Getting answers to questions about schools and student learning requires that educators know how to collect, analyze, and interpret data. Six critical steps in this process include: posing questions, establishing judgment criteria, making a plan, gathering data, analyzing data, and interpreting results. These steps can serve as a beginning guide…

Presents a model to help schools pose and answer data-based questions about teaching and learning, describing different types of data that educators can use to piece together pictures of their schools (e.g., student learning statistics, demographic data, and school process data) and discussing how educators can cross data from different categories…

A three-step framework to help teachers examine and modify teaching practice based on data analysis includes: specify current levels of student performance, create action plans, and evaluate and communicate progress. A case study of a teacher who used the framework to pinpoint one student's writing problems, create change in practice, and assess…

Describes how one school improved after a new principal put data-based decision making (via a detailed needs assessment) at the heart of school reform and staff development efforts, discussing the school's evolution. The paper examines key factors that support the effective use of data in schools: focus to answer questions, reflection to provide…