The past 30 years have seen a series of major shifts in English education. Central to these changes has been the growth of data systems which now measure and control the work of teachers to a huge degree. This form of data-led surveillance was predicted in the work of Gilles Deleuze, a totalising process where data become more important than the…

Learning Forward's Data standard advocates using data from a variety of sources and types--including student, educator, and system data--to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning. This presents several challenges, beginning with the emphasis on a variety of sources and types. The pressures of No Child Left Behind have focused American…

Interest in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) as a process for school system reform is gaining momentum nationwide. Confusion exists as to what MTSS is and how response to intervention (RtI) and professional learning communities (PLCs) are related to its implementation. This article seeks to reconcile these differences through a descriptive…

States wrestling with the challenge of increasing community college student completion rates recognize that a critical next step is building support among faculty for reform efforts. Faculty can play a crucial role in bridging the historic divide between policy and practice. Empowering faculty to take a substantive role in informing policy…

Raise the level of rigor in your school and dramatically improve student learning with the tools in this book. Each illuminating exercise is tailored to educators looking to spread the word on rigor and beat the obstacles to achieving it schoolwide. Formatted for duplication and repeated use, these tools are perfect for those who currently hold a…

While teachers face new expectations for student learning and more equitable educational outcomes, instruction and assessment remain rooted in traditional approaches that are largely inequitable, culturally irrelevant, and intellectually disengaging, contributing to gaps in academic achievement across student groups (Darling-Hammond, 2010; King…

In order to move their organizations forward, many leaders are aware that they must have clearly defined goals, use data to measure progress toward those goals, adopt appropriate change management strategies, strengthen governance teams, and support the development of other leaders in the system (see, for example, Waters & Marzano, 2006). The…

Professional learning communities and teacher efficacy are at the core of many of the current educational reform models. The intention of this dissertation was to identify the correlation between professional learning communities and collective teacher efficacy for math data teams in the six Kaua'i Complex Area secondary schools, as measured by…

Teachers and administrators have access to large volumes of data but research suggests that they lack the skills to use data effectively for continuous school improvement. This study involved a cross-case analysis of two high school leadership teams' early stages of evidence-based practice development; differing forms of external support were…

As a nation we need to identify a set of practical tools to help schools meet the needs of diverse learners. Schools must improve learning for all students, including children living in poverty, students learning English for the first time, students with special needs, students that are mobile, and students with diverse backgrounds. It is critical…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in how high and low performing elementary school districts use and analyze data to differentiate instruction, make changes to district/grade level curriculum, determine professional development needs, determine teacher effectiveness, and determine the use of school district…

Although data driven-decision making has been the mantra of school reform for the last 10 years, school leaders benefit from frequent discussions in how to engage teachers in the process. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to apply Reeves' (2004) framework concerning Antecedents of Excellence in creating a school culture that routinely uses…

The Response to Intervention (RTI) Essential Components Integrity Rubric is for use by individuals who are responsible for monitoring school-level fidelity of RTI implementation. The rubric is aligned with "Essential Components of RTI: A Closer Look at Response to Intervention" (National Center on Response to Intervention, 2010).…

This quantitative analysis of existing data explored the effect of school level autonomy on teacher perceptions of influence, improvement of instruction, shared leadership, and professional development using data from a biannual survey of Chicago elementary level public school teachers to answer the following questions: Is there a difference…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of the District of Columbia's annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 4 report for Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2013 through September 2014. Given that…