Data Dashboards: Leveraging Usage Data and Site Visits to Understand How Educators Use Data

• In Event: Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Examples From the Field: Applied Data Uses

Abstract

This paper summarizes results from a study of the implementation of a new and innovative data dashboard system in five districts in a southwestern state during the 2012-13 school year. The mixed-methods study uses surveys, focus groups, and electronic records of system use to investigate the degree to which educators used the system, the ways in which they used the data, and the contextual factors that may have influenced that use. Although initial use was limited, with highest use among principals and counselors, findings suggest that data dashboards may be one of many tools that can support educators’ review and analysis of data to inform their instruction. However, key contextual factors must be acknowledged and present to support such use.

Authors

• Ann-Marie Faria, American Institutes for Research

• Jared Eno, American Institutes for Research

• Jessica Heppen, American Institutes for Research

• Brenna O'Brien, American Institutes for Research

• John Meakin, American Institutes for Research

• Glenance Green, American Institutes for Research

• Rachel Crossno

• Krystal Bichay, American Institutes for Research

• Ariela C. Greenberg