www.act.org/research-policy
3 674
ACT Research & Policy
Issue Brief
April 2015
Based on research
investigating how school
districts use education
data, in this brief ACT
recommends ten practical
steps that school district
leaders and state and local
policymakers can take to
improve their data use.
®
is a registered trademark of
ACT, Inc., in the USA and other countries.
How School District Leaders Can Support
the Use of Data to Improve Teaching and
Learning
Chrys Dougherty, PhD
Introduction
School districts are becoming increasingly data
rich. Many districts have student information
systems that provide electronic reports on student
test scores, grades, attendance, discipline, course
transcripts, program participation, academic
interventions, and graduation (see table). As
educators strive to use this windfall of data to
improve teaching and learning in their schools,
school district leaders must take steps to promote
effective data use.
1
In this report, we describe common uses of data in
school districts. Next, we outline ten steps district
leaders can take to improve the use of data in their
school systems. We also describe ways that state
and local policymakers can support these steps.
Data Used in School Districts
Ways to classify data Categories of data
By information source Data from student assessments
state tests
district benchmark assessments
Data from other sources
attendance records
grades
discipline reports
surveys (of students, teachers, or parents)
classroom observations
transcripts
dropout data
graduation data
By time frame Snapshot information collected at a moment in time
Longitudinal information collected over multiple time periods
(linking multiple snapshot collections)*
By confidentiality level
and audience
Personally identifiable student information available to
individuals who work with students
Aggregate reports available to the general public
* Data Quality Campaign, “Creating Reports Using Longitudinal Data: How States Can Present Information to Support
Student Learning and School System Improvement,” November 1, 2010,
http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/find-
resources/creating-reports-using-longitudinal-data/.
Chrys Dougherty is a principal
research scientist specializing in
statistical and applied research and
the ACT Core Practice Framework.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Amy Baker, Kurt Burkum, Michelle Croft, Raeal Moore, Jean Rutherford, and Teresa
Shaw for helpful comments provided on this report.
2
ACT Research & Policy How School District Leaders Can Support the Use of Data
progress toward the goals. In addition, having
the goals clearly in mind can help educators
determine what kinds of information they
need in order to assess whether students are
achieving the goals.
1. Develop and refine a content-rich district
curriculum that states clearly what
students are expected to learn in each
grade and subject. State standards
often provide only a partial description
of these expectations. A written district
curriculum can specify more clearly and
in greater detail what is to be learned.
10
Providing a coherent, sequenced
curriculum is important because students’
prior knowledge plays a vital role in
enabling them to make sense of new
information.
11
A well-designed curriculum
can help ensure that what is taught in
each grade prepares students well to
learn the content in subsequent grades.
The district curriculum should be content-
rich in the early grades to give students
the vocabulary and knowledge they will
need to be good readers and learners in
the upper grades.
12
From a data use perspective, the district
curriculum should be the starting point
from which data indicators on student
learning are selected and used. For
example, district leaders should ensure
that the state test has been mapped to
the curriculum using test specifications
and an item analysis, whichever is
available, so it is clear what curricular
objectives are addressed by the state
test data. The same can be done for
other assessments the district uses,
such as district-developed benchmark
assessments (see step 5). Referencing
all student achievement data back to the
curriculum can help school and district
leaders identify gaps in the available
information on student learning.
• To adopt and evaluate programs and
management decisions. Data can
be used to pilot new programs or
evaluate old ones; to adjust school
routines, procedures, and schedules by
troubleshooting difficulties with student
attendance or behavior; and to examine
whether past decisions have had the
desired consequences.
6
• To communicate information to outside
audiences. Data can be used to
communicate with parents when their
children need additional academic or
behavioral assistance and with parents
and public audiences about school
programs and performance.
7
Ten Steps District Leaders Can
Take to Improve Data Use
To identify ways district leaders can improve
their use of data, we drew on the research
literature on data use and on the critical
actions described in the ACT Core Practice
Framework.
8
In addition, we conducted a
case study in two Texas school districts with
leadership teams that were known to be
interested in promoting the effective use of
data.
9
From this analysis, we identified ten steps
that district leaders can take to improve data
use by teachers and principals. The steps are
grouped into four categories: clarify school
system goals, create infrastructure for data
use, ensure adequate educator knowledge
on how to interpret and use data, and support
collaboration among educators.
