In this case study, a team of doctoral students--Luis M. Andrade, Angela Hoppe Nagao, Esmeralda Medrano, and Josephine Macharia Lowe--in a community college leadership program participated in a service-learning field project as part of an organizational theory course to analyze comparative outcomes of a college orientation and preparation program…

Although there is an emerging body of research that examines data-driven decision making (DDDM) in schools, little attention has been paid to how local leaders strategically frame sensemaking around data use. This exploratory case examines how district and school leaders consciously framed the implementation of DDDM in one urban high school.…

Over the past decade, school districts and states have made impressive advances in collecting and managing data used for accountability purposes. By the year 2011, all 50 states will have systems to track students from year to year. But in most states and districts, all the data generated by these systems flows only one way: up. This paper…

"Title III Accountability: Behind the Numbers" (2010) summarizes data reported by states in their Consolidated State Performance Reports (CSPRs) for 2004-05 through 2007-08. The CSPRs are annual reports required under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that states use to submit information to the U.S. Department of…

Faced with expectations to improve student learning and increasing student alternatives, school districts are challenged to make system-wide and sustainable improvement in student learning outcomes. The national accountability movement is associated with a growing body of research that has considered the role of the district to influence student…

To determine new eligibility goals for California, the author and his colleagues developed a student flow model that projects student enrollment and degrees awarded for each year from 2005 to 2025. To develop the model, they first developed population projections for the state. They also used a plethora of data sources to identify current trends…

As educators, government officials, and foundations leaders have embraced the agenda of dramatically increasing college success and credential completion, they have come to understand the need for better data on student outcomes to guide the improvement efforts of institutions, systems, and states. The data on degree completion and other final…

California's approximately 500 continuation high schools are estimated to serve more than 115,000 California high school students each year--a number that approaches almost 10 percent of all high school students and as many as one of every seven high school seniors. Continuation schools are, however, more racially and ethnically concentrated than…

The assessment of student learning outcomes (SLOs) is a curricular activity that can be both beneficial and productive. Faculty who engage in SLO development and assessment can acquire concrete evidence upon which to base the collegial review of their programs and the improvement and enhancement of student learning both in individual classes and…

Using the Institutional Goals Inventory (IGI) Form 1, data collected in a survey of goals of Long Beach City College are provided in tables and illustrated by figures. A total of 335 completed IGI forms were obtained from the following populations of the college: 83 faculty members, 95 day students, and 85 evening students; in addition, forms were…

This playbook draws from the findings of "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades," the largest empirical study of this grade level conducted to date. The "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" study was designed to find out what higher-performing schools do differently. The result is a compelling set of specific, actionable…

"Title III Accountability and District Improvement Efforts: A Closer Look" (2010) summarizes findings from interviews with six Title III Directors and nine Title III district-level directors in the spring of 2009. States and districts were selected in order to collect information from some entities with a long history of serving English…

"Title III Policy: State of the States" (2010) discusses state implementation of the Title III accountability requirements based on phone interviews with six state Title III Directors in the spring of 2009, interviews with six experts and university-based researchers who work on education for English Learners, and based on earlier data…

Objective: This article describes a data entry and analysis system called Mission-Based Reporting (MBR) that is used to measure faculty and department activities related to specific academic missions and objectives. The purpose of MBR is to provide a reporting tool useful in evaluating faculty effort and in helping chairs 1) to better assess their…

Governors and state and local education officials assumed that raising student achievement in the elementary and middle grades would solve the problems with high schools--but it hasn't. Why? Good information is the basis for successful improvement, and high school reform lacks accurate information about what students are to learn and about how…