Classrooms and schools analyzing student data: A study of educational practice

The purpose of this study was to determine what educational practices are in evidence when educators use data analysis at the school and classroom level to analyze student achievement. This study investigated various data analysis methods in use throughout Alaska and how ongoing data analysis guides educational practices. This study additionally explored the professional development that assists educators in becoming facile users of data analysis methods and the administrative behaviors perceived by educators necessary to sustain a data-driven school climate.; Results indicate the primary data analysis tool for all respondents is the paper report. Most teachers center their analysis of student achievement on those data to which they have easy access, while few teachers routinely disaggregate any available data by student subgroups. Teachers have not made the shift from intuition-based decision-making to data-based decision-making with respect to the analysis of existing data to guide instruction. Lack of accessible data and methods to use to analyze data, suggest teachers lack the opportunity to use data to improve student achievement. Regular meetings with peers, coupled with annual training, provided professional development that supported teachers in their practice and gave them the necessary skills to analyze student achievement.; Though a significant number of administrators are making program and policy decisions based on analysis of data, many are implementing their programs without a district-wide initiative to engage in the process of data analysis. Findings for administrators indicate there is a positive relationship between data analysis training and use of data to analyze student achievement.; Recommendations include ensuring that data-driven decision-making is a collaborative process. All pertinent data must be accessible to those responsible for instruction and the methods used to analyze that data should be time-efficient and user-friendly. Districts implementing data-based decision-making will benefit from data software that can track and compile all pertinent data.; Professional development in data analysis for teachers must be directly applicable to their daily practice and linked to specific instructional objectives and goals. The ideal professional development is ongoing with support from peers and leadership to analyze and discuss data and plan interventions based on the results.