3D2Know ::: Data-Driven Decision Making

Selected Data Resources

CoSN hopes that these additional resources will be helpful to educators in the data driven decision Other Resources making process.

Basics of Data driven Decision Making

The Case for Data driven Decision Making
Background and current issues
Implementing a data driven decision making process

Applying Data in the learning Process

Big Picture: overall data selection and management
Personalizing student instruction

Success Stories and Idea Sources

Personalization Case Studies and Examples
General Data driven Decision Making Case Studies
Who’s Who in Data driven Decision Making : organizations and data sources

Accountability: Meeting the Challenge with Technology: This article from the January 2202 issue of Technology & Learning magazine addresses many aspects of school accountability, including interviews with experts on data-driven decision making.
www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2002/01/account.php
Buried Treasure: Developing a Management Guide from Mountains of School Data: School district leaders can gauge the health of their schools by cutting through the blizzard of statistics in which they are buried to focus on a few key indicators. According to a new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), seven essential pieces of information can provide school board members, superintendents, central office staff, and community leaders with most of the important data required to reach conclusions about how well schools are doing. Too often, suggests the report, school leaders fall prey to the temptation to concentrate on a single piece of information, often a test score, from one school year.
To view the executive summary visit: http://www.crpe.org/pubs/introBuried Treasure.shtml
To download the full (82 page) report please click: http://www.crpe.org/pubs/pdf/BuriedTreasure_celio.pdf
Business Intelligence Basics: Multi-modal means of analyzing data can produce actionable results.
Read the Article Here: http://www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196605009
School CIO, February 22, 2008
Creating an Evaluation Framework for Data-Driven Decision-making: CCT is undertaking a two-and-a-half year project to build an evaluation framework based on the theory and methodology of systems thinking and involving the center's prior studies of technology-based applications focused on data-driven instructional decision-making. http://cct.edc.org/report_summary.asp?numPublicationId=204
Call for Data-Driven Decision Making in the Midwest's Schools: NCREL's Response: This site includes information-gathering tools ranging from checklists to surveys. Some tools are designed for printing and circulating in paper form, while others are computer-based surveys or Web sites. These tools are designed to help educators collect data about their classroom, school, district, professional practice, or community. The information from these tools can be used to assess status and growth, plan for improvement, and make decisions based on facts rather than impressions or intuitions. In addition to the tools themselves, this site includes information to help you use the tools effectively to gather data and use that data to make sound decisions.
http://www.ncrel.org/datause/
Case Study: Using Data Mining to Analyze Student Behavior: In Lafourche Parish, LA, middle schools supervisor Chris Bowman took the disciplinary reports filed by teachers and administrators and ran them through the data mining system.
http://www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php?articleID=193005274
Data Analysis Helps Teachers Tailor Lessons: High-tech systems comb test results to try to boost students' skills School systems across the country are beginning to realize the benefits of new technology tools that provide detailed information about individual student performance.
www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-schooldata_30met.ART.North.Edition1.1354bd38.html
Data Can Drive Development: As professional developers, we can show teachers how to collect the appropriate data and evidence, analyze it for gaps in learning areas, find the patterns and themes that show over time, work with them to develop curriculum that meets those needs, and then help them modify their teaching.
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=163703195
Data-driven Decision Making: At a panel discussion held April 8 in Washington, D.C., educators who have enjoyed some success with this approach in their own schools relayed the lessons they have learned. Two key issues emerged from the discussion: how to decide what kind of information to collect, and how to use this information to advance student achievement. The entire 6-page article can be accessed for free by registering at the website below. Once you then log in you can search for “Data Driven Decision Making.”
http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/datadrivendecisionmaking/index.cfm
Data-Driven Districts: Using Data to Inform Key Decisions: The call for greater accountability means administrators and teachers must show proof -- tangible, statistically valid evidence -- that what they are doing is working, that students are learning faster and better. Learn lessons from four districts that take different approaches to using data to inform key decisions. See also "Providing Data to Your Board" and "Using Data to Think Differently," which includes six lessons for giving the public a better way to size up student performance.
