DID Resource Kit for States, Districts and Schools

Overview: Training Leaders in Data Use

It is critical that each level of the education system sets clear roles and expectations regarding data collection, analysis and interpretation. It is also important that each level of the system agree on the role of data in informing decisions for school improvement. Once these norms have been established, well-coordinated and ongoing professional development on data literacy must be integrated into the career continuum for school leaders. Training, at all levels, should be based on driver behaviors (narrow and prioritized set of observable behaviors that if improved, will have the greatest likelihood of improving the quality of teaching and learning) and address both the conditions of a leader's role in creating them, how to manage change and lead school reform, and the "nuts and bolts" of how to make high-quality data informed decisions. Being able to analyze and interpret data from state, district and school reports is not intuitive. It requires training and ongoing professional development and support.

District Level
School districts and central office administrators must assist in developing, disseminating and providing training on easy-to-use district-level data-analysis and data-mining tools for school leaders, teachers and school staff to achieve a "data wise" school district in which school leaders prepare, inquire and act on student assessment data effectively. District leaders must model data use by providing and requesting data, making decisions based on data, and providing ongoing professional development to district and school leaders to help them analyze and use data to improve student achievement. School districts across the country have increasingly taken the initiative to create and develop training on their own specialized computerized data tools and benchmark assessments to track students' progress during the school year. These tools, which are often in response to NCLB accountability requirements or state measures, include explicit data-analysis protocols and goal-monitoring reports for administrators, teachers and, in some cases, students. It is critical that districts provide targeted ongoing professional development to on how to use and analyze data-mining tools to better inform classroom instruction and school processes and decisions.


1. Essential Elements

Following are essential elements of how to train school leaders in effective data use:
  • Provide principals with training on how to create a culture of data in which data is seen as a school improvement tool.
  • Ensure that training on data use is embedded into statewide leadership standards and licensure and certification requirements and that school leaders are evaluated on data competencies.
  • Ensure that training on data use and analysis is integrated into the curriculum of principal preparation programs and mentoring and induction programs.
  • Provide robust targeted ongoing professional development and support to schools on how to use and analyze data-mining tools to better inform classroom instruction and school processes and decisions.
  • Provide school leaders across the district with ongoing training on the use of data and the opportunity to work collaboratively to test and share best practices in effective data use.
  • Provide parents and community members with training on how to interpret assessment results.


2. Promising Practices

New Mexico's Principal Support Network is a collaborative professional development effort in 28 school districts across the state. At the beginning of the school year, principals are given uniform data formats of criterion-referenced assessment data followed by ongoing training in the use of data to build comprehensive school improvement plans with their staff. The principals work together across districts to enhance school improvement plans and build data presentations for staff and community members. The robust network not only increases collaboration across districts, it also increases the use of data within schools to improve student achievement.

School leaders in  Elizabeth, New Jersey have developed an excellent method of gathering data on the implementation level of one or two high leverage practices across the district each year. A set of key questions leads to the development of a rubric of implementation for specific practice. Teams of central office and site personnel are trained to visit schools and collect data on levels of implementation. This data is then collated, organized and analyzed by the district leadership team and school sites as a basis for decisions about resource allocation and professional development. This coordinated effort is leading to much deeper levels of consistent implementation and greater alignment of central services.


3. Critical Questions
  • Does your district encourage a culture of data use by using data for making district level decisions and aligning policies that include the use of data?
  • Does your district provide targeted ongoing training to principals, teachers and school staff on how to analyze and use state and local student data?
  • Does your district have trained staff that helps schools use data?
  • Does your district report data that is widely available, transported and easy to understand?
  • Does your district, on a routine basis, analyze areas of district-wide low student performance in collaboration with principals, teachers and school staff and develop strategies to improve instruction?
  • Does your district partner with institutions of higher education, leadership academies or regional assistance centers to ensure that principals, teachers and school staff are trained in effective data use?
  • Are best practices routinely benchmarked and shared within the district?
  • Does your district assist schools with internal accountability through the development of Benchmark Assessments that are tied to essential standards?