Clarify School System Goals. Just as
travelers find a GPS more useful once they
have identified their destination, so educators
will find data more valuable when they have
clearly identified the learning and behavioral
goals they want students to accomplish.
Once the goals have been identified, the
right data can provide feedback on student
Uses of Data in School
Districts
Educators use data to support individual
students and teachers and to guide the
actions of district and school leaders in
improving the system as a whole. More
specifically, educators use data:
• To identify individual student needs and
place students in groups, interventions,
programs, and classrooms. Student
assessment data may be used to monitor
overall student progress, to customize
learning opportunities for individual
students, to place students in small
learning groups or short-term intervention
programs, to place students in classrooms
or academic courses, and to assign them
to or exit them from programs such as
bilingual or special education programs
and programs for gifted and talented
students.
2
• To modify curriculum and instruction.
Data may be used to identify learning
objectives that students didn’t learn and
that must therefore be retaught, to identify
objectives students have mastered, to
address gaps in students’ prerequisite
knowledge and skills, to modify the
sequence of topics, to adjust the amount
of time allocated to each topic, and to
monitor whether the district’s curriculum is
being taught to the desired level of rigor.
3
• To motivate students and educators. Data
can be used to set goals for students,
classrooms, and schools; to monitor
whether these goals have been met;
and to recognize individual and group
success.
4
• To coach and supervise teachers and other
school personnel. Data may be used to
guide discussions among educators, to
inform educators of their strengths and
assist them with their weaknesses, and to
identify individuals for possible promotion
or termination.
5
3
ACT Research & Policy How School District Leaders Can Support the Use of Data
useful in identifying student needs,
modifying instruction to meet those
needs, placing students in short-term
interventions, and setting and monitoring
goals for students and teachers.
6. Create timely and user-friendly reports.
Information is more likely to be used if
it is timely, readily available, and easy to
interpret.
21
School system leaders must
ensure that all of these requirements
are met for their data. District leaders
must also be cognizant of gaps in the
information. If the information is of limited
value in addressing important questions,
that can show the need for the school
system to collect additional data.
22
Ensure Adequate Educator Knowledge
on How to Interpret and Use Data.
Educators must have the knowledge and
skills needed to interpret the available
information, decide what needs to be done in
response to the information, and figure out
when important information is missing and
needs to be collected.
7. Make knowledge of data use a criterion
when hiring teachers and school
leaders. Sending a clear signal that job
applicants need to be better informed
in this area should lead over time to a
more knowledgeable applicant pool. This
entails publicly clarifying the knowledge
and skills that applicants for teaching
and school leadership positions should
have.
23
8. Embed data use training in an
instructional coaching system for
teachers. Most people recognize the
value of coaching in cases where
improving performance is viewed as
especially important—for example, in
competitive sports. Because data use by
teachers is part of an overall process of
making instructional decisions, the two
districts in our case study embedded
data use training into their overall
4. Create an electronic data system that
is readily accessible to teachers and
school leaders. These systems in turn
can be used to produce user-friendly
data displays and dashboards to help
teachers and school leaders spot
problems and opportunities for individual
students and groups of students. The
data system should allow easy linking
of data from different assessments and
of assessment and non-assessment
data for the same student, and it should
provide ready access to information
on the same student from previous
assessment periods and years to aid
in monitoring student progress. School
district leaders must pay attention
not only to the design and features of
the system, but also to the accurate
collection of data at the front end by
district personnel.
18
In addition, leaders
must ensure that ready access to data
by educators is complemented by
safeguards to ensure that unauthorized
individuals cannot gain access to
confidential student information.
19
5. Establish a system of frequent
assessment of recently taught curriculum.
One common need is for timely
information about whether students are
learning the district’s curriculum. Many
school districts have addressed this need
by developing interim or benchmark
assessments to identify what students
have learned cumulatively over a six- or
nine-week grading period. Educators
in the two case study districts took
special care to ensure the assessments
matched what had been taught during
that period.
20
School leaders in the case
study sites also encouraged teachers in
each grade level to administer common
assessments every two or three weeks to
provide even more up-to-date information
on the students. The timeliness of these
assessments make them particularly
2. Develop and refine student behavioral
goals. Academic and social behaviors
are an important contributor to long-term
student success.
13
Instructional programs
and interventions and teachers’ classroom
practices can help students improve
those behaviors.
