Every data point we collect about our students is like a pixel in a picture. One pixel doesn't show you much. But the more pieces you have — attendance, grades, reading levels, hopes, dreams — the clearer the picture becomes. Finally you realize you're not dealing with data anymore. You're dealing with a person. I've been on both sides of this — the bright kid refusing to engage with anyone who didn't see me as a person first, and now the educator trying to reach students who feel the same way.
Students who are deeply struggling don't know how their GPA is calculated. Why would they? When you're failing, the last thing you want to do is measure exactly how much you're failing. But I've seen what can happen when students finally come face to face with their own data — for example, when they see their number of absences and say, "Holy s**t. I was absent that much?" When you give students their own data and make them partners in their own education, you have a real shot at creating lasting change.
But here's the thing: that moment only happens when there's trust. Some students would rather get an F than experience disrespect from us. Respect is the only currency these students have, the only thing of substance. Without a foundation of trust, all the data in the world won't make a difference in the lives of our students. You have to earn the right to show them their story.
That's what happened with Isabella. Her teachers saw her as vocal and disruptive, just another kid being sent to the office for being a pain in the a**. But one day she showed us who she really was — we just had to learn how to look.
The Wall Before the Window
Students can see who's a real teacher from a mile away. They can smell out the bulls**t. They know when somebody actually cares. And too often, what they see are teachers who just want the low-hanging fruit — the easy students, the ones who don't push back, the ones who learn or look like you.
Students who seem difficult are often just waiting to see if you're teacher enough to handle a student like them. They're saying, "I can learn, just not from you." I hit the winning jackpot when I was principal and started collecting data with a soul. I brought students and teachers together in real ways. The more opportunities teachers had to interact with students as people, not problems, the better everything got.
The challenge was figuring out how to create these connections systematically, especially with our new ninth graders. Plus, I was always aware of the ticking clock. If one of these students came to us at the 3rd grade reading level, we only had 4 years to move them 9 levels. We couldn't wait for relationships to happen naturally — we had to build them intentionally, right from the start.
Before You Build Trust, You Have to Break Ground
The first three days of high school for our ninth graders weren't about data or grades or expectations. Stu Senigran, the co-founder of EduCare, would facilitate game days full of team-building activities so that teachers and students could really see each other. Every freshman showed up to the gym, and their teachers stayed with them all day. Lunch was paid for. No other classes, no other distractions. Just pure connection-building. The goal was to establish real relationships before anything else.
This is where Isabella first showed us who she really was. During one of the activities I helped facilitate, she stood up while everyone else was sitting down. She interrupted me, but instead of shutting her down, I said, "Oh no, I'm sorry. Go ahead. What were you saying?" I treated her with respect, and I think that surprised her. She had something to add to the conversation, and I wanted to hear it.
Watching her that day, I realized I was dealing with a totally different person than the pain in the a** student I'd heard about. Isabella was insightful, engaged, brilliant. When I called her to my office the next Monday, she thought she was in trouble. Instead, I told her how brilliant she was. It was the first time someone had started a school-related conversation with her assets instead of her deficits.
Every Student Gets a Plan
Our special ed director knew we needed a system to help us connect with all of our students. Together, he and I developed the IPEP — Individual Personalized Education Plan. These plans weren’t just for students with special needs. They were for everyone. On paper, it looked like any other form — numbers, scores, notes.
Because of our limited staff and funding, we focused the IPEP process on our red list first — any student with a GPA below 2.0. These were the students most likely to drop out, the ones other schools might have written off. We chose to see them differently. We assigned a mentor to each of these students, tracked their Lexile scores, noted their love languages and learning styles, and recorded their attendance.
Most importantly, we listened to students’ stories through interview questions on the back of the IPEP form. The questions gave teachers a way to collect data with a soul. For example, we asked:
What are your biggest challenges in school? Outside of school?
Who do you feel supports you the most in school? Outside of school?
If you could change anything about this school, what would it be?
What are your favorite things to do outside of school?
What do you hope for?
These weren't just forms to file away. When I slid Isabella’s IPEP across the table to her, we could look at everything together — her rising Lexile scores, her attendance trends, her authentic voice coming through in the interview questions. The numbers started telling a different story than the "troublemaker" label she'd been given.
By senior year, Isabella wasn't just staying out of the office — she became one of our most powerful and effective senior mentors. She could connect with struggling students because she knew exactly what it felt like to be labeled as just another kid on the red list, to be the one everyone expected to fail. But she also knew what it felt like to find your own way forward.
The Tools for Change
When I was a kid, I got what I needed by hustling, and I brought that mindset to education and used it with my students. For example, if you know how your GPA is calculated, you can hustle to raise it. So I would look at their report card with them and say, "What do you have in PE? A 59? Imagine if you go from a 59 to a 60, you go from an F to a D. Look at what that does to your GPA. Now let's recalculate."
I actually had a worksheet for this — a bar graph where kids would color in pencil to show where they were at the five-week mark, then use pen to show their actual grades every grading period. This is what I want. And this is what I got. Over and over, tracking the progress, making it visual, making it real.
Students like Isabella needed to understand that you can't do anything about your accent. You can't do anything about where you're from, your parents' income, or your zip code. But you can do something about your attendance. You can do something about your GPA. You can do something about your Lexile score. When education becomes your hustle, no one can take that from you.
When the Picture Becomes Clear
The real magic happens when students stop seeing their data as a sentence and start seeing it as a story they can write. Once they trust you enough to look at those pixels together — really look at them — something shifts. They realize these aren't just numbers measuring their failures. They're glimpses of possibility, pieces of a future they get to create.
Isabella went to college. Not because she followed her superstar sister's path or because we fixed her data. She went because she finally saw herself clearly — all the pixels coming together to show her who she really was and who she could become. After college, she came back to education herself, knowing exactly what it feels like to be the screw up, to be the one everyone's written off.
Isabella became who every kid needs — someone who understands that education isn't just about numbers. It's about finding your own hustle, your own way forward.
The Hustle Starts Here: Making Students’ Data Matter
From keynotes to coaching, from data system redesign to staff training, I help schools transform how they use data to change student lives. Let me show your team how to build trust-first systems that turn numbers into student success stories. Contact me to bring this approach to your school.
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