Chapter 16: Using Data to Inform Program Changes and Foster Stakeholder Relationships

Concerns about teacher and PK-12 student performance have led to increased accountability measures throughout the country (Gagliano et al., 2009). Many policy makers envision attention to accountability measures within educator preparation as “the development of national data systems, assessments, and data analytics that provide a feedback loop for continuous improvement” (Cochran-Smith et al., 2018, p. 143). Those leading assessment efforts in educator preparation programs (EPPs), who have a critical role in the feedback loop, can enhance their efforts to “reclaim accountability” (Cochran et al., 2018, p. 143) by retaining a more democratic and shared approach to collecting, evaluating, and sharing data. Ryan (2005) shares how democratic accountability in teacher education includes external educational stakeholder accountability data with the goal to continuously improve the quality of educator preparation.