21st Century Strands & Strategies
Chapter: Strands & Strategies: Deep Dive
20
Strong
Leadership
Supportive
Culture
Well-defined
Data Driven
School
Improvement
process
Wise Use of
Data
Top 10 Uses of Data in Schools:
1.
Data can uncover problems that
might otherwise remain invisible.
2.
Data can convince people of the
need for change.
3.
Data can confirm or discredit
assumptions about students and
school practices.
4.
Data can get to the root cause of
problems, pinpoint areas where
change is most needed, and guide resource allocation.
5.
Data can help schools evaluate program effectiveness and keep the focus on
student learning results.
6.
Data can provide feedback that teachers and administrators need to keep
going and stay on course.
7.
Data can prevent over-reliance on standardized tests.
8.
Data can prevent one-size-fits-all and quick solutions.
9.
Data can give schools the ability to respond to accountability questions.
10. Data can build a culture of inquiry and continuous improvement.
Attributes of Districts that Make Wise Use of Data:
Strong
Leadership
Strong leadership: All administrators are committed to collecting and
using data for decision making and improving teaching and learning.
Supportive
Learning
Environment
A supportive district-wide culture for using data for continuous
improvement: Data is not used as a “stick.” It is made available to all
students, teachers, administrators, and parents to review and use to
make improvements.
A well-defined,
data-driven
school
improvement
process
A well-defined, data-driven school improvement process: Schools use
data to identify problems, create action plans to address problems,
and monitor the implementation and results to see how well the plan
works. The results are fed back into the next cycle for improvement
planning.
