School Tools


Michigan Coalition of Educational Leadership (2007)

• Data Informed Decision-making: A Guidebook for Data Points and Analyses in the Context of Michigan School Improvement Framework. (Shen, J., Berry, J., Cooley, V., Kirby, B., Marx, G., & Whale, D.)

• Data-Informed Decision-making on High Impact Strategies: A Measurement Tool for School Principals.(Shen, J., Cooley, V., Ma, X., Reeves, P., Burt, W., Rainey, M., & Yuan, W.)

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

Kentucky Department of Education
Kentucky Standards and Indicators for School Improvement Toolkit
The SISI toolkit provides resources and tools intentionally linked to the Standards and Indicators for School Improvement and focuses on high expectations for teaching and learning. The toolkit provides easy access to information including documents, books, videos, and websites.

IBM Reinventing Education
IBM Reinventing Education Toolkit
The Reinventing Education grant program forms the centerpiece of IBM's global commitment to education. Through Reinventing Education, IBM is working with school partners throughout the world to develop and implement innovative technology solutions designed to solve some of education's toughest problems. Reinventing Education also includes an interactive Web-based Change Toolkit based on the work of Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. The toolkit, which is accessible to all educators, is designed to help school leaders expand and sustain their education reform efforts.

Bernhardt, V. (1994). The school portfolio: A comprehensive framework for school improvement. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. 978-1883001643. Summary: A school portfolio is an effective self-assessment tool that exhibits a school’s goals, progress, achievements, and vision for improvement. This book demonstrates how to develop a school portfolio tailored to a school’s continuous improvement efforts, using examples from schools that have successfully implemented the tool.

Bernhardt, Victoria L. (2002). School Portfolio Toolkit: Planning, Implementation, & Evaluation for Continuous School Improvement. Summary: The School Portfolio Toolkit is a book and compact disc (CD) that includes over 300 tools, strategies, templates, and examples for use in building school portfolios and for planning, implementing, and evaluating continuous school improvement. The Toolkit was written to support school personnel with the mechanics of putting together a school portfolio, as well as to offer processes and strategies to move whole school staffs into and through continuous improvement. 


Knapp, M. S., Copland, M. A., & Talbert, J. E. (2003). Leading for learning: Reflective tools for school and district leaders. Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington. Summary: This article provides a framework of reflective ideas and tools to support education leaders’ efforts to improve student learning. The framework highlights five areas of action for improvement and various pathways for enhancing student and professional learning. The ideas and tools concentrate on work related to instructional leadership, school reform and renewal, teacher learning and professional community, teacher leadership, organizational learning, policy-practice connections, and education in high-poverty, high-diversity settings.

Learning Point Associates. Data for School Improvement, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory website. Summary: The Data Primer is organized around four modules. Each provides a practical question that educators can ask when developing school improvement plans: Module 1: Where are we? Module 2: Where do we want to go? Module 3: How fast are we moving and in what direction? Module 4: Are we leaving anyone behind? Each module contains three sections starting with the “tutorial” section that illustrates how the question might be answered, followed by the “practice” section that lets users apply their own data to graphing techniques introduced in the tutorial section, and lastly, the “going further” section that acts as a bridge between the sample scenario and actual tools, resources, and services that users can access and implement. 

Tools for School-Improvement Planning. A Project of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Summary: This website provides background information and practical suggestions for choosing, developing, and administering surveys and for using the results.

Tufte, E.R. (2001). The visual display of quantitative information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press. Summary: This classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables, provides a background of theory and practice of the design of data graphics, and examples of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis.