Teachers’ Use of Data: A Review of the Literature

• In Event: Using Data for School and Student Performance Improvement

Abstract

The last decade of education reform has seen a rise in the promotion and use of data for instructional decision making. In the classroom, data has the potential to inform how teachers plan lessons, identify concepts for re-teaching, and differentiate instruction (Hamilton et al., 2011; Kerr et. al, 2006; Supovitz & Klein, 2003). Yet how teachers actually use data to inform instructional practice and the factors that shape their decision making remain puzzling (Coburn & Turner, 2011; Little, 2012). Thus, in spite of the massive push for data driven decision making, the field lacks a clear understanding on how teachers use data and with what consequences.

This paper provides a comprehensive review of literature on teachers’ use of data. The paper reviews recent research on what kinds of data teachers use, how teachers use data for instructional planning, and how their instruction is impacted. Several patterns emerge in the literature: (1) Teachers are asked to examine benchmark assessment data most frequently; however, they also draw upon other forms of data as well as they plan for instruction. (2) Data analysis tends to be simple, rather than complex, and focused on gaining an understanding of students’ strengths and weaknesses in order to reteach discrete skills; (2) Teachers do make adjustments to instruction on the basis of data, though the depth of these changes varies; (3) Teachers have little professional development to aid in their understanding of data or in their instructional planning on the basis of data, thereby limiting their capacity to use data effectively even when they are enthusiastic about doing so.

The review also reveals significant research gaps in two significant areas. First, there is a need for further research on how teachers’ instruction is informed by the use of data. Few studies have focused in depth on classroom instruction, and thus we know little about what data-informed instruction looks like. Second, there is a need for further research on of the activity settings in which teachers use data to inform instruction. Such research could focus on both the individual ways in which teachers’ use data, as well as how they work together in groups to analyze and act upon data.

Authors

• Amanda L. Datnow, University of California - San Diego

• Lea A. Hubbard, University of San Diego