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…

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…

Formative assessment, assessment for learning, involves checking in with students during the learning process to see if they understand concept or standard, before holding them accountable for mastery and moving on to the next concept or standard. This process can be used in the classroom during the lesson or across a subject area as teachers of…

This article discusses the implementation of local level education data-driven planning as implemented by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the Millennium Development Goals (OSSAP-MDGs) in partnership with The Earth Institute, Columbia University. It focuses on the design and implementation of the…

This descriptive study of a change initiative by the Syracuse (NY) City School District informs the question, "How do school boards and districts better use research and data to inform policy decisions?" Researchers used interviews and artifacts to describe how the district developed and implemented a new discipline policy, the Syracuse…

Signed into Law on January 8, 2002, the 1,180 page No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) shifted the course of public education in America. For the first time accountability was firmly placed at the center of school operations by requiring a systematic approach to achieving reform and improving all areas of school life (Wanker & Christie, 2005). As…

The Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI) Roadmap on "Data Decision-Making and Program-Wide Implementation of the Pyramid Model" provides programs with guidance on how to collect and use data to ensure the implementation of the Pyramid Model with fidelity and decision-making that…

This paper examines the options available to states to redefine their accountability systems as they begin to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The new law provides the possibility that states can create more balanced systems of support and accountability focused on educating young people so they can become productive, engaged…

The United States has experienced tremendous growth in the development of coaching initiatives including professional training programs, state endorsements and resources for coaches. These developments bring attention to the potential for coaching to improve education. They also raise the question of how best to facilitate implementation in local…

Since 2006 the national Study of Education Data Systems and Decision Making, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Policy and Program Studies Service, has been examining both the implementation of student data systems per se and the broader set of practices involving the use of data to improve instruction, regardless of whether or not…

Class-size reduction (CSR) has been a complex and contentious issue for the last quarter century. Although the small-class concept was adopted because it appealed to common sense, research over time has revealed a mix of confounding variables, instead of a definitive conclusion. Some CSR efforts, such as Tennessee's Project STAR and Wisconsin's…

A conceptual framework that will increase understanding of the link between educational planning and implementation is presented. The framework is based on three basic components: (1) identifying the problems to be solved, (2) making decisions in choosing among alternative actions, and (3) communicating change inherent in the educational plan. (RM)

Program planning and implementation surveys were completed by 128 teachers of learning disabled students in 42 states. Seven research questions relating to the relationship between teacher or student characteristics and decision behavior were addressed through chi-square analyses or one-way analyses of variance. It was found that the types of…

This handbook was designed to assist local Teacher Corps projects to plan and implement the Teacher Corps'"Fourth Outcome:" the adoption or adaptation of the project's educational improvement activities by other educational agencies and institutions. Section I provides an overview of seven scenarios which might be applicable to local…

Describes information system being developed by Unesco's General Information Program and Brazilian Institute for Information Science and Technology to overcome lack of timely, relevant data to support national information decision making. Principles and examples of practical applications of the system are presented. Prospects and requirements for…