Dancing with Data: Purposeful Decision-Making for Charter Leaders

Educational leaders promote the success of all students by responding to diverse academic, social, and emotional needs within the school community. The effective collection, analysis, and use of data to guide decisions are critical factors to maximize student progress and sustain an effective school culture. Amidst the volumes of data derived from a learning community, administrators need to be savvy in selecting data that will help inform sound decisions. Data should be aligned to standard-based instructional practices and be unbiased, relevant, meaningful, and manageable. The use of data is part of a larger inquiry process as school leaders seek to positively affect the learning progress of each student. Critical to this process is the capacity of each community member, whether teacher, parent, student, or administrator, to feel empowered and equipped to gather, analyze, understand, and apply data results to improve the instructional program for each child. Educational leaders must develop and sustain the capacity of the community to use data effectively to ensure the growth and success of the school. This process has even greater importance and significance for charter school leaders who have taken the initiative to step outside the traditional boundaries of education and who seek to implement innovative models for education.