| The current situation in U.S. K-12 education is such that there is no clarity, consistency, or consensus in the manner in which schools go about implementing a data-driven decision-making process. Simply stated, there is no clearly articulated direction provided to school systems regarding policies and procedures for data analysis. School systems are left to their own devices to develop, design, and implement their own data-based approach. Furthermore, standards-based testing requirements and accountability systems set in place by multiple federal, state, and local legislative mandates require that school administrators and teachers assume the role of data analysts. Little consideration has been given for variability in teacher or administrator preparation or consensus at all educational levels on what matters most: student achievement or student learning (Wade, 2001). Equally important to improving student achievement is how to go about implementing a data-based process for optimal effectiveness. Implementing a data-based process effectively is the key to improving student achievement. To that end, this study focused on the possibility that stakeholders at the school site level, such as administrators, teachers, and students, might have varying perceptions of teachers who used data to improve student achievement and that this variability might have an impact on the effectiveness of implementing a data-driven decision-making process.;The purpose of this case study was to analyze the perceptions of administrators, teachers, and students with regard to teacher use of data to improve student achievement. The method used for data collection consisted primarily of onsite interviews of administrators, teachers, and students. One of the major findings resulting from this study was that administrators, teachers, and students shared common goals and perceptions of teachers who used data. These administrators, teachers, and students believed that using data involved a process of analyzing data, identifying weaknesses, and modifying instructions to intervene. The behaviors involved in this process were what differentiated a teacher who used data from a teacher who did not. A major assumption underlying this study was that because administrators, teachers, and students had different roles that they played in the data-driven decision-making process, there would be variability in their perceptions of teachers who used data. Consequently, this variability would have an impact on the effectiveness of the process. Contrary to this assumption, the data collected revealed that in general, the stakeholders in this case study shared similar goals and perceptions related to data. Thus, there was no basis in the data for analyzing variability among the stakeholders' perceptions and, subsequently, no way to measure whether variability would have impacted the effectiveness of the process. |
