Connecting Educators and Evidence through Data

The recent demand for schools to respond to accountability measures challenges school leaders to use data to guide the practices of teaching and learning. Local school leaders build data-driven instructional systems (DDIS) by developing new programs and using existing school  functions to create an information flow through a school. The DDIS framework involves (a) data acquisition, (b) data reflection, (c) program alignment and integration, (d ) program design, (e) formative feedback, and (f) test preparation. This paper reviews data collected in a year-long study of four schools to describe how  leaders structure opportunities to engage in data-driven decision making.