14
Examples of behavioral
goals for students might include
avoidance of chronic absences, avoidance
of disciplinary referrals, diligence in
turning in assignments, persistence in
challenging tasks, and development of
reading habits outside of school.
As is the case with academic goals, the
behavioral goals that educators identify
will help to determine the data they want
to collect. In most cases, school districts
already collect information on student
attendance and discipline referrals.
Surveys of students and teachers can be
used to gather information on student
attitudes and behavior that would not
otherwise be collected.
15
Create the Infrastructure for Data Use.
School district leaders need to ensure that
the right information is available to the right
users at the right time.
3. Identify users’ information needs. To
supply the right information, school
district leaders need to identify what
users need to know: the questions users
would like to answer and the information
the users need to answer the questions.
16
For example, tracking individual students
with chronic absences is a different
problem from monitoring average daily
attendance.
17
A behavioral goal to reduce
chronic absences could indicate the
need for a report identifying chronically
absent students. In one of the case study
districts, educators in a school learned
that some students were missing class
to care for family members. In response,
they created a Saturday camp where
students could make up their missing
assignments.
4
ACT Research & Policy How School District Leaders Can Support the Use of Data
foreign language, and the arts. State
accountability systems must recognize
not only evidence of student academic
growth in tested subjects, but also local
efforts to prepare students for long-term
success by strengthening the curriculum
in untested grades and subjects.
29
• Strengthen the state’s data infrastructure.
State leaders can strengthen their
statewide longitudinal student data
systems and, with appropriate access
restrictions to protect student privacy,
make the data readily available in
convenient reports to local educators.
• Promote educators’ knowledge. One
point of leverage for state policymakers
is their jurisdiction over teacher and
administrator certification requirements.
Policymakers can require teachers and
administrators to demonstrate the ability
to interpret and use various kinds of data
in order to be certified. Certified teachers,
administrators, and counselors should also
be familiar with applications of cognitive
science to education, as this should give
them better insights as they interpret
student data.
30
To expand the knowledge
available to educational practitioners,
state leaders should also include funding
to enable the state education agency to
oversee a focused program of research
using the state’s longitudinal data
system.
31
Local policymakers, such as school board
members and business and community
leaders who influence school district policy,
can ensure that school district leaders have
the support and resources they need to
take the ten steps described above. They
can make implementation of the ten steps
an explicit district priority, reflected in the
school district budget, improvement plans,
and discussions of the superintendent’s job
performance.
Fourth, they can meet with teachers to
discuss their students’ assessment data
and encourage teachers to have their
students set personal academic goals
based on the information.
10. Bring teachers in the same subject
together across schools. The districts
in our case study regularly convened
teachers of the same course- or grade-
specific content in different schools—for
example, Biology 1 or third-grade social
studies—to review curriculum and
assessments and to share instructional
ideas. The timing of these meetings
was based on the six- or nine-week
grading periods in the district curriculum
so teachers could look at results from
the latest benchmark assessment. Less
frequently, district leaders convened
vertical teams of teachers from different
grade levels—for example, elementary,
middle, and high school teachers of
US history. Interviewees in the study
expressed a desire for increasing
the frequency of these vertical team
meetings.
28
How State and Local
Policymakers Can Support
Improvement in Educators’
Data Use
State policymakers can ensure that an
infrastructure of standards, data, research,
and training are in place to support
local educators’ data use. Specifically,
policymakers can:
• Clarify state goals. State leaders can
ensure that their academic content and
performance standards define a clear
path to readiness for college, careers,
and informed citizenship and that these
standards provide a framework for local
school districts to develop a content-
rich curriculum not only in English
language arts and mathematics, but also
in science, history, geography, civics,
system of instructional supervision
and coaching.
24
The effectiveness of
instructional coaching depends on the
coach’s knowledge and skill and the
specific types of guidance he or she
provides.
25
Because coaching often
depends on a trust-building process,
the main impact of coaching may not
appear in the first year. For example, an
academic coach in one of the case study
districts described a yearlong process of
gaining teachers’ trust through listening.
This paid off in increased collaboration
and idea sharing in the second year.
Support Collaboration Among Educators.
Discussing data must be part of educators’
normal routine, not something that happens
only after events bring school-wide problems
to their attention. Teachers need regularly
scheduled time to discuss curriculum, data,
instruction, and interventions with each other
in an environment of collaboration and trust.
