Teachers' and School Leaders' Sensemaking of School Performance Feedback: A Conceptual Review

• In Event: All In: Students, Teachers, and Principals Focus on Achievement Using Transformative Data Practices

Abstract

Output data such as school performance feedback can inform school improvement. However, whether they are used effectively and as intended, depends on how local actors engage with the data within their own contexts. In order to illuminate these processes and identify influencing factors, researchers increasingly adopt a sensemaking perspective. In order to grasp what sensemaking entails and gather insights for future research, we conducted a conceptual review of how sensemaking paradigms and vocabularies are applied in existing studies on educational professionals’ use of performance and achievement data. Observations include that sensemaking is used as a lens to study data use, as well as a label for micro-processes of analysis and interpretation, and that data can be regarded as sensemaking resources.

Authors

• Evelyn Goffin, University of Antwerp

• Rianne Janssen, KU Leuven

• Jan Vanhoof, Antwerp University