Harvard Graduate School of Education

Data Wise
A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning

Edited by Kathryn Parker Boudett, Elizabeth City, and Richard Murnane

In the wake of the accountability movement, school administrators are inundated with data about their students. How can they use this information to support student achievement? Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning presents a clear and carefully tested blueprint for school leaders. It shows how examining test scores and other classroom data can become a catalyst for important schoolwide conversations that will enhance schools' ability to capture teachers' knowledge, foster collaboration, identify obstacles to change, and enhance school culture and climate.

The rich experience of the contributors—among them exemplary school leaders and top scholars in the fields of statistics and testing—is reflected in the complexity and realism of the case studies that illustrate each chapter.

Praise:

“This book provides a great variety of useful ideas and tools for analyzing student achievement data. It serves as an important and significant resource for school leaders in utilizing data to improve instruction and student achievement.”
—Gerald N. Tirozzi, Executive Director, National Association of Secondary School Principals

"A masterful example of what can happen when great scholars confront real-world problems. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in moving beyond the tiresome arguments over the pros and cons of testing."
—Michael Feuer, Founding Director, Board of Testing and Assessment, National Research Council of the National Academies

"The step-by-step process described in this invaluable book has helped me engage my faculty in lively, frank, and productive discussions about our student assessment results. Now we are able to make the connections between data and instruction in ways that improve teaching and learning systematically throughout the school."
—Janet Palmer Owens, Principal, Mason Pilot School, Boston, Massachusetts

Highlights:

  • Organizing for Collaborative Work
  • Building Assessment Literacy
  • Creating a Data Overview
  • Digging into Data
  • Examining Instruction
  • Developing an Action Plan
  • Planning to Assess Progress
  • Acting and Assessing
  • Roles for the District Central Office

Contributors:

Tom Buffett, Jonna Sullivan Casey, Sarah E. Fiarman, Shannon T. Hodge, Melissa Kagle, Jane E. King, Daniel M. Koretz, Gerardo Martinez, Ethan Mintz, Liane Moody, Jennifer Price, Mary Russo, Nancy S. Sharkey, Jennifer L. Steele, Mark B. Teoh, John B. Willett

About the Editors:

Kathryn Parker Boudett teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Elizabeth A. City teaches aspiring principals in Boston's School Leadership Institute and is currently a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Richard J. Murnane, an economist, is the Thompson Professor of Education and Society at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.