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In many schools you will see a data display of some kind that attempts to communicate to stakeholders how the school is progressing on their school improvement goals.
The first post in this series introduced the overall criteria for displaying your school’s data.
The second post in this series shared tips for making the display simple and easy to understand.
This post will address how to make the display attractive.
1. Is the display located where the correct audience will see it? If the audience is your students you place the display near the cafeteria where the lunch line forms. If your audience is parents you place the display near the office where parents come in to get their visitor badges. If your intended audience is the staff you would place the display in their work room or lunch room.
2. Is the display colorful and easy to read? The graphs and display should be colorful and eye catching and be large enough to look simple. Too many data displays are crowded, busy and full of fine print. While this may fill the wall space it will not convey the message clearly enough to your intended audience. This picture shows a display that is far too detailed for a busy parent to be able to walk by and understand what is trying to be conveyed.
3. Have you shared the information in non-traditional ways? You can post the graphs on your blog site, (Here is an example.) You could put them in your parent newsletters. You can even post the graph on your blog and podcast an explanation of the graph so parents can hear you explain it.
Your data display should be simple, attractive, easy to read and appropriate for the intended audience.
Are there more samples of simple and attractive data displays available? Perhaps another site you are aware of?
Thanks