A PCG Education White Paper (January 2012)
By Robb Geier, Stephen Smith, and Mark Tornow .

It can be challenging to change the culture of a school or district from one that bases decisions on tradition or instinct to one that makes decisions based on data. However, to substantially improve student outcomes it is critical that schools and districts develop a culture in which data are used at all levels to make decisions related to policies, programs, placement, and practice.

We know that simply providing data is not enough. Mandated meetings to analyze benchmark test results rarely lead to sustained improvement. Educators must have time to explore the data, understand the data, and build a collective belief that using the data more effectively will improve outcomes for students.
School-based data teams alone, while important, are not sufficient to change the culture of data use throughout a district in a meaningful and sustained way. The systems aspect of data use — e.g., data collection and reporting —often extends across schools and requires district-level coordination. In highly successful data use initiatives, teams of educators, both within schools and at the district level, meet regularly to ask questions and analyze data in order to understand and solve problems.

This PCG Education White Paper describes how a district data team can support and sustain a culture of data use throughout a district, leading to improved student outcomes. Specifically, five key functions of a district data team are discussed: vision and policy management, data management, inquiry analysis and action, professional development, and monitoring and communication.

 To Read More Please use the link below to download the full white paper.  

District Data Teams White Paper