An lnvestigation of Princapals' Use of Data in Data-Driven Decision-Making and the Impact on Student Achievement

• Main Authors: Jimmy K. Byrd, Colleen Eddy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ralph W. Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University 2010-10-01
• Series: School Leadership Review
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=slr

The passage and implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) ushered in a new era of educational accountability and school improvement. Schools are held accountable to meet adequate yearly progress that requires educators to closely monitor student performance on high-stake assessments. Further, NCLB significantly increases the pressure on states, districts and schools to collect, analyze and report data. Accountability demands are increasingly forcing school leaders to explore student-level data and to complete more sophisticated analyses. Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) has become an emerging field of practice for school leadership (Streifer, 2002) and a central focus of education policy and practice (Mandinach, Honey, & Light, 2006). Nationwide standards-based control and outcome-based funding have brought DDDM to the top of every principal's agenda (Leithwood, Aitken, & Jantzi, 2001).