes to the debate on teachers’ data literacy by describing the experience and discussing preliminary results from two online surveys of teachers attending the training course (completed respectively, by 452 teachers, totaling 67.1% of the overall population attending the course, and by 413 out of 515). The first survey was administered at the beginning of the experience, exploring teachers’ previous professional development experiences of evaluation topics, their expectations in relation to the course and self-efficacy of evaluative and educational strategies. The second survey was administered as a satisfaction questionnaire at the end of the training course to teachers who attended the online laboratories. Differences among primary and secondary school teachers are discussed, together with teachers’ level of satisfaction for the training course. The paper stresses the importance to train teachers in data literacy, as a challenge for training teachers in the 21st century, and it encourages teacher professional development initiatives promoted by public authorities at local levels in order to better meet the specific local needs.