Despite enacting well-intentioned policies to improve teacher recruitment and retention, many states continue to face significant staffing challenges, particularly in high-need schools and hard-to-staff subjects such as math, science, and special education. Two years ago, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) set out to explore the…

The purpose of this research study was to explore the process, implementation, and impact of a business intelligence (BI) strategic system at Lone Star College--Tomball Campus (LSC-T), Texas, to determine the effectiveness of BI on community college decision-making. This research study (a) explored the process of implementing a new BI strategic…

Twenty-first century teachers must embrace innovative practices and tools for relevant instruction that motivate and prepare students for the future. However, a gap between available technology, such as geospatial technologies, and those used for instructional technologies prevails. This study set out to discover if high school geography teachers'…

The University of New Hampshire (UNH), Virginia Tech (VT), and Texas A&M University collaborated to envision and plan (all) and then create (UNH and VT) the National Extension Web-mapping Tool (NEWT) to increase the use of spatial data in planning and programming decision making throughout Extension. With NEWT, Extension professionals can…

Preparing learners for the future requires twenty-first-century teaching that integrates professional tools in the classroom. Geospatial technologies (GST), which represent geographical professional technologies, lack robust integration in high school geography. Researchers continue to ask why educators teach about rather than with GST.…

This paper provides examples of Aid-to-Thought uses in urban decision making, classroom laboratory planning, and in a ship antiaircraft defense system. Aid-to-Thought modeling and simulations are tools students can use effectively in a STEM classroom while meeting Standards for Technological Literacy Benchmarks O and R. These projects prepare…

When the author and his colleagues last left Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Texas' Plano Independent School District in April 2008, both school districts were immersed in the long and labored advance toward becoming a fully matured data-driven operation, one that uses sophisticated technologies to gather data, sort and interpret it, and…

Now that all 50 states and the District of Columbia are building statewide longitudinal data systems, the next step is to ensure that the information in these systems is used to improve student learning. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has identified 10 actions that states can take to ensure that the right data are available and accessible and…

In a study designed to identify information needs of persons who make management decisions about public school vocational education programs in Texas and who develop ways to meet these needs through use of a management information system, particular emphasis was given to the information needs of management within the Texas Education Agency…

This volume consists of papers by representatives from the six States comprising the Comprehensive Planning State Education Agencies Project (CPSEA). The first paper, by Bernarr S. Furse, outlines common elements appearing in one or more of the models developed by the project States. Everett W. Reimer then details the need for educational planning…