Matters of data privacy related to social media are increasingly relevant for educators as happenings such as the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal have attracted public attention. Many educators use social media for professional purposes, including with their students and should, therefore, be knowledgeable regarding data privacy issues that…

In this article, we explore how values in education are negotiated and partly redefined by teachers, school leaders and local administrators with data use and accountability. Two dilemmas are prominent for the teachers: 1) Testing and data use are perceived as important to meet the needs of the students and to create transparency and initiating…

It's been nearly 25 years since the first MCAS tests were taken. Since then, the test and the state's accountability system have brought resources to underfunded schools, highlighted inequities in our education system, and pushed Massachusetts to first in the nation in academics. But, with progress stalling, a new understanding of the importance…

Data collected from across the child care and early education (CCEE) field, both during and prior to COVID-19, have been critical in helping policymakers identify and scale public resources to meet the increasing needs of children, families, early educators, and providers. Much of the data collected throughout the global health crisis has shown…

The use of blended learning in kindergarten K-12 schools in the past decade has seen a dramatic increase, but the research on the effectiveness of blended learning has shown mixed results. However, some schools use blended learning that would be considered successful. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of principals in…

Popular platforms such as Facebook and Twitter integrate third-party apps from developers to enhance the experience of their users. While third-party apps are widely used to provide legitimate functionality, the abuse of third-party apps by attackers is also becoming prevalent. Attackers are abusing third-party apps to orchestrate their malicious…

Background: As access to open data is increasing, researchers gain the opportunity to build integrated datasets and to conduct more powerful statistical analyses. However, using open access data presents challenges for researchers in understanding the data. Visuals allow researchers to address these challenges by facilitating a greater…

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 contribution offers a commentary on Neil Selwyn's write up of his keynote talk from the Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference in 2018 (Selwyn, this issue). The article has three main sections, namely an account of what Learning Analytics has done, an account of the values behind Learning Analytics, and some ideas for moving forward.…

Through a basic qualitative approach this study examined the perceptions of high school counselors use of district-embedded Early Warning Systems (EWS) to increase efficiency and understanding of their caseload. In the past, studies have only examined implementation of EWS and the various indicators within an EWS, but most have not explored…

Since 2010, the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) has expanded access to free school meals while jeopardizing a key measure of student poverty used across the field of education: free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) status. States and school districts are pioneering alternative measures of student poverty, which vary in their composition and…

As institutions seek to shift into more advanced analytics and data-based decision-support, many institutional research offices face the challenge of meeting the office's current demands while taking on more intricate and specialized work to support decision-making. Given the great need organizations have for information that supports real-time…

Higher education institutions struggle to demonstrate learning improvement (Banta, Jones, & Black, 2009; Banta & Blaich, 2011; Jankowski, Timmer, Kinzie, & Kuh, 2018). We showcase how student learning outcomes assessment processes can benefit from strong program theory and implementation fidelity data. In our example, faculty…

Secondary schools in New Zealand use assessment data for school self-evaluation, but little research has explored exactly how schools are using these data. This case study of selected high schools explored the perspectives of teachers and school leaders whose schools had recently implemented a student assessment tracking and monitoring…

Background/Context: Teachers' practice of interim assessment data use is subject to an array of individual, social, and organizational contextual factors. While contemporary research situates interim assessments within teachers' broader practice of data use, teachers do not make sense of interim assessment data in isolation. This…