Data-Based School Improvement in Conflicting Institutional Settings: The Example of German Schools Abroad

• In Event: Data Use From a Comparative Perspective: Exploring How Teachers, Schools, and Districts Use Evidence and Research

Abstract

Using neo-institutionalism, this paper argues that perceptions of different institutional expectations have an impact on organizational routines. Using the example of German schools abroad, the goal of the paper is to analyze how differences in the institutional expectations regarding data-based school improvement in the German education system and the education system of the host country affect the utilization of data in the schools. Using a quantitative survey, the paper assesses how principals in German schools abroad perceived the institutional expectations in Germany and in the host country, and associates these perceptions with their utilization of data for school improvement. The results hint at a possible effect of how the institutional expectations were perceived for the relevance principals attributed to data.

Authors

• Ruth Anna Hejtmanek, TU Dortmund University

• Esther Dominique Klein, TU Dortmund University