Large-scale assessment (LSA) is a tool used by education authorities for several purposes, including the promotion of teacher-based instructional change. In Canada, all 10 provinces engage in large-scale testing across several grade levels and subjects, and also have the common expectation that the results data will be used to improve instruction…

Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity to interpret and respond to student learning data. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the implementation of these initiatives. This article begins to addresses this gap by examining the elements of a coach's practice that appear…

Data have long been considered a key factor in organizational decision-making (Simon, 1955; Lindblom & Cohen, 1979). Data offer perspective, guidance, and insights that inform policy and practice (Newell & Simon, 1972; Kennedy, 1984). Recently, education policymakers have invested in the use of data for organizational improvement in states…

In the present study, an examination is conducted in three school districts of how data are used to improve classroom practice. In doing so, we explore the effects that attitudes toward data, principal leadership, and computer data systems have on how data are used to affect classroom practice. Findings indicate that educators are ambivalent about…

Explores the role of critical evaluation in education reform, reviewing three contemporary perspectives on evaluation and showing how mainstream and contemporary evaluations can serve social and political values. Also considers the methodology of critical evaluation as it relates to the practice of freedom and the ways people deal with reality.…

Raises concerns about the procedures used and conclusions drawn in C. Bolon's article on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System 10th grade mathematics tests. Bolon's conclusions do not follow from his data, as described. (SLD)

Examined the usefulness of performance indicators in campus decision making at 20 institutions with Carnegie Baccalaureate II classification using hypothesis testing and case-study approaches. Performance measures most commonly cited as measures of financial viability were of limited use for specific policy development, but were most useful within…