This study investigates the decision-making inputs, processes, and practices around the acquisition of technology to facilitate teaching and learning at institutions of higher education. The goals of this study were four-fold: to understand the factors and sources that influence decisions about educational technology (EdTech) acquisition and use…

Bayesian statistical methods have become more feasible to implement with advances in computing but are not commonly used in educational research. In contrast to frequentist approaches that take hypotheses (and the associated parameters) as fixed, Bayesian methods take data as fixed and hypotheses as random. This difference means that Bayesian…

This report describes how big data and an evidence framework can align across five contexts of educational improvement. It explains that before working with big data, there is an important prerequisite: the proposed innovation should align with deeper learning objectives and should incorporate sound learning sciences principles. New curriculum…

The authors describe the University of Central Florida's top-down/bottom-up action analytics approach to using data to inform decision-making at the University of Central Florida. The top-down approach utilizes information about programs, modalities, and college implementation of Web initiatives. The bottom-up approach continuously monitors…

Discusses attempts to find suitable technology to solve city problems, and to search for ways to heal the breach between planning and politics. (DM)

The Education Development Center's Center for Children and Technology (CCT) conducted a three year study of a large-scale data reporting system, developed by the Grow Network for New York City's Department of Education. This paper presents a framework based on two years of research exploring the intersection of decision-support technologies,…

This paper proposes that consultation meets the definition of an educational technology and examines reasons why it has not been utilized more frequently by practitioners. First, it defines an educational technology and compares consultation to exemplars of educational technologies (such as classwide peer tutoring) and to non-exemplars (such as…

This videotape introduces resources provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to help educators make good educational policy decisions. The NCES is charged with collecting, maintaining, and reporting statistics about U.S. education, and it makes a variety of resources available to educators and the public to help them use…

This issue presents two articles on the use of data to improve results for students with disabilities. The first paper examines how researchers supported by the Office of Special Education Programs are discovering innovative uses of scientifically derived information in instructional and administrative decision making as well as strategies for…