This chapter describes efforts to gather and utilize qualitative data to maximize contextual knowledge at one university. The examples provided focus on how academic departments use qualitative evidence to enhance their students' success as well as how qualitative evidence supports the institution's broader strategic planning goals.

Under both No Child Left Behind and the Every Student Succeeds Act, school leaders have been mandated to employ data-driven decision-making (DDDM) to diagnose student needs, implement targeted supports, and design school improvements. However, district administrators tasked with developing principals' DDDM capacity face a tough road. The authors…

This document presents issues that should be considered before student test results are used in evaluations of teacher performance. As the stakes attached to student test results have increased, so has the need for educators to make informed decisions about the types of tests used to generate data for these purposes and the way student test…

The recommendations in this brief create a framework for using data effectively to make instructional decisions. The availability of student-level data for educators has pushed forward the movement to strengthen the role of data to guide instruction and improve student learning. While improvements in technology and assessments, as well as recent…

Discussions about improving public education often focus on outcomes without considering how schools and districts can accomplish those outcomes. Research shows that using a continuous improvement process has proven successful in healthcare, manufacturing, and technology, and may hold potential for use in education as well. This brief defines and…

Governors are increasingly aware that the emerging economy will provide few well-paying jobs for workers who have not earned a postsecondary degree or a relevant workforce certificate. Fifty years ago, nearly 80 percent of all jobs required only a high school diploma or less and most paid a good wage. Fast-forward to data from 2013 and that number…

When conducting a self-study within an educational organization, there should be a collaborative effort by members of the organization regarding the process and writing the report. In order to create a culture of self-study and to make the process clear to all stakeholders (faculty, staff, students leaders, administrators and support partners),…

On April 8, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) published in the Federal Register new proposed amendments to regulations implementing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The notice invites public comments on the proposed regulations, which are due no later than May 23, 2011. The proposed regulations are designed to…

What happens when teams from 57 cities building afterschool systems gather to discuss two key system responsibilities--improving afterschool programs and using data for informed decision-making? Lots of rich discussion. This report covers a national afterschool conference held in February 2013. It details what mayors, program providers, system…

Successful implementation of assessment requires effective administrative leadership to get started, convert data to information, and use the information in making improvements. Assessment may pay its greatest long-term dividends as an organizational device for directing scarce reserves of institutional attention to teaching and learning. (MLW)

In an attempt to increase the usefulness of future National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) findings, yet retain the usefulness of past assessments, a framework for the conduct of assessments is presented. This framework is supported by agreement on three major goals, by overall methods for reaching those goals, and by firm concepts of…

Examines benefits of educational technology (EdT) in teachers' training (INSET) where it may be chosen as the goal of the instructional program, as a generator of original teaching and learning methods, and as the main provider of the program's instructional means. Discusses structural and content objectives of the INSET program. Four figures…

The Nijenrode University (Netherlands) business administration curriculum was revised to teach skills for knowledge application alongside discipline-specific knowledge. The problem, conditions needing to be met to solve the problem, resulting curriculum goals, new curriculum design, and expectations based on the new model are discussed. (MSE)

Discusses the use of technology and the Internet in society and especially in our schools. Highlights include technology as a tool to help achieve educational goals; helping students use computers proficiently; technology and computer literacy; integrating computer skills within the Big6 information problem-solving process; and teaching integrated…

It is the responsibility of the nation's schools to teach students to become lifelong, independent, self-assertive learners and evaluators of information. If schools are to analyze and evaluate whether or not they adequately address the goal of teaching learning skills across the curriculum, a conception of the components of learning skills and…