During the NECC conference I blogged my thoughts about the National Educational Technology Plan in the US. One of the fundamental principles in this report is the notion of Data Driven Decision Making – simply put, this concept involves the collection and analysis of test results, demographic information, and other student data to make more informed decisions about instruction.
One of the concerns I have about this is the tendancy I observed at NECC for the ‘data’ being considered to mean ‘statistics’, mostly in the form of ‘grades’. We need to ensure that the definition of data is much richer than this.

The article referenced above is worth a read – it includes three case studies of DDDM in action.
I’ve added the email I received in the extended entry. The whole report is available online free for a limited time.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Since the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act, you’ve undoubtedly heard or used the expression “data-driven decision making”?3D for short?in many conversations. NCLB puts unprecedented emphasis on the collection and distribution of assessment-related data, but it also requires educators to be both efficient and creative in using those data to improve student performance.

Data-driven decision making is not about crunching numbers. It’s about understanding what’s behind the numbers and determining what must be done in the classroom to improve them. Better student performance is the ultimate measure of success, and the keys to change often reside in data already being collected.

The editors of eSchool News have spent years reporting on the collection, analysis, and application of assessment-related data. Now, with financial support from Dell, we bring you an in-depth look at this important trend in school leadership.

It’s in the brand-new eSN Special Report titled Data-driven Decision Making. In this report, we give you the lowdown on how very different school districts are using technology to dissect data in ways that lead to more efficient and effective learning strategies.

In this report, you’ll learn how:

Community Consolidated School District 15 in suburban Chicago was ahead of its time in discovering a data-warehousing solution that eliminated many previously unrecognized inefficiencies.

The Pennsylvania Education Department’s pilot program involving about 30 school districts led to “value-added assessment” and enabled educators to spot testing trends over time.

Officials at Cleveland Municipal School District in Ohio developed new diagnostic assessment tools by rethinking its approach to data collection.

You’ll also be able to share in the insights of an IT services director from Overland Park, Kan., who talks about the value of a data warehouse and how it can help to improve instruction. It’s all part of our latest eSN Special Report, Data-Driven Decision Making. The report is planned for sale in the eSchool News Online Store at $19.95, but it’s available to you now, and for a limited time, it??s FREE.

You can view this new report right now by visiting:
http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/datadrivendecisionmaking/