9. Establish expectations for school leaders
to support teacher collaboration around
curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
School leaders can promote teacher
collaboration in a number of ways:
First, they can ensure that the school’s
master schedule includes regularly
scheduled time in the workweek for
teachers to participate in collaborative
team meetings. Second, they can
work with lead teachers to ensure that
these meetings focus on monitoring
and improving student learning. Third,
they can help encourage a climate of
trust among teachers around the use
of data. To gain maximum benefit from
information on student learning, teachers
must be comfortable discussing their
own problems and concerns, observing
each other’s lessons, and sharing
suggestions on how to improve them.
26
Teachers are more likely to develop this
comfort level if they view their colleagues
as teammates, not competitors.
27
5
ACT Research & Policy How School District Leaders Can Support the Use of Data
Achieving with Data; Laura Hamilton, Richard
Halverson, Sharnell Jackson, Ellen Mandinach,
Jonathan Supovitz, and Jeffrey Wayman,
Using Student Achievement Data to Support
Instructional Decision Making, NCEE 2009-
4067 (Washington, DC: Institute of Education
Sciences, 2009); Light et al., Linking Data
and Learning; Marsh, Pane, and Hamilton,
Making Sense of Data-Driven Decision-Making;
Schildkamp and Kuiper, “Data-Informed
Curriculum Reform”; Wayman et al., “District-
Wide Effects on Data Use”; and Wayman et al.,
“Using Data to Inform Practice.”
5 Breiter and Light, “Data for School
Improvement”; Datnow, Park, and Wohlstetter,
Achieving with Data; Light et al., Linking Data
and Learning; and Schildkamp and Kuiper,
“Data-Informed Curriculum Reform.”
6 Coburn and Talbert, “Conceptions of Evidence
Use”; Mingchu Luo, “Structural Equation
Modeling for High School Principals’ Data-
Driven Decision Making: An Analysis of
Information Use Environments,” Education
Administration Quarterly 44, no. 5 (2008);
Marsh, Pane, and Hamilton, Making Sense of
Data-Driven Decision-Making; and Schildkamp
and Kuiper, “Data-Informed Curriculum Reform.”
7 Coburn and Talbert, “Conceptions of
Evidence Use”; Light et al., Linking Data and
Learning; Luo, “Structural Equation Modeling”;
Schildkamp and Kuiper, “Data-Informed
Curriculum Reform”; Wayman et al., “District-
Wide Effects on Data Use”; and Wayman et al.,
“Using Data to Inform Practice.”
8 The ACT Core Practice Framework identifies
actions to be taken by educators at the district,
school, and classroom levels in five closely
interrelated categories: (1) curriculum and
academic goals; (2) staff selection, leadership,
and capacity building; (3) instructional tools:
programs and strategies; (4) monitoring
performance and progress; and (5) intervention
and adjustment. The specific actions
recommended under these broad categories
are based on case study research in over 550
higher and average performing schools over a
ten-year period.
Because practices in these five areas
interact and should be mutually reinforcing,
changes in any one area are likely to require
2 Andreas Breiter and Daniel Light, “Data for
School Improvement: Factors for Designing
Effective Information Systems to Support
Decision-Making in Schools,” Educational
Technology & Society 9, no. 3 (2006):
206–217; Cynthia Coburn and Joan Talbert,
“Conceptions of Evidence Use in School
Districts: Mapping the Terrain,” American Journal
of Education 112 (2006): 469–495; Daniel
Light, Margaret Honey, Juliet Heinze, Cornelia
Brunner, Dara Wexler, Ellen Mandinach, and
Chad Fasca, Linking Data and Learning—The
Grow Network Study: Summary Report (New
York: Center for Children and Technology,
2005); Julie Marsh, John Pane, and Laura
Hamilton, Making Sense of Data-Driven
Decision Making in Education: Evidence from
Recent RAND Research (Santa Monica, CA:
RAND, 2006); Kim Schildkamp and Wilmad
Kuiper, “Data-Informed Curriculum Reform:
Which Data, What Purposes, and Promoting
and Hindering Factors,” Teaching and Teacher
Education 26, no. 3 (2010): 482–496; Jeffrey
Wayman, Vincent Cho, Jo Beth Jimerson,
and Daniel Spikes, “District-Wide Effects on
Data Use in the Classroom,” Education Policy
Analysis Archives 20, no. 25 (2012), doi: http://
dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v20n25.2012;
Wayman et al., “Using Data to Inform Practice”;
and Viki Young, “Teachers’ Use of Data: Loose
Coupling, Agenda Setting, and Team Norms,”
American Journal of Education 112 (2006):
521–548.
