The Practice of Data Use

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

Data use is touted as a key strategy to foster improvement in schools, promoted by a range of federal and state policies, as well as private funders investing in data systems. Many organizations have developed programs to foster data use in schools, and districts across the country have invested significantly to train school staff to integrate data in their practice. Despite all of these efforts, empirical research on them is uneven at best. We still know little about the practice of data use: what actually happens when individuals interact with data in workplace settings. This session features four papers that review the research and propose research agendas to help improve our understanding of the practice of data use.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Organizational Theory

Chair

• Andrea Conklin Bueschel, Spencer Foundation

Papers

• Data in Practice: Conceptualizing the Data-Based Decision-Making Phenomena - James P. Spillane, Northwestern University

• Understanding Data-Use Practices Among Teachers: The Contribution of Microprocess Studies - Judith Warren Little, University of California - Berkeley

• School-Central Office Relationships in Evidence Use: Understanding Evidence Use as a Systems Problem - Meredith I. Honig, University of Washington

• Performance Metrics as Formal Structures and Mechanisms: How Do They Work and How Do They Influence? - Jeannette Colyvas, Northwestern University

Discussants

• Cynthia E. Coburn, Northwestern University

• Pamela A. Moss, University of Michigan