A growing amount of educational research employs participatory methods in which young people actively gather and analyze data in collaboration with the investigators. Considering the diverse use of the label "participatory," we examined participatory studies with young people to understand how researchers justify using this approach and…

Every U.S. state and the District of Columbia maintain a system to collect and store education data. These systems vary widely in their scope and sophistication -- and, by extension, in their ability to provide information that can guide decision-making. Most states have developed statewide longitudinal data systems, which establish formal…

The UChicago Consortium, Network for College Success, and the To&Through Project's new paper, "Practice-Driven Data: Lessons from Chicago's Approach to Research, Data, and Practice in Education," shares key lessons learned from Chicago's approach to using data to foster ongoing improvement in students' educational attainment. This…

Research has begun to show that certain schoolwide characteristics--such as student-centered learning environments, leadership, and safety--can be important for improving student outcomes. In keeping with these insights, school improvement efforts around the country are becoming less narrowly focused on the performance of individual students and…

The academic study of educational technology is often characterised by critics as methodologically limited. In order to test this assumption, the present paper reports on data collected from a survey of 462 "research active" academic researchers working in the broad areas of educational technology and educational media. The paper…

Mobile learning has moved in the last decade from being a small, scattered research interest to being viewed by many international agencies as a way of delivering their humanitarian missions to the developing contexts of the global South. This paper explores and documents fundamental concepts and concerns that characterize or perhaps jeopardise…

The field of learning analytics is being discussed in many circles as an emerging concept in education. In many districts and states, the core philosophy behind learning analytics is not entirely new; for more than a decade, discussions of data-driven decision making and the use of data to drive instruction have been common. Still, the U.S.…

A societal sector perspective looks to a broad array of actors and agencies responsible for creating the community contexts that affect youth learning and development. We demonstrate the efficacy of this perspective by describing the Youth Data Archive, which allows community partners to define issues affecting youth that transcend specific…

Ever since the 2001 passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), states have faced a federal mandate to improve their ability to collect and analyze education data for the purpose of tracking and reporting the progress of their education reform efforts. With the assistance of federal funds, virtually all of the states are developing…