3 Breiter and Light, “Data for School
Improvement”; Coburn and Talbert,
“Conceptions of Evidence Use”; Datnow, Park,
and Wohlstetter, Achieving with Data; Kerri
Kerr, Julie Marsh, Gina Schuyler Ikemoto,
Hilary Darilek, and Heather Barney, “Strategies
to Promote Data Use for Instructional
Improvement: Actions, Outcomes, and Lessons
from Three Urban Districts,” American Journal
of Education 112 (2006): 496–520; Light et
al., Linking Data and Learning; Marsh, Pane,
and Hamilton, Making Sense of Data-Driven
Decision-Making; Schildkamp and Kuiper,
“Data-Informed Curriculum Reform”; Wayman
et al., “District-Wide Effects on Data Use”; and
Wayman et al., “Using Data to Inform Practice.”
4 Breiter and Light, “Data for School
Improvement”; Datnow, Park, and Wohlstetter,
Conclusion
Educators can increase their effectiveness
with students by improving their
interpretation and use of data. To improve
data use by teachers and school leaders,
district leaders can clarify academic and
behavioral goals, create the infrastructure
for data use while protecting student privacy,
ensure that educators across the district
can interpret and use the information, and
support collaboration as part of educators’
normal routine. For their part, state and
local policymakers can encourage and
assist school district leaders in taking these
necessary steps.
Improving educators’ use of data should
be approached in conjunction with other
measures to strengthen the curriculum and
improve the methods and interventions
used to benefit students.
32
By using data
to identify student needs, guide changes
in instruction, motivate students, coach
educators, evaluate programs and decisions,
and communicate with parents and the
public, educators can help ensure that the
other measures they take to improve student
learning are more effective.
Notes
1 For an overview of ways that education leaders
can promote effective data use, see Amanda
Datnow, Vicki Park, and Priscilla Wohlstetter,
Achieving with Data: How High-Performing
School Systems Use Data to Improve
Instruction for Elementary Students (Los
Angeles: Center on Educational Governance,
2007), http://www.newschools.org/files/
AchievingWithData.pdf; and Jeffrey Wayman,
Stephen Spring, Melinda Lemke, and Meghan
Lehr, “Using Data to Inform Practice: Effective
Principal Leadership Strategies,” paper
presented annual meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, Vancouver,
British Columbia, April 2012, http://edadmin.
edb.utexas.edu/datause/papers/Wayman%20
Spring%20Lemke%20Lehr%20Principal%20
Data%20Use%20Strategies.pdf.
6
ACT Research & Policy How School District Leaders Can Support the Use of Data
default.aspx?topic=A_Focus_on_Attendance_
Is_Key_to_Success; and Hedy Change and
Mariajosé Romero, Present, Engaged, and
Accounted For: The Critical Importance of
Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early
Grades (New York: National Center for Children
in Poverty, 2008).
18 See, for example, Jeffrey Wayman, Sam
Stringfield, and Mary Yakimowski, Software
Enabling School Improvement through Analysis
of Student Data, Technical Report #67
(Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on the
Education of Students Placed at Risk, Johns
Hopkins University, 2004); Jeffrey Wayman
and Sam Stringfield, “Technology-Supported
Involvement of Entire Faculties in Examination
of Student Data for Instructional Improvement,”
American Journal of Education 112, no. 4
(2006): 549–571; and Mary Ann Lachat
and Stephen Smith, “Practices that Support
Data Use in Urban High Schools,” Journal of
Education for Students Placed at Risk 10, no. 3
(2005): 333–349.
19 National Center for Educational Statistics,
Data Stewardship: Managing Personally
Identifiable Information in Electronic Student
Education Records, SLDS Technical Brief #2
(Washington, DC: Institute of Educational
Sciences, 2010).
20 As one case study interviewee explained:
The district specialist writes the district
benchmark and … all the Algebra I teachers
get into a room with her. They all take the test
together. That’s our way of vetting the test.
They take the test so they can see what’s
on the test. The test doesn’t leave the room.
That way we’re not teaching the test. But they
have an idea of where we’re trying to go.
Then that happens at the beginning of each
nine weeks. And then three weeks before
we actually administer the test the teachers
look at it again and they say to the district
specialist … “That week we had homecoming
and a parade and a pep rally … and we
missed three days of instruction over this.
