The articles in this issue call for a deeper and better understanding of data, their use, the conditions that are most conducive for using data well, how individuals and groups of practitioners make sense of the data before them, and the intended and unintended consequences of data use for school improvement. The authors together craft important…

Surveys and benchmarks continue to grow in importance for community colleges in response to several factors. One is the press for accountability, that is, for colleges to report the outcomes of their programs and services to demonstrate their quality and prudent use of resources, primarily to external constituents and governing boards at the state…

Policymakers across the nation are leading efforts to ensure that every classroom has an effective teacher. Faced with the need to dramatically improve student outcomes, states have embraced a policy agenda that promotes and supports teacher quality in many ways, including developing evaluation and compensation policies, targeting professional…

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…

In 2006, six community and technical colleges in Washington State joined the innovative national reform initiative called Achieving the Dream (ATD). This report describes the progress each college made in implementing ATD's "culture of evidence" principles for institutional improvement, examines strategies implemented by the colleges to…

Data use and decision-making--these two phrases have appeared together in probably hundreds of education articles and have been the topic of a host of presentations during the past decade. In addition, research studies have confirmed the importance of data-informed decision-making to school improvement. Thus, school leaders have found it makes…

Data are only useful if people are able to access, understand and use them. Without access to the right information, stakeholders are forced to make decisions based on anecdote, experience or instinct. For information to be useful, it must be timely, readily available, and easy to understand. This brief highlights the importance of implementing…

America can no longer afford an education system that fails to use data effectively to guide decisionmaking. The education sector is facing ever-increasing demands to improve student outcomes, reduce burden, increase efficiency, and improve transparency. These demands cannot be met without the strategic and effective use of data. Due to the…

This report discusses the most relevant issues concerning using student test results in OECD countries. Initially the report provides an overview of how student test results are reported in OECD countries and how stakeholders in these countries use and perceive of the results. The report then reviews the literature relating to using student test…

State education data systems have often been described as data rich but information poor. Historically, these systems were created for compliance purposes and, therefore, designed and managed as information technology projects, but a culture change is under way. Educators and other stakeholders are beginning to value data as a tool to inform…

With clear and concrete examples from elementary and high schools, this book helps you effectively gather, analyze, and use data to improve student learning. It demonstrates how to make better decisions, identify root causes of problems, and communicate and report results.

Recent commission and task force reports calling for significant improvements in American education are considered in this set of three papers, and methods for implementing the recommendations are suggested. In his paper, Glen Harvey reviews the reports, noting the extent to which they fail to consider change implementation research and commenting…

When a school system chooses to buy into modern computer technology as the way to solve some existing problems and to meet pressing needs, a myriad of new problems and issues are created. However, the new problems are worth solving to allow the system to benefit from the new technology. In other words, the conversion to using the latest computer…

This paper cites several examples of the outcomes assessment activities taking place on college campuses and their impact on the freshman educational experience. Outcomes assessment is viewed as the impetus for faculty to make responsive improvements in higher education practices. Improvements derived from assessment activities are being…

This perspective on how testing and evaluation data are used and could be used for school improvement is based partly on the experience of the Austin (Texas) Public Schools and partly on their goals. Four conditions are necessary for the effective use of evaluation information: (1) real need; (2) trust in the evaluators and in the information…