Overview: Using Data Effectively

Put simply, data inform decisions. In the current educational context of accountability and school reform, data-informed decision-making is increasingly seen as an essential part of the educational leader’s toolkit. Because NCLB requires research-based practices, and high performance standards, timely, pertinent, accessible and understandable data is crucial to leaders as they make decisions that will result in increased student achievement. And as leaders consider strategies for school improvement, data are the cornerstone of making decisions related to equity and excellence.

Districts that use data effectively have a number of common characteristics (Datnow et al, 2007). First, they establish a culture of data use and continuous improvement. Leaders in these districts create expectations of data and fostered mutual accountability between the central office and schools. Second they invest in an information management system that allows data to be accessible in reported in comprehensible ways. District personnel are assigned to help school leaders get and use their data for improvement. Third, they select different types of information – student achievement data, instructional practice data, and goal implementation data. An important data source is common, interim assessments aligned to standards. Fourth, successful districts build school capacity to use data to inform instruction at the school level. They invest in teachers’ professional development, support data discussions, provide time for teacher collaboration and connect educators across schools to share improvement strategies. Finally, districts that are successful in using data develop tools and processes to help educators act on data.

1. Essential Elements

According to Data Informed Leadership in Education (Knapp et al., 2006), data, appropriately interpreted, help leaders understand what is happening in educational organizations and take appropriate action. The policy and community environments in which educational leaders work are likely to prompt a variety of uses of data, by:

• Demanding information from the educational system about its performance (as in accountability systems) or the effectiveness of particular programs (as in the evaluation requirements accompanying categorical program funding).
• Offering sources of data or help by assembling, displaying or interpreting data (as technical assistance centers, universities, or vendors may do).
• Creating opportunities for inquiry (as when an influx of new immigrant children raise questions about appropriate educational programs, school assignments, and so on).
• Providing public images of the educational system’s functioning (as in media accounts that beg for response, clarification, or refutation).
• Raising questions about the school system’s policies or responsiveness to particular constituencies or needs (as in legislative debate about support for teacher induction or school board debate about school closures).

According to a RAND study (Marsh et al., 2006), data are used to make decisions related to:

• Setting and assessing progress toward goals
• Addressing  individual or group needs
• Evaluating the effectiveness of practices
• Assessing whether client needs are being met
• Reallocating resources based on outcomes
• Enhancing processes to improve outcomes

According to the same RAND study, data are used when:

• Data are readily accessible
• Education leaders believe the data accurately reflect student achievement
• There is a motivation to use data
• The data come in time to make important decisions
• Data users have the training and skill to analyze data and make appropriate adjustments.
• There is strong system or school support to use data and create a culture of data use.

2. Promising Practices

Lamar County Schools in Barnesville, Georgia set out to raise student achievement in the district by increasing the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards in elementary school reading, middle school math and high school English. The challenge was to maintain consistency of student achievement initiatives and focus despite high leader turnover in the district. Administrators also wanted to develop content, leadership and teaching skills of each school’s faculty.

District leaders analyzed the results from the accreditation review, state assessment results, student and faculty attendance records and the results of common assessments to identify students needing more help. They identified several causes: staff needed more planning time, more professional development, and time to study and analyze student data. Principals didn’t have enough budget authority or training in data analysis.

To raise student achievement, the district created a district change team to develop a strategic plan for district improvement. School teams were formed that measured school performance using rubrics on data use developed by the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement. The teams used their data analysis to change the school schedule to provide collaborative planning time, use common assessments more frequently with students not meeting standards, and to implement study groups in elementary and middle schools.

District leaders implemented a uniform, district-wide focus on student achievement by strengthening school improvement leadership in each school; gave school leaders control over their budgets and funding decisions; ensured common planning time of all school leaders for all four schools; and, established “data rooms.”

Student achievement soared in reading, increasing from 68% of students meeting standards to almost 90%. In middle school mathematics, the percent of students meeting standards went from 79% to 82%, and, the percent of students meeting high school English standards increased to 99%.

Because of these accomplishments, Lamar was named a 2005 Title I Distinguished District and was the Bronze Award Winner for greatest gain in meeting and exceeding statewide standards. The high school received the Governor’s Regional Cup and Silver Award.

• Does your district have a foundation for data informed decision-making?  Are system-wide improvement efforts underway?  Are goals and targets set?
• Does your district have a culture of data use and continuous improvement?
• Has your district invested in an information management system or have access to a data warehouse?
• Does your district provide a wide variety of data to schools that can be used for instructional improvement?
• Are data provided to district leaders and school leaders in easily comprehensive formats?
• Does your district have a balanced assessment of summative measures and formative measures?
• Does your district have its own performance management tool like a balanced score card?
• Does your district support leaders in the use of data? (Time, training and sharing best practices?)
• Does your district analyze and act on data to improve performance?  To evaluate programs?
• Does your district help link research-based interventions to data analyses to help raise student achievement?