And so we didn’t get that far. So that test
item needs to come out.” So we’re working
really hard to keep those benchmarks to
be a true reflection of what we’ve taught.
Dougherty, Use of Data to Support Teaching
and Learning, 10–11.
perform computations about volcanic activity in
math class. ACT, Rising to the Challenge, 4.
11 See the discussion in chapters 1, 7, 13, 14, and
16 of John Hattie and Gregory Yates, Visible
Learning and the Science of How We Learn
(New York: Routledge, 2014).
12 See E.D. Hirsch, Jr., The Knowledge Deficit:
Closing the Shocking Education Gap for
American Children (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
2006); and Chrys Dougherty, College and
Career Readiness: The Importance of Early
Learning, (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2013), http://
www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/
ImportanceofEarlyLearning.pdf.
13 ACT, Impact of Cognitive, Psychosocial, and
Career Factors on Educational and Workplace
Success (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2007), http://
www.act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/
CognitiveNoncognitive.pdf.
14 Programs that explicitly teach defined student
behaviors through active learning (in which
students act out or practice the behavior rather
than just being told about it) have been found
to be effective at improving both behavior and
academic achievement. Joseph A. Durlak,
Roger P. Weissberg, Allison B. Dymnicki,
Rebecca D. Taylor, and Kriston B. Schellinger,
“The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social
and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis
of School-Based Early Interventions,” Child
Development 82 (2011): 405–432.
15 ACT, Enhancing College and Career Readiness
and Success: The Role of Academic Behaviors
(Iowa City, IA: ACT, n.d.), http://www.act.org/
engage/pdf/ENGAGE_Issue_Brief.pdf; and
Alex Casillas, Jeff Allen, Yi-Lung Kuo, Susan
Pappas, Mary Ann Hanson, and Steve Robbins,
Development and Validation of ENGAGE
Grades 6–9, ACT Research Report Series
2011-1 (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2011), http://www.
act.org/research/researchers/reports/pdf/
ACT_RR2011-1.pdf.
16 Identifying the questions to address is the
first step in the “cycle of inquiry” discussed in
Hamilton et al., Using Student Achievement
Data.
17 See Robert Balfanz and Hedy Chang, “A Focus
on Attendance is Key to Success,” National
Association of School Administrators (website),
2013, http://www.nassp.org/tabid/3788/
complementary changes in the other four
areas. For example, changes in a district’s
written curriculum should be accompanied
by matching changes in staff development,
instructional resources, assessment, and
interventions. For a more complete discussion
of many of the practices described in the
Framework, see ACT, Rising to the Challenge
of College and Career Readiness (Iowa City,
IA: ACT, 2012), http://www.act.org/research/
policymakers/pdf/RisingToChallenge.pdf.
9 See Chrys Dougherty, Use of Data to Support
Teaching and Learning: A Case Study of Two
School Districts, ACT Research Report 2015-1
(Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2015), http://www.act.org/
research/researchers/reports/.
10 The Common Core State Standards for English
language arts emphasize this point: “while
the Standards make references to some
particular forms of content, including mythology,
foundational U.S. documents, and Shakespeare,
they do not—indeed, cannot—enumerate all
or even most of the content that students
should learn. The Standards must therefore be
complemented by a well-developed, content-
rich curriculum consistent with the expectations
laid out in this document.” Common Core
State Standards Initiative, Common Core
State Standards for English Language Arts &
Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and
Technical Subjects (Washington, DC: Common
Core State Standards Initiative, 2010), 6.
By providing greater detail, the curriculum
can align content across grade levels more
precisely, so that what students learn in
preceding grade levels prepares them to
understand what is taught in subsequent
grades. The curriculum can address the
levels of student learning that are expected—
for example, by the use of model student
assignments and samples of student work. The
curriculum can allocate learning time across
topics in a given subject so that students
are given enough time to learn each topic in
sufficient depth and detail. The curriculum can
also allocate learning time among subjects
so that sufficient time is devoted to each
subject in every grade. The curriculum can take
advantage of connections across subjects, so
that, for example, if the students are learning
about volcanoes in science, they might read
a story about Pompeii in language arts and
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ACT Research & Policy How School District Leaders Can Support the Use of Data
29 Dougherty, College and Career Readiness: The
Importance of Early Learning, 3.