http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=2777
Data-Driven Instruction - Resources from eSchool News: eSchool News has put together a new mini-site that contains resources to help you address student needs through the use of data. The site includes a self-assessment test, information on a US Department of Education data management tool, pointers for making data-driven decisions, and information about how "informed instruction" can help your district meet federal mandates.
www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/Data-informed/index.cfm
Data-Driven Instruction - More Resources from eSchool News: Education Decision Support Library helps meet NCLB goals.
www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6513
Data is a Four-Letter Word for Success: Looks at how three past Broad Prize finalists increased overall student achievement while narrowing gaps among all children by using one universal element: data, as well as the 2006 Broad Prize Winners.
www.broadfoundation.org/newsletter/EyeonthePrize2.htm#article2
Data Management: Technology & Learning has put together a series of online articles with helpful hints to guide you through the process.
http://www.techlearning.com/hot_topics/data_management.php
Data Management and NCLB: In spite of the computer revolution, too many schools remain "data rich and information poor." At one time, that might have been acceptable, but in the era of No Child Left Behind and high-stakes accountability, the lack of intelligible, actionable information is no longer tolerable. The editors of eSchool News have put together an Educator's Resource Center that helps you discover what's at the cutting edge of data analysis.
www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/datamgmtandnclb/
Data: Maximize Your Mining, Part One: Over the last decade, schools and districts have become increasingly sophisticated in their collection, storage, and analysis of data. And with the rise of NCLB, the focus of data analysis has been largely trained on ways to help schools achieve Adequate Yearly Progress. The more important and greater challenge, however, remains in finding ways to harness data over the long term to raise student achievement in a consistent, sustained manner.
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=160400818
Data: Maximize Your Mining, Part Two: As individuals and stakeholder groups develop experience and sophistication in understanding the limitations, context, and implications of various data sources, they move into stage two — using data to improve educational efficiency. In this phase, the school does everything it can to maximize the performance of students who are on the verge of moving to the next level and thereby get as many as possible over the bar.
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=164300240
Data: Mining with a Mission: For some districts, the current obsession with data grows out of the need to comply with No Child Left Behind and additional accountability-related mandates. For others, it dates way back before the phrase "data-driven decision making" rolled so frequently off the tongues of educators. In either case, there is no denying that an integral part of the business of K-12 education today is to collect, manage, analyze, and learn from a wide array of data. In response, the past few years have witnessed an explosion of technology-based tools, consulting services, professional development opportunities, and other resources designed to help schools move beyond being data rich but information poor.
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=18311595
Data Quality Campaign: The Data Quality Campaign is a national, collaborative effort to encourage and support state policymakers to improve the collection, availability and use of high-quality education data and implement state longitudinal data systems to improve student achievement. CoSN in an endorsing partner on this effort.
www.dataqualitycampaign.org
Data Quality Campaign Case Studies: The Data Quality Campaign has produced a series of case studies that document the challenges and lessons learned as states design and build student level longitudinal data systems.
Synopsis (PDF)
Florida (PDF)
Utah (PDF)
Virginia (PDF)
Wisconsin (PDF)
Data Quality Campaign Celebrates One Year: The Data Quality Campaign (DQC), on the first anniversary of its launch, released a progress report highlighting states’ successes in building longitudinal data systems, www.dataqualitycampaign.org/survey_results/ and updated a white paper, Creating a Longitudinal Data System: Using Data to Improve Student Achievement.
www.dataqualitycampaign.org
Data Warehousing Information Center: This site is a collection of essays by Larry Greenfield on data warehousing, decision support, business intelligence.
www.dwinfocenter.org
Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning: Harvard University's graduate school of education worked with a group of Boston public school educators to produce an eight step process for schools wishing to use assessment data to improve instruction and learning. Link to an article summarizing the project at “Usable Knowledge,” the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s public access site for current research and publications. Once there search the Usable Knowledge site for more information on “Decisions Through Data.” You can order the “Data Wise” text through Harvard University Press. A follow up book of Data Wise case studies is due out December, 2007.
