Even under ideal conditions, teaching is tough work. Facing unrelenting pressure from administrators and parents and caught in a race against time to improve student outcomes, educators can easily become discouraged (or worse, burn out completely) without a robust coaching system in place to support them. For more than 20 years, perfecting such a…

Institutions of higher education are required by U.S. accrediting bodies to articulate their conceptual framework and develop a viable program improvement plan through a continuous reflective process of progressive problem solving that enables data-driven decision-making practices. To meet or exceed national accreditation standards for leadership,…

Short comparative interrupted times series (CITS) designs are increasingly being used in education research to assess the effectiveness of school-level interventions. These designs can be implemented relatively inexpensively, often drawing on publicly available data on aggregate school performance. However, the validity of this approach hinges on…

Expanded learning intermediaries are nonprofit organizations dedicated to making after-school and summer programs better and more accessible for children and youth. They do this by coordinating efforts and resources in a given community, knitting programs together into a cohesive system, helping individual programs function at a high level, and…

Business schools continuously improve their processes and program assessment activities, but fall short in achieving faculty's awareness of process steps and disseminating results to inform and trigger continuous improvement actions. The assessment process of the Craig School of Business at California State University, Fresno had worked well. It…

People providing services to schools, teachers, and students want to know whether these services are effective. With that knowledge, a project director can expand services that work well and adjust implementation of activities that are not working as expected. When finding that an innovative strategy benefits students, a project director might…

Performance measurement has emerged as a management tool that, accompanied by advances in technology and data analysis, has allowed public officials to control public policy at multiple levels of government. In the United States, the federal government has used performance measurement as part of an accountability strategy that enables Congress and…

Governments, organizations, and companies are generating copious amounts of data and analysis to support education decision-making around the world. While continued investments in data creation and management are necessary, the ultimate value of information is not in its "production," but its "use." Herein lies one of the…

Teacher preparation programs have both a desire and a responsibility to demonstrate, with affirmative evidence, that teacher education makes a difference in PreK-12 student learning. Program faculty need good data to make decisions about the progress of students, whom to recommend for state licensure, and how to improve teacher education. This…

IES is the primary research, evaluation, and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Established through the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA), the Institute's mission is to expand fundamental knowledge and understanding of education and to provide education leaders and practitioners, parents and students, researchers, and…

Race to the Top (RTT) is a first-of-its kind $4.35 billion competitive grant program designed to spur state-level education innovation to boost student achievement, close achievement gaps, and prepare students for college and careers. Originally authorized in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, RTT encourages states to develop…

Researchers and practitioners increasingly recognize that a positive school culture not only enhances students' day-to-day experiences, but also plays a role in raising student achievement. Yet many schools struggle to create a welcoming and supportive schoolwide culture. Indeed, there is evidence that students of color in particular--and perhaps…

Researchers and practitioners increasingly recognize that a positive school culture not only enhances students' day-to-day experiences, but also plays a role in raising student achievement. Yet many schools struggle to create a welcoming and supportive schoolwide culture. Indeed, there is evidence that students of color in particular--and perhaps…

A professional learning plan is the navigation system for the comprehensive professional learning system. Professional learning plans establish short- and long-term guidance for professional learning and its implementation. This workbook offers information and tools to walk educators through seven planning steps--from data analysis, to setting…

Nearly every high-priority item in national, federal, state, and local discussions about education--and policy proposals across the political spectrum--requires high-quality longitudinal data to inform its design, implementation, and evaluation. This factsheet shares Data Quality Campaign's (DQC's) analysis of what "Data for Action 2011:…