30 For some of these applications, see Dan
Willingham, Why Don’t Students Like School?
A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About
How the Mind Works and What It Means for
the Classroom (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2009), and Hattie and Yates, Visible Learning.
31 To the extent that the state allows third-
party researchers access to the data under
appropriate privacy protection, the great
majority of the cost of this research can be
borne by those third parties. The only state
cost becomes that involved in maintaining
the longitudinal data system, concluding and
overseeing research agreements, and fulfilling
requests for data under those agreements.
“Overseeing a focused research program”
means that the state agency works with
stakeholders to identify a list of important
research topics, and the highest priority is given
to research projects addressing those topics.
32 For example, one study using a randomized
controlled trial approach found that improving
data use in combination with introducing better
instructional programs led to improvement in
student results; there was weaker evidence
that standalone interventions aimed at
improving data use improve student learning.
Robert Slavin, GwenCarol Holmes, Nancy
Madden, Anne Chamberlain, and Alan Cheung,
“Effects of a Data-Driven District-Level Reform
Model,” Best Evidence Encyclopedia (February,
2010), www.bestevidence.org. See also Julie
Marsh, “Interventions Promoting Educators’ Use
of Data: Research Insights and Gaps,” Teachers
College Record 114, no. 11 (2012); and Laura
Hamilton et al., Using Student Achievement
Data.
See Julie Marsh, Jennifer Sloan McCombs,
and Francisco Martorell, “How Instructional
Coaches Support Data-Driven Decision
Making: Policy Implementation and Effects
in Florida Middle Schools,” Educational Policy
24, no. 6 (2010): 872–907; and Michael S.
Garet et al., The Impact of Two Professional
Development Interventions on Early Reading
Instruction and Achievement (Washington, DC:
Institute of Education Sciences, September
2008), http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pdf/20084030.
pdf.
26 As an example of this collaboration, ten
Algebra I teachers at Wilson High School in
Long Beach Unified School District reviewed
results from one of their common assessments
and identified the teacher whose students had
been most successful on the unit’s learning
objectives. That teacher taught the same lesson
to a group of students who had had trouble
on those objectives, while the other teachers
observed the lesson. This activity required
teachers to view greater success on the part
of any of their peers as a learning opportunity,
not a source of shame. Jean Rutherford, “High
School Roundtable: NCEA’s Jean Rutherford
Discusses America’s High Schools at ECS,”
High School Roundtable—ECS July 2005
Policy Forum (2005), http://www.ecs.org/html/
Document.asp?chouseid=6303.
27 For example, see the description of teacher
collaboration in ACT, Core Practices in Math
and Science: An Investigation of Consistently
Higher Performing School Systems in Five
States (Iowa City, IA: 2009), http://www.
act.org/research/policymakers/pdf/Core-
Practices-in-Math-and-Science.pdf.
28 Dougherty, Use of Data to Support Teaching
and Learning, 20.
21 Data Quality Campaign, “Creating Reports
Using Longitudinal Data.”
22 Educators and policymakers must avoid the
trap of limiting their discussions to questions
which the existing data can readily answer,
a practice reminiscent of the old joke about
looking for lost car keys under the streetlight
because that is where the searcher can see,
not where the keys were lost.
23 In turn, educator preparation programs must
ensure that their curricula prepare new
teachers and administrators to meet these
requirements. Ellen Mandinach and Edith
Gummer, “A Systematic View of Implementing
Data Literacy in Educator Preparation,”
Educational Researcher 42, no. 1 (2013): 30–
37; and Ellen Mandinach, Edith Summer, and
Robert Muller, The Complexities of Integrating
Data-Driven Decision Making into Professional
Preparation in Schools of Education: It’s Harder
Than You Think (Alexandria, VA: Wested,
Education Northwest, and CNA, 2011).
24 Both case study districts employed academic
coaches; one district employed them mainly to
observe lessons and coach teachers, while the
other district encouraged academic coaches
to spend one-quarter of their time coaching
teachers and three-quarters working directly
with struggling students. In the latter district,
school principals were expected to play a major
role coaching teachers in how to interpret and
use data.
25 Atul Gawande, “Personal Best: Top Athletes
and Singers Have Coaches. Should You?”
New Yorker, October 3, 2011. Studies have
found mixed results on the impact of academic
coaching on student achievement, possibly
because the responsibilities of coaches and the
quality of coaching have differed across sites.
