Eight Core Data Use Principles Foundational for Equity-centered Mindset

• In Event: From Theory to Practice: Embedding Contextual Equity in Doctoral Coursework

Abstract

This discussion will provide an overview of the doctoral course centered on data use for school administrators which typically enrolls practicing school leaders pursuing their Educational Administration doctoral degree or Ph.D. in Education Policy Studies. They will outline eight core data use principles foundational for developing an equity-centered mindset in school or district administration. These principles include: (1) Data are more than just numbers; (2) Data do not create meaning—people do; (3) Intuition and professional judgment complement data use; (4) Sensemaking through data visualization; (5) Correlation does not imply causation; (6) Data-fluent, equity-driven leaders attend to the details through data disaggregation and triangulation; (7) Data-fluent leaders ask the right questions; and (8) A data-use culture centered on equity begins with a data-fluent leader. Finally, this panelist will discuss strategies and competencies developed through a principled-data use approach for equity-driven leadership.

Author

• Timothy Drake, North Carolina State University