Data-based decision-making has been a frequently used policy and practice intervention used in schools to help inform the decision-making processes of educational practitioners, with the aim of improving student outcomes. Interim benchmark assessments are designed by commercial test developers to support educators in this framework. In fact, the…

Decision-making, a key factor of organizational performance, is based on information retrieved from processing raw data. As businesses and consumers are shifting toward digital channels, more and more data is being generated through digital services and electronic devices. Big Data is argued to have significant benefits to businesses, and yet data…

Financial Aid Awards for first-time college students include a variety of offerings, including scholarships, grants, and loans. One award of financial assistance, Federal Work-study, is different from other types of financial aid awarded in that students must work to earn the funds. Yet, it is included as estimated financial assistance (EFA) and…

Using data to inform decision-making in the educational environment has increased over the last decade due to accountability requirements at the federal, state, and local level (Bernhardt, 2013; Datnow & Hubbard, 2016; Garland, 2014; Mandinach & Gummer, 2016; McKay, 2018; Wayman, 2005). While research supported the inclusion of data in…

Sociologists of education have a longstanding interest in studying the relationship between schooling and inequality in society. While we know education matters for who gets ahead, we still know relatively less about the processes and mechanisms behind this relationship. In my dissertation, I focus on higher education as a key site where…

Data collection and analyzation practices for English language development services are scarcely found in research, but needed in the subgroup of minority students commonly known as English language learners (Wiseman & Bell, 2021). Wiseman and Bell (2021) identified ELLs as one of the most under-documented student subgroups in the American…

This action research study examined how faculty development workshops affected how testing grade level teachers disaggregate standardized data. It also examined how teachers used the information to improve communication and classroom instruction. The rationale for the study was that teachers were asked to be data driven, but were not taught how to…

This dissertation study explores how teachers perceive and use data to inform their instructional practices and ultimately impact student achievement. The research focuses on whether or not data availability impacted how often teachers used data for instructional purposes and if leadership and coaching practices impacted teachers' perception of…

This study examines administrator perceptions of Pennsylvania's state assessment data. This study had three main purposes. The first purpose was to investigate the value and utility of state assessment data to inform decision making and the possibility of improving student achievement through the routine use of state assessment data. The second…

This study explored the core competencies, technological skills, functional proficiencies, and professional experiences of data scientists at higher education institutions. The specific population of interest was higher education administrators and staff professionals identified as data scientists. This study was informed by the following guiding…

Classroom teachers in PK-12 grades in the U.S.A. are under immense pressure to use data from internal and external sources in order to make decisions expected to transform their instructional practice to hopefully meet the adequate yearly progress demanded by accountability policies. This exploratory case study was conducted on a midsized school…

A significant number of U.S. students are unable to read proficiently by fourth grade, and over two billion dollars are spent each year on students who repeat a grade due to reading problems. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine novice elementary teachers' perspectives of their self-efficacy in using adaptive instructional…

Institutions of higher education are required by U.S. accrediting bodies to articulate their conceptual framework and develop a viable program improvement plan through a continuous reflective process of progressive problem solving that enables data-driven decision-making practices. To meet or exceed national accreditation standards for leadership,…

This qualitative research study investigated the perceptions of successful turnaround school leaders regarding factors attributing toward success, barriers thwarting success, and strategies that assisted in minimizing barriers. This study specifically investigated the perceptions of African American school leaders in urban turnaround schools in…

This explanatory case study investigated why educators (teachers, administrators and support teachers) in a northeast charter school found it difficult to implement a data-driven decision-making (D3M) process. To comprehend where the breakdown in the process occurred, the researcher examined the cultural, technological and political barriers that…