Data Driven School Leadership

The ability to analyze increasingly large amount of data has made Data Driven Decision Making (DDDM) more and more efficient. This has led to Data Driven School Leadership (DDSL), an indispensable component of today's principalship, where principals are expected to make informed decisions using large scale data in order to comply with government policies and regulation and to transform schools to increase student achievement.

Principals are using the following types of data to improve student learning (Jingping, Johnson, & Przybylski, 2016) (listed in descending order of the frequency of use):

• Standardized test scores or local benchmark assessments
• Attendance, discipline or behavioral data
• Teacher generated formative assessments and observation data
• Student demographic data
• Data or information about best practices for instruction
• Feedback/satisfaction or input data from teachers

Research indicates that principals require extensive training to improve their DDSL skills. Also, they may not have enough time to carry on the functions of DDSL as it can be very time consuming. Creation of data personnel (such as data coaches, assessment coordinators, etc.) can greatly enhance the use of data in schools thereby freeing principals to do what they are expected to do, i.e. make informed decisions.

Reference

Jingping, S., Johnson, B., & Przybylski, R. (2016). Leading with data: An increasingly important
            feature of school leadership. International Studies In Educational Administration
            (Commonwealth Council For Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)),
            44(3), 93-128.