Predicting the future is now in the hands of K12 administrators. While for years districts have collected thousands of pieces of student data, educators have been using them only for data-driven decision-making or formative assessments, which give a "rear-view" perspective only. Now, using predictive analysis--the pulling together of data over…

The developing field of academic analytics seeks to turn data from educational systems into actionable intelligence for the improvement of teaching and learning. This paper reports on the implementation of analytics in a new medical school with an integrated curriculum and clinical focus. Analytics addressed two challenges in the curriculum:…

Declining reference statistics, diminishing human resources, and the desire to be more proactive and embedded in academic departments, prompted the University of South Florida Library to create a taskforce for re-envisioning reference services. The taskforce was charged with examining the staffing patterns at the desk and developing…

Incorporating relevant numerical information into decision-making is a fundamental and important aspect of numeracy. However, the process through which weight is assigned to particular numerical values is not well understood. The central theory proposed in this dissertation is that the weight assigned to numerical information may be conceptualized…

The authors spend their days making decisions. Often, the consequences of their choices seemingly affect only a handful of stakeholders. Regrettably, when they rely on a scattershot approach to gauging stakeholders' opinions, they often find themselves off the mark. Perhaps, they give too much credence to "squeaky wheels" even though their views…

Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) is a system of teaching and management practices that gets better information about students into the hands of classroom teachers. This article discusses the five major elements: (1) good baseline data; (2) measurable instructional goals; (3) frequent formative assessment; (4) professional learning communities;…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in how high and low performing elementary school districts use and analyze data to differentiate instruction, make changes to district/grade level curriculum, determine professional development needs, determine teacher effectiveness, and determine the use of school district…

We investigated Early Head Start home visitors' use of evidence-based practices and the effectiveness of a web-based system to support these practices. Home visitors learned to use 3 evidence-based practices: (a) frequent assessment of children's early communication for screening and progress monitoring, (b) 2 home-based language promoting…

This paper illustrates how information collected through interviews can develop a richer understanding of the assignment mechanism, which can result in more plausible causal effect estimates from observational studies and provides a roadmap for sensitivity analysis. Focusing on the issue of assignment to algebra in 8th grade, the author shows how…

Technologies like solar, wind, and geothermal are exciting, but relatively new and untested in the context of universities, many of which are large enough to be cities unto themselves. And, like cities, universities count on a reliable, uninterruptible source of power. It is imperative, too, that precious dollars are wisely invested in the right…

Communities face powerful challenges that require powerful solutions: a high-school dropout epidemic, youth unemployment, teen pregnancy. In an era of limited resources, those solutions must help communities to achieve more with less. A new kind of community collaborative--an approach that aspires to significant community-wide progress by…

Group decision making is essential in organizations. Group Support Systems (GSS) can aide groups in making decisions by providing tools and process support. GSS is especially useful for geographically or temporally distributed groups. Researchers of GSS have pointed out that convergence processes are hard to accomplish in GSS. Voting tools in GSS…

Racial classification is a paramount concern in data collection and analysis for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and has far-reaching implications in health research. We examine how different racial classifications affect survey weights and consequently change health-related indicators for the AI/AN population in California. Using a…

Academic standards and performance outcomes are a major focus of the current Cycle 2 Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) audits. AUQA has clearly stated that universities will need to provide "evidence of setting, maintaining, and reviewing institutional academic standards and outcomes" (2010, p. 27). To do this, universities…

The role of the administrator has evolved over the past 30 years from manager to instructional leader. As instructional leaders, administrators are now responsible for student achievement on high-stakes state-mandated assessments. Therefore, it is imperative principal preparation programs provide the necessary training instructional leaders need…