"Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning" presents a clear and carefully tested blueprint for school leaders. It shows how examining test scores and other classroom data can become a catalyst for important schoolwide conversations that will enhance schools' abilities to capture…

"Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning" presents a clear and carefully tested blueprint for school leaders. It shows how examining test scores and other classroom data can become a catalyst for important schoolwide conversations that will enhance schools' abilities to capture…

Frequently administrators must spend time producing documents and reports, though theoretically they are supposed to use information to create better educational environments and experiences for students. By using the personal computer as a tool for tasks and analyses that, before the computer, used to take days, administrators will have time to…

The article demonstrates how information managers at institutions of higher education can develop a checklist for evaluating the usability and effectiveness of institutional data and information. Three primary personnel roles (technicians, analysts, users) and five primary activities (selection, capture and storage, manipulation and analysis,…

in this era of standards, high-stakes testing, and accountability, school leaders need to know how they can increase the achievement of their students. Researchers have found that high-achieving schools show common, key factors, including challenging learning experiences for all students, a principal who fulfills his/her role as the instructional…

A discussion of second language program evaluation is intended for staff (teachers, program planners, materials writers, program managers) of programs being evaluated, to help them understand the process and dynamics of program evaluation. It addresses common concerns and fears about evaluation, offers ways in which staff can cooperate with…

Change processes at the school building level are considered in order to formulate a number of locally based strategies, derived from research, for significantly improving schools and classrooms. Part I of the three-part analysis examines, through illustration, what is known about successful change processes at the school and classroom levels.…

This paper proposes "data driven educational leadership" as a key to meeting the challenges that face public education. Section I discusses the role of the educational leader, particularly the superintendent, in assessing the state of the school district, developing district goals, and fostering an instructional focus among school…

Emphasizing the importance of information in effective planning and decision making, this document reviews the background on data in education both before and after 1976, with particular emphasis on the Florida Educational Accountability Act and its influence on: (1) comprehensive planning; (2) student assessment; (3) management information…

This report presents nine steps, followed by work plans, for administrators when implementing a dropout prevention initiative. These nine steps are: (1) conduct a needs assessment to establish a database that identifies students who leave school early; (2) draft descriptors that identify elementary students who are at risk of dropping out later;…