4. District Resources


Smart Data Users: Helping Principals Use Data Effectively Survey
In 2007, with support from The Wallace Foundation, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, and Ohio developed and administered surveys to over 1,000 principals to determine how principals use data to make informed decisions about improving student achievement.  The surveys includes four different modules or components:

  1. Data for Principals
  2. Importance of Data
  3. Principal Data Challenges
  4. Principal Preparation

Southern Regional Education Board
Training Modules in Data Use
Using Data to Focus Improvement:Schools that successfully improve student achievement regularly use data to guide decisions about instruction, student support and professional development. Easy-to-use processes are taught, and participants learn how data are a vital part of the school improvement process.

Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI)
Training Modules in Data Use
GLISI has a number of training modules that are designed to help school and district leaders use and analyze data.

References

Armstrong, Jane & Anthes, Katy. (2001). Identifying the factors, conditions and policies that support schools' use of data for decision-making and school improvement. Denver: Education Commission of the States. Summary: This article briefly identifies the factors, conditions, and policies that support data-driven decision making for school improvement that were discovered through school and district interviews.

Boudett, Kathryn P., E. A. City, & R. J. Murnane. (eds.). (2005) Data wise: A step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Publishing Group, 1-891792-67-9. Summary: This book provides several useful ideas and tools to assist school leaders in utilizing data to improve instruction and student achievement. It includes information and resources on the following topics: Collaborative work, assessment literacy, data analysis, examination of instruction and student progress, and action plan development and implementation.

Heritage, M., & E. Chen. (2005). Why data skills matter in school improvement. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(9), 707 (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ712939). Summary:The authors describe a CRESST initiative that helps educators develop the skills to collect, analyze and use data to make informed decisions about student learning.

Kerr, K. A., J.A. Marsh, G. Schulyer Ikemoto, H. Darilek, & H. Barney. (2006). Strategies to promote data use for instructional improvement: Actions, outcomes, and lessons from three urban districts. American Journal of Education 112(4), 496-520. Summary: The researchers investigate strategies that are used by three urban school districts to encourage data use and their effects on school culture and educator and administrator practice.

Leithwood, Kenneth A., Robert Aitken, Doris Jantzi (2006). Making Schools Smarter. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Summary: Provides the refined and updated tools to create a workable model for reshaping today’s school districts for positive outcomes. This practical guide addresses and helps resolve significant issues in district and school leadership, including determining a comprehensive and real image of future schools and districts as professional learning communities Highlighting needed critical changes for achieving missions and goals.

Mieles, T., & E. Foley. (2005) From data to decisions: Lessons from school districts using data warehousing. Providence, RI: Annenberg. Summary: This study, conducted in 2004 by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, looks at eight school districts that have successfully implemented data warehousing technology. Data were gathered through interviews with educators and education technology experts at each district. This report provides information on the key features of a data warehouse, highlights the successes and challenges of data warehousing, documents a set of lessons learned from the experiences of the eight districts, and provides a list of useful resources for school leaders interested in knowledge management tools. The report provides practical information to school leaders and districts interested in implementing their own data warehouse. This study promotes data warehousing as an effective way for school leaders to integrate, analyze, and measure data for knowledge management and policy and decision making purposes.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. (2004). Forum Guide to Building a Culture of Data Quality: A School & District Resource. Summary: The authors introduce the concept of a "culture of quality data -- the belief that good data are an integral part of teaching, learning, and managing the school enterprise" -- and suggest steps schools and districts can take towards developing that culture, through policies and regulations, standards and guidelines, training and professional development, timelines and calendars, technology systems and a specific data entry environment. One-page tip sheets on the respective roles of principals, teachers, office staff, school board members, superintendents, data coordinators and technology support personnel also are provided.