www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/decisions/DD2-4.html
Driven by Data: Three district administrators describe how they are using data-driven methods and technologies to plan professional development programs, improve instruction, and augment student achievement.
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=163703138
ED Applies Data to Teacher Development: Federal education officials are ratcheting up the stakes for teacher professional development. In a pilot project that began last fall, officials hope to learn whether software can be used to track and analyze the effectiveness of a district's staff training programs in much the same way it can be used to gauge the effectiveness of classroom instruction.
www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5188
Ed Week's Technology Counts: The Information Edge.: Education Week has released their annual Technology Counts report for 2006. The report examines how technology and education policies are evolving to support the use of data to improve student achievement. It is an excellent resource for all of us working to utilize data driven decision making in powerful ways.
www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2006/05/04/index.html?levelId=1000
Education Counts: Education Counts is a database of more than 250 state-level K-12 education indicators with custom table builder to create graphs of these indicators.
edcounts.edweek.org/createtable/step1.php
Facilitating School Improvement With Data Notes & Reflections: Issue 8 (Winter 2005): This issue of Notes & Reflections continues the topic of using data to guide school improvement. The previous issue (Notes & Reflections, Issue 7, Fall 2004) explained how to collect, organize, and analyze data, as well as how to identify and explain areas of concern. This issue picks up where the previous one left off. It explains how to use data to develop strategies for school improvement.
www.ncrel.org/info/notes/wtr05/
Getting Started with Data Warehousing: The first in a series on managing data efficiently in your district.
http://www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604992
Guide to Using Data in School Improvement Efforts: “This guide is designed for educators who are beginning to learn how to use data for school improvement. It offers foundational information on types of data, strategies for analyzing and understanding data, and methods for determining how these efforts can influence goals and planning.” www2.learningpt.org/catalog/item.asp?SessionID=826133866&productID=242
From Data to Decisions: Annenberg Institute for School Reform has produced a new report, From Data to Decisions, which provides resources on using data – a key to sustained improvement: types and uses of data, selecting and analyzing data, and using results to drive your planning efforts.
www.annenberginstitute.org/images/DataWarehousing.pdf
Growth Research Database: The Northwest Evaluation Association is developing a longitudinal data warehouse of information from schools across the country; this resource will help identify the district characteristics and instructional programs that improve student growth.
www.nwea.org
Hard Wiring: What the Next Decade in Education Policy Means for Educational Technology: Education Sector has released Hard Wiring: What the Next Decade in Education Policy Means for Educational Technology, which describes the explosion in both the quantity and public availability of educational data.
www.educationsector.org/research/research_show.htm?doc_id=362135
Improving Education Practice Through Data Use: Data-driven Decision-Making: This website provides resources on data-driven decision-making, including reviews of software for analyzing student data. edadmin.edb.utexas.edu/datause/
Improving School Board Decision-Making: The Data Connection: The website and publication are for school board members who want to know more about how to use data to make good decisions for children in public schools. Trainers who work with school board members also can use these materials at state and national conferences or in local training sessions. The resources you will find here are designed to compliment and supplement the book.
www.schoolboarddata.org
In God We Trust: All Others Bring Data: The No Child Left Behind Act's (NCLB's) focus on data and scientific research has consequences for schools and districts and those outside the school system who serve them. Three of the major sections of NCLB deal directly with student performance data: annual testing, academic improvement (measured by test gains), and report cards. School administrators and school boards will be very interested in the data, how they are collected, what they allegedly measure, and how they are analyzed and interpreted.
www.asbointl.org/WhatsNew/SchoolBusinessAffairs/index.asp?s=0&bid=1016
In ESEA Wake, School Data Flowing Forth: Nearly two years after its passage, the No Child Left Behind Act has produced one unambiguous result: an avalanche of data on the performance of public schools in the United States. But a survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia by Education Week found less movement on other fronts, such as the number of states now testing in the required grades.

