Data-driven decision making in K-12 schools
"Information is the key to holding schools accountable for improved performance every year among every student group. Data is our best management tool. I often say that what gets measured, gets done. If we know the contours of the problem, and who is affected, we can put forward a solution. Teachers can adjust lesson plans. Administrators can evaluate curricula. Data can inform decision-making. Thanks to No Child Left Behind, we're no longer flying blind." - Margaret Spellings, U. S. Secretary of Education.
The need for better decision making in our nation's schools has grown in tandem with the rise in standards-based reform and performance accountability systems. "After years of exhorting and cajoling schools to improve, policymakers have decided to get tough" (National Education Association, Teaching and Learning Team, July 2000). Under the requirements of the No Child Left Behind legislation, school districts are required to test students, collect performance data and use that data to identify strengths and weaknesses in their educational system. Schools that do not demonstrate adequate yearly progress (AYP) will be identified as needing improvement and subject to immediate interventions. Most often educators talk about the punitive uses of data to improve instruction. Since the passage of No Child Left Behind legislation, Washington state's educators have consistently heard that poor scores on state or national tests equal failure, and persistent failure equals intervention. Few educators or educational leaders seem to be able to articulate how they might use data in a more positive or effective way to improve teaching and learning. The use of data in education remains an elusive concept and skill, yet the path to using data in making decisions is not out of reach or difficult to implement.
