Data is critical to school improvement. It’s our window into what we’re doing, what is working, why it is working, and what we could be doing better.
But the way we, as educators, are currently using data could itself use some improvement. Often, schools and districts use data at the end of an initiative or a school year, after the work has been done. District research and evaluation teams collect and evaluate data in isolation from those who planned and implemented the work. Results are shared with leadership, who are eager to see what worked, but the information may not be passed along to or discussed with departments or school teams doing future planning.