Moreover, many states are still struggling to mesh their existing systems for rating schools with the federal law, which has resulted in confusing messages about what all the numbers mean. The disparities have contributed to a backlash against the law's requirements in some corners that's likely to mount as the nation heads into an election year. President Bush has touted the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as one of his foremost accomplishments.

To read the full article, please visit:
www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=15NCLB.h23&keywords=In%20ESEA%20Wake%2C%20School%20Data
(Please Note: Viewing the article requires free registration to Education Week's website.)
Knowledge Management in Education: Defining the Landscape: Many districts and schools have poured millions into information technology but have yet to effectively integrate these technologies into shared decision-making processes to improve performances of students, schools, and districts. Teachers and administrators continue to struggle with disjointed information infrastructure, unclear priorities in data requirements, and limited resources for collecting, distilling, and sharing of information.

The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), a newly established think tank in K-16 education, is pleased to present the report - Knowledge Management in Education: Defining the Landscape, to address these issues. It illustrates differences between data-, information-, and knowledge-based decision-making and provides a framework for understanding an institution's information infrastructure. It is the result of collaborative conversations with leaders across education sectors, foundations, and business enterprises.

This report - like ISKME itself - is a practical resource for districts and schools. It provides essential information that can inform the work that educational leaders are doing to improve school effectiveness and student results.
Making Sense of the Data: Making Sense of the Data (PDF) explores the essential components of a framework for data management and analysis (DMA) systems based on visionary districts, states, and vendors. The study provides an analysis of the vendor landscape and strategies, including snapshots of more than 20 providers, and furnishes administrators with a strong foundation for understanding the tools and resources available in the K-12 DMA market segment. Eduventures is a market research and strategy consulting firm focusing exclusively on learning markets. For more information, please visit www.eduventures.com.
National Center for Educational Accountability: The Center has released a brochure on the nine essential elements of a statewide data-collection system.
http://www.just4kids.org/en/files/Publication-9_Essential_Elements_of_Statewide_Data-Collection_Systems-06-27-03.pdf
National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Library: Data-Driven Decision Making: What does data-driven decision making mean for your school or district? What data are available, and how are they most effectively collected and analyzed? How can careful data analysis lead to improved teacher planning and instruction? This collection of resources from the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) will help you understand the importance of using data in guiding your professional development and teaching. http://www.nsdc.org/library/research.cfm#overviews
No Child Left Behind Issue Brief: Data-Driven Decision Making: This No Child Left Behind issue brief by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) discusses how districts can support schools' use of data, and how data can be used to make decisions that improve student and school performance.
www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/35/52/3552.pdf
No More Flying Blind: Using Data-Driven Decision Making to Guide Student Learning: This compendium article summary by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) explores the technology based tools and approaches that can guide learning.
http://www.cosn.org/resources/compendium/2003Summaries/NoMoreFlyingBlindExecSummary.pdf
Practices That Support Data Use in Urban High Schools: This report from The Center Research Brief, October 2006, describes factors impacting the use of student performance data in low-performing urban high schools.
www.centerforcsri.org/files/Center_RB_oct06.pdf
Professional Development QuickTips: Data Driven Decision Making: Data is all around us. Teachers and administrators are overwhelmed with data. Why do we need data? Will data help us become better teachers and improve student learning? Data, if used effectively, encourages each school to be different from every other school. www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=25600484
School Improvement in Maryland: Topics covered include understanding standards, assessments, and AYP; the school improvement process; and standards-based instruction.
www.mdk12.org
SchoolMatters.com: SchoolMatters.com, a web-based national education data service provides in-depth information and analysis about public schools, districts and state education systems. The National Education Data Partnership is a collaboration among the Council of Chief State School Officers, Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services, Achieve, Inc., and the CELT Corporation funded by the Broad Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
www.schoolmatters.com
School Staff and the Data Warehouse: Communication and training are the keys to turning that mountain of data you've collected into something that can actually benefit teaching and learning.
http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=163703320
Schools Interoperability Framework Association (SIFA): The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) is an industry initiative to develop an open specification for ensuring that K-12 instructional and administrative software applications work together more effectively. SIF is not a product, but rather an industry-supported technical blueprint for K-12 software that will enable diverse applications to interact and share data seamlessly; now and in the future.
www.sifinfo.org/general-overview.asp
SETDA's Data Driven Decision Making Site: Includes over 20 examples of successful schools, tools for data collection, a DDDM bibliography, and over 225 instrument reviews.
