Across the United States, there is an increased interest in improving school climate, reflecting a deepening understanding of the foundational role that school climate can play in supporting students' well-being, learning, and development. School climate is constructed from norms, expectations, and interpersonal relationships that come together to…

This manuscript describes the use of real data applied to a fictional real-estate firm for teaching data visualization to university students. In the case study, students employ data analytic techniques in Tableau to clean, organize, and analyze real estate data. By creating visualizations, students address several questions about how selling…

In recent years, career and technical education (CTE) programs that include quality work-based learning (WBL) opportunities for students have gained significant traction among educators, policymakers, and stakeholders as an effective way to prepare students for the labor market. However, a lack of data on WBL--which many CTE students participate…

Higher education leaders have repeatedly called for improved diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, but many institutions continue to fall short. Data can play an integral role in this work; key among them are data on student demographics, including race/ethnicity. Meeting diversity, equity, and inclusion goals requires a thorough and nuanced…

As California State University (CSU) launches its Pregnant and Parenting Students Initiative to increase graduation rates for parenting students at its campuses and works to implement the Greater Accessibility, Information, Notice, and Support (GAINS) for Student Parents Act, an exciting window of opportunity has opened for student voice to inform…

With Governor Newsom's signature on the state budget in June 2019, California is finally on the path to joining the majority of other states in the country who have robust data systems. Having this administration provide funding to begin to build and maintain a statewide longitudinal data system (SLDS) is an important win. Advocates have been…

A commonly used metric for measuring college costs, drawn from data in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), is expenditure per full-time equivalent (FTE) student. This article discusses an error in this per FTE calculation when using IPEDS data, especially with regard to community colleges. The problem is that expenditures…

Data governance is a core obligation for leaders and staff across any agency that collects, stores or uses individuals' data. It ensures that individuals' personal information is protected, and can support the continuous improvement of data quality and use, particularly when it includes well-defined processes, structure and responsibilities.…

The study addressed leadership knowledge sharing among elementary school principals. School principals' comments regarding difficulty sharing what they have learned on the job about leadership gave impetus to investigating components of leadership that are not readily shared. Their comments implied both limited opportunities and limited language…

This knowledge brief is part of a continuing series designed to inform California education leaders about new research findings on key state policy topics. It summarizes recent findings on improving the access to, and the use of, teacher workforce data in California, and focuses on the importance of instituting a statewide teacher data system that…

A data party is an engaging way to involve stakeholders in program evaluation. We explain the use of a data party for engaging 4-H program stakeholders (e.g., staff and volunteers) in data interpretation and helping them understand, embrace, and use program evaluation information to make data-driven decisions about their programs. We present two…

This article examines how carceral logics manifest for undergraduate racialized and disabled students who identify as or have a lived experience of disability. Using Disability Critical Race Theory, a crip-of-color critique, and carceral ableism and sanism as lenses, we challenge color-evasive ideology and explore how services that purport to…

In the digital age, where every click, purchase, or activity is systematically recorded, it is surprising to discover how difficult it still is to assemble crime data. This paper describes available web-based crime mapping services and discusses some of the key advantages and disadvantages of using this source for both general purposes and…

The "Forum Guide to Data Literacy" is designed to help education agencies understand and build data literacy skills among various stakeholder groups such as administrators, teachers, students, parents and other caregivers, school board members, legislators, and community groups. This resource defines and discusses the importance of data…

Using a case study design, this research explores how two department chairs, Jan and Tammy, in community colleges implement AB 705, an assessment policy impacting California ESL programs. AB 705 seeks to centralize previous multiple measures legislation in California by requiring the use of high school data in community college course placement.…