From a new institutional theoretical perspective, this article explores school actors' sense-making linked to data-based decision making (DBDM) policy in general and processes of data analysis in particular. The study revealed how actors' interpretation of and response to DBDM pointed to strong and weak couplings between and within the local…

Educators have long been awash in a sea of standardized test score data, with the understanding that their engagement with these data will lead to improvement in teaching and learning. But, in practice, these data have often been too infrequent, too lagging, and too distant from day-to-day practice to inform actionable next steps. To improve…

Because learning from failures is just as important as learning from successes, we used qualitative case study data gathered in the Netherlands and the United States to examine instances in which data teams struggle to contribute to school improvement. Similar factors in both the Dutch and U.S. case hindered the work of the data teams, such as…

The continuous development of Educational Data Mining (EDM) and Learning Analytics (LA) technologies has provided more effective technical support for accurate early warning and interventions for student academic performance. However, the existing body of research on EDM and LA needs more empirical studies that provide feedback interventions, and…

Recognizing the lack of knowledge about how to improve data systems for education in emergencies (EiE), we examine in this article how EiE professionals use data and what makes data "useful" to them. Drawing from 48 semistructured interviews from a purposive sample of professionals working in the EiE field across the humanitarian,…

With the development of the information age, the quality of physical education teaching in universities has become an important goal of teaching reform. Improving the quality of physical education and significantly improving students' physical fitness is one of the development goals of higher education. Therefore, this article proposes an…

This brief provides district PBIS [positive behavioral interventions and supports] leadership teams a framework to examine school-level fidelity and self-assessment data to guide resource, professional development, and technical assistance decision making.

Even under ideal conditions, teaching is tough work. Facing unrelenting pressure from administrators and parents and caught in a race against time to improve student outcomes, educators can easily become discouraged (or worse, burn out completely) without a robust coaching system in place to support them. For more than 20 years, perfecting such a…

Measurement systems give colleges a structure for collecting, sharing, and acting on data. The guidebook and tools presented here help faculty, staff, college leadership, and policymakers understand and use measurement systems--and specifically use data to improve completion rates, close institutional performance gaps, and facilitate economic…

Exploratory data analysis (EDA) is an iterative, open-ended data analysis procedure that allows practitioners to examine data without pre-conceived notions to advise improvement processes and make informed decisions. Education is a data-rich field that is primed for a transition into a deeper, more purposeful use of data. This article introduces…

"Using Data for Continuous Improvement in Educator Preparation" provides case studies that illuminate and contextualize the ways in which educator preparation programs determine the data they need to improve, collect data, analyze data, share data with stakeholders, and close the loop by making focused improvements based on the data.…

The education faculty aims to assess departmental effectiveness by analyzing the relationship between service levels, output variables, and input variables. This objective is coupled with the formulation of faculty development strategies tailored to enhance efficiency while accommodating individual professionals' unique requirements and…

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…

Curriculum Analytics (CA) emerged as a sub-field of Learning Analytics, aiming to use large amounts of educational data to drive curriculum decision-making and program improvement. However, it is still an open question how the use of CA tools impacts student learning and program quality. To advance this field, this paper describes the lessons…

Expanded learning intermediaries are nonprofit organizations dedicated to making after-school and summer programs better and more accessible for children and youth. They do this by coordinating efforts and resources in a given community, knitting programs together into a cohesive system, helping individual programs function at a high level, and…