Fostering data-driven decision-making in a professional learning community of special education teachers

No Child Left Behind mandates have given teachers new responsibilities in data analysis and the implementation of strategies that meet individual student needs. Providing tools and methods for data collection, managing it, and then analyzing it is now a basic need for teachers. By aligning assessments for the specific purpose of addressing standards and instruction, and involving teachers in Professional Learning Communities, schools can provide improved academic benefit from the assessments. More specifically, special education teachers must meet IDEA 2004 mandates. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explain the need for professional development of special education teachers in the use of data analysis and data-driven instruction. Also presented is evidence from the case study that the use of a data-driven Professional Learning Community is an effective setting that aids in classroom implementation of the strategies learned in professional development.;With the implementation of new student formative growth assessments in many Delaware school districts and charter schools, and also a formative assessment as the state test in 2010, teachers and administrators are required to analyze and apply data from numerous status, academic, and achievement reports at various times of the year for benchmarking purposes. Furthermore, with special education teachers being given the time and the professional development specific to collaborating with each other, the use of a data-driven professional learning community is explained in a descriptive case study and in a quantitative manner by using teacher questionnaire surveys, CBAM Levels of Use interviews, and student scores.