www.setda.org/web/guest/datadrivendecisionmaking
SETDA's Profiling Educational Technology Integration (PETI): The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has released Profiling Educational Technology Integration (PETI): Resources for Assessing Readiness and Use, available free to all stakeholders including states, districts, schools, and other organizations, to utilize to assess the integration of technology. SETDA’s PETI represents the consensus and work of state directors from over 30 states and is designed to assist states in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and evaluating the effectiveness of educational technology in all educational environments. SETDA developed the framework, instruments, and protocols in conjunction with the Metiri Group with support from the US Department of Education. The instruments and protocols have been validated through extensive pilots in five states and have been examined through a peer review process.
http://www.setda-peti.org/
SIF Implementation Readiness Assessment Toolkit: The SIF Implementation Readiness Assessment Toolkit was designed to help schools determine their current state of data management and help them create a plan for future data interoperability in SIF implementations.
www.sifinfo.org/tool_kit.asp
Six Pointers for Making Data-Driven Decisions: A new article from eSchool News identifies tips for developing an effective database.
www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=2905
Software Enabling School Improvement through Analysis of Student Data: Schools often have a large store of student data which could be used to better understand factors that affect student achievement. The paper describes how software and data systems can promote the use of data to improve student achievement.
www.csos.jhu.edu/crespar/techReports/Report67.pdf
State Education Data Systems That Increase Learning and Improve Accountability: State Education Data Systems That Increase Learning and Improve Accountability North Central Regional Educational Laboratory No. 16 June 2004.
www.ncrel.org/policy/pubs/pdfs/pivol16.pdf
The State of Standards Research Report: The Northwest Evaluation Association the results of a comprehensive, 14-state study that demonstrates there is a profound difference in what’s expected of students across the United States. The full report is available at:
http://www.nwea.org/research/getreport.asp?ReportID=5
Student Testing Causing Shifts in Tech Spending: Pressured to keep up with state and federal testing requirements, schools are spending millions on high-tech systems to track and catalog their kids at the same time the federal government is cutting funding for the very same technology. The result: Instead of buying laptops for students or updating old hardware, school systems are raiding technology budgets to pay for data systems that keep track of test scores.
www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/stories/MYSA062105.01A.hi-tech_classrooms.2cda8841.html.
Tools for School Improvement Planning: This helpful website contains observation protocols, focus group samples and questions, surveys, questionnaires, and other techniques to help you examine your specific school-improvement concerns. In the tools section, you'll find a database of new and innovative tools used throughout the country, organized into school-improvement focus areas common to many schools, districts, and states. In addition to numerous proven tools, this site features two other essentials for school improvement, including a school-improvement guide with a step-by-step process for successful school improvement, including sample worksheets and rubrics. In the "Using Data" section, you'll find resources on using data -- a key to sustained improvement: types and uses of data, selecting and analyzing data, and using results to drive your planning efforts.
www.annenberginstitute.org/tools/
Uses of School Data to Improve Learning in Elementary Schools: Summarizes and outlines a text on gathering and analyzing data to improve classroom learning is a new experience for many educators. With the theme "Data-Driven Decision Making," the text examines actual changes in classroom practices based on analysis of data.
www.goenc.com/records/record_generator.asp?encnum=029842
Using Data as a School Improvement Tool: Congress passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act as a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Signed into law by President Bush in January 2002, the NCLB Act has brought many significant changes to schools nationwide. This Quick Key Action Guide was developed to help educators build capacity to implement the NCLB Act, giving specific attention to how data can be used to improve schools and help all students achieve academic proficiency.
http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/qkey11.pdf
Using Data: The Math's Not the Hard Part: Craig Jerald highlights research to argue for collecting and using data to increase student achievement in The Center Issue Brief, September 2006.
www.centerforcsri.org/files/Center_IB_Sept06B.pdf
Using Data to Guide School Improvement: Although certain provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 remain controversial, there is broad agreement that measuring student progress and setting specific goals are fundamental to school improvement. How do educators measure progress and set goals? The process begins with data.
www.ncrel.org/info/notes/fall04/index.html
Using Data to Improve Student Achievement: The focus of the March 2003 issue of Classroom Leadership is on "Using Data to Improve Student Achievement." The magazine is a publication of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/class_lead.html
Western States Benchmarking Consortium: Consortium members have developed common definitions of organizational effectiveness, i.e., "benchmarks" that articulate the steps toward achieving the highest quality public education. These statements are intended to assist the districts and campuses in recognizing and acting on key areas of emphasis to improve learning for all students. The consortium is organized around the following strategic areas: student learning, capacity development, community connectedness and data-driven decision making.
www.wsbenchmark.org