LIGHTS, CAMERAS, DATA!

Turn your research into compelling stories.

Sarah Figueroa, M.Ed. sarah@learninguntangled.com www.learninguntangled.com

Adult Learning Theory

Cognitive Load Theory

Theater

Your Data Story

Step 1: Identify the Audience Step 2: Define the Shift

Step 3: Create Your Story

Step 1

Identify Your Audience

Who do you want to think, feel, or act differently because of your data or report?

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[Colleague, Policymaker, General Public, etc]

Step 2

Define the Shift

What do you want your audience to think, feel, or do differently because of your data or report?

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[Emotional, Behavioral, Mental]

Audience and Shift

Colleagues: Emotional Defensiveness → Curiosity

Policy Maker: Behavioral

Penalizing Absenteeism → Supporting Attendance

General Public: Mental

Student Choice → Student Struggle

An 18% increase in school absenteeism, in middle school.

Step 3:

Create Your Story

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Hook - Activation

→ Grab attention with action + emotion

Act I – Setup

→ Frame the world and the stakes

Act II – Struggle

→ Reveal the tension in the data

Act III – Resolution

→ Show the meaning and impact

Hook

Open with a question, scenario, or brief moment your audience connects with to draw them in.

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Ask yourself:

What moment, scenario, question, or contrast from your audience’s world

can you start with?

Act 1: Setup

Bring them into your data world. Explain what is happening in terms your audience already understands and connects to.

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Ask yourself

What do they need to know to understand and connect with your data story?

Act 2: Conflict/Struggle

Data reveals a problem, gap, or tension that challenges the

audience’s current understanding.

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Ask Yourself

What tension or gap in the data challenges what the audience currently assumes?

Act 3: Resolution/Shift

Resolution is where the data reshapes understanding.

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Ask Yourself

What does the data support the audience in seeing differently now?

Now let’s see it in

action!

Audience and Shift

Colleagues: Emotional Defensiveness → Curiosity

Policy Maker: Behavioral

Penalizing Absenteeism → Supporting Attendance

General Public: Mental

Student Choice → Student Struggle

An 18% increase in school absenteeism, in middle school.

Hook (Activation)

How many of you have ever woken up and just not wanted to go to work?

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(Hands go up)

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Maybe you took a mental health day.

Maybe you went in, but you weren’t exactly at your best.

Act 1 (Setup)

Now imagine you’re 12. Your sleep cycle has shifted because of puberty ( which we know happens biologically). Your emotional centers are highly active, but the part of your brain responsible for planning and regulation is still developing.

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And social belonging? At that age, it’s neurologically amplified. Rejection doesn’t

just sting, it registers intensely.

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And you don’t get to email your boss and say you need the day.

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Middle schools have seen an 18% increase in absenteeism. Eighteen percent.

In education research, even small percentage changes matter. An 18% shift is meaningful. It suggests something structural, not incidental.

Act 2: (Struggle/Conflict)

“It’s easy to interpret absenteeism as disengagement.

But the developmental science complicates that story. From our study, we know:

• Perceived academic failure predicts avoidance behavior.
• And peer belonging strongly predicts attendance and engagement.

Avoidance, especially in early adolescence, is often a stress response not a character flaw.

Act 3: (Resolution/Shift)

So when we see an 18% increase in absenteeism, instead of thinking

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“Students don’t care.”

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We can think.

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“Students may be carrying more than we see.”

And when we shift the story from choice to strain, we open the door to responses that actually address what students are experiencing.

Let’s Practice!

1. Choose Your Audience and Shift

Colleagues: Emotional Defensiveness → Curiosity

Policy Maker: Behavioral

Penalizing Absenteeism → Supporting Attendance

General Public: Mental

Student Choice → Student Struggle

An 18% increase in school absenteeism, in middle school.

1. Choose Your Data That Supports The Shift

1. Approximately 1 in 5 adolescents experiences a diagnosable mental health disorder in a given year.

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• Students who miss 10% or more of school days are significantly more likely to fall behind academically.

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• Schools that rely heavily on punitive attendance policies show limited long-term improvement in attendance rates.

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• A strong sense of school belonging predicts higher attendance and academic persistence.

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• . Chronic absenteeism rates are higher among students from low-income households.

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• Later school start times are associated with improved attendance and reduced tardiness.

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2

3

4

Hook - Activation

→ Grab attention with action + emotion

Act I – Setup

→ Frame the world and the stakes

Act II – Struggle

→ Reveal the tension in the data

Act III – Resolution

→ Show the meaning and impact

Tell Your Story

Data Storytelling Workshops and Coaching

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sarah@learninguntangled.com

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Share your e-mail for a Data Storytelling Guide!