The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the quality of data from educational testing programs. These data were previously used for many important purposes ranging from placing students in instructional programs to school accountability. In this article, we draw from the research design literature to point out the limitations inherent in…

The COVID-19 public health emergency has been characterized by an abundance of data in the form of numbers and charts. Although these data are readily available, there have been challenges associated with their interpretation--exacerbated by generally low numeracy rates. Consequently, people may underestimate the speed at which the disease spreads…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced widespread school closures and a shift to remote learning. A growing body of research has examined the effects of remote learning on student outcomes. But the accuracy of the school modality measures used in these studies is questionable. The most common measures--based on self-reports or district website…

At the end of 2021, the spread of the COVID-19 virus Delta variant and the start of the new school year combined to present many educators and administrators with the hardest year yet in the pandemic, in terms of both delivering instruction and assessing student learning. Students entered the school year with increased anxiety, and assessment was…

This article reports a session from the virtual international 2021 IUBMB/ASBMB workshop, "Teaching Science on Big Data." The awareness of using publicly available research data sets for undergraduate training is low in certain parts of the world. Final year projects always revolve around wet-lab based projects. The challenges occur…

The COVID 19 pandemic illuminates the role data has in public policy-making, i.e. datafication of society, and the importance of exploring the local sources of data to reveal errors in what has assuredly been from the beginning an undercount of cases and deaths. I note four interrelated error sources. The first two are common to any quantitative…

For the last decade or more, circulation numbers of physical materials have declined in academic libraries across the United States. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered society and daily life, not to mention library functions. In particular, fears of contagion via physical surfaces and transmission by contact led many…

The rapid recent use of learning analytics (LA) in higher education, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic, allows the monitoring of users' behavior while learning. Using LA may promote students' learning outcomes but also intrude into their privacy. This study aimed to explore students' behaviour and perceptions towards privacy and data…

This study focuses on the culturally responsive leadership practices of a South Texas school principal. Texas ranks second out of 10 states with the highest emergent bilingual enrollment. Culturally responsive leadership integrates a dynamic view of the socio-political and cultural contexts in a school setting. As the student population becomes…

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced substance prevention work, exacerbating existing challenges and providing new opportunities for community-based substance prevention networks (CSPNs). CSPNs are interorganizational networks that include various providers, such as nonprofits and government agencies, that collaborate to provide…

In the summer and fall months of a "typical" year, many education leaders would receive reports of student performance on annual summative state assessments administered each spring. Using these data, administrators begin a process of sense-making -- identifying areas that need support and integrating new information offered by the data…

It is essential to save lives during emergencies not only in hospitals but also in colleges and universities. Failure to identify risks and take prompt action during catastrophes and emergency situations could result in the loss of life and property for the campus community. This research aims to explore the feasibility of using data analytics to…

This brief examines how state policies and practices continue to evolve in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on data provided by 45 states plus the District of Columbia as of early May 2022. The brief updates our 2021 report, "Are Students Present and Accounted For? An Examination of State Attendance Policies During the COVID-19…

Monitoring applications (MAs) use digital and online tools to collect and track data on student behavior, and they have become increasingly popular among schools. Empirical research on these complex surveillance platforms is scant, and little is known about the efficacy or impact that they have on students. This study used a multi-method…

Decision-making is key for teaching, with informed decisions promoting students and teachers most effectively. In this study, we explored data-driven decision-making processes of K-12 teachers (N = 302) at times of emergency remote teaching, as experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Israel. Using both quantitative and qualitative…