For many schools, midyear benchmarks land in December or January. The data arrives quickly, often alongside competing priorities, winter fatigue, and the pressure to “do something” fast. Midyear data isn’t just another checkpoint. It’s one of the most important leadership moments of the school year. Handled well, it can set the trajectory for the rest of the year. Handled poorly, it becomes another data report no one revisits and another compliance exercise that leads to init

Recently, we spoke with an instructional coach who’s passionate about helping teachers strengthen both core instruction and intervention. Her goal? To give teachers  targeted, data-informed feedback that truly moves student learning forward in core instruction and intervention. When we asked her how she keeps track of all the information she needs, her answer painted a familiar picture for many leaders and educators: “I look at our Tableau dashboards and Illuminate dashboards