Promoting Data Use in Education: Promises and Pitfalls

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

Data use is touted as a key strategy to foster improvement in schools. It is promoted by a range of federal and state policies, as well as private funders investing millions in data systems. Many organizations have developed programs to foster data use in schools, and districts across the country have invested significantly to train school staff to integrate data in their practice. These interventions have proliferated, based on assumptions about how they will improve schooling. Despite the many reform efforts focused on data use, empirical research on them is limited and uneven at best. This session features papers that analyze the literature and propose research agendas to improve our understanding of data use interventions and their effects.

Sub Unit

• Division A - Administration / Section 2: School Organization and Effects

Chair

• Andrea Conklin Bueschel, Spencer Foundation

Papers

• Interventions Promoting Educators’ Use of Data: Research Insights and Gaps - Julie A. Marsh, University of Southern California

• Data, Dyads, and Dynamics: Exploring Data Use and Social Networks in Educational Improvement - Alan J. Daly, University of California - San Diego

• The Effects of Accountability System Features on Data Use - Jennifer Jennings, New York University

• The Assessment Marinera - Jonathan A. Supovitz, University of Pennsylvania

Discussants

• Cynthia E. Coburn, Northwestern University

• Melissa R. Roderick, University of Chicago