Understanding Decision-Making in Educational Contexts presents 'problem cases' confronting school leaders in real settings, and illustrates the multiple approaches that school leaders draw upon to navigate complex and challenging decision-making contexts.

A guide to decision making for school administrators.

In a context where schools are held more and more accountable for the education they provide, data-based decision making has become increasingly important. This book brings together scholars from several countries to examine data-based decision making. Data-based decision making in this book refers to making decisions based on a broad range of evidence, such as scores on students’ assessments, classroom observations etc. This book supports policy-makers, people working with schools, researchers and school leaders and teachers in the use of data, by bringing together the current research conducted on data use across multiple countries into a single volume. Some of these studies are ‘best practice’ studies, where effective data use has led to improvements in student learning. Others provide insight into challenges in both policy and practice environments. Each of them draws on research and literature in the field.

"Gathering data and using it to inform instruction is a requirement for many schools, yet educators are not necessarily formally trained in how to do it. This book helps bridge the gap between classroom practice and the principles of educational psychology. Teachers will find cutting-edge advances in research and theory on human learning and teaching in an easily understood and transferable format. The text's integrated model shows teachers, school leaders, and district administrators how to establish a data culture and transform quantitative and qualitative data into actionable knowledge based on: assessment; statistics; instructional and differentiated psychology; classroom management."--Publisher's description.

"Data-based decision-making" or "evidence-based decision-making" in education are now popularized phrases to describe the systematic collection and analysis of various types of data to help improve the success of students and schools (Marsh, Pane, & Hamilton, 2006). The theory of action underlying data use activities implies that educationi practitioners who ground their decisions in evidence will more effectively deliver methodical improvements to teaching and learning. However, very little research has been conducted to test this hypothesis. In addition to the research community's vague understanding of how schools and the individuals comprising schools interpret and implement data-based decision-making policies, it is difficult to determine whether data use practices are actually associated with improved instruction. As a result, school districts, as well as state and federal policy makers, have little understanding of how schools are actually using data, how differences in data use may affect school performance, and/or what kinds of measures could be used to indicate the effective use of data in schools. This comparative case study of three high schools in Los Angeles Unified School District develops an illustrative understanding of how school decision-makers (i.e., teachers, principals, and district personnel) make meaning of directives to "use data for decision-making" and how the use of school-based data takes place in practical application. Drawing upon interview and observational data from principals, teachers, and district managers, it acknowledges that schools are inundated with multiple data sources and that teachers and administrators regularly rely on data use practices. The expectation that schools should more systematically, formally, and cooperatively review data to steer conversations around teaching and learning, however, implies paradigmatic shifts in the ways that data are currently understood and utilized. Findings suggest that the effective use of school data in decision-making by school practitioners was not the product of an organized, rational process, nor one simply improved with the introduction of inputs and interventions. Rather, it suggests that culturally derived definitions of credible data, leadership, decision-making processes, accountability, organizational learning, and evaluation - and even whether data are relevant in teachers' thinking in institutional contexts - shape stakeholder attitudes toward data use in classrooms and schools. In constant dialogue, stakeholders tacitly and explicitly negotiated what data were used in measuring school, teacher, and student performance, how data were collected and analyzed in ways that maintained credibility, who was involved in decision-making moments and in what ways, and how data could meaningfully inform programmatic student supports and instructional improvements. Data and data use processes intended to influence decision-making were, as a result, reliant on cultural, political, and subjective factors, and evolved in necessarily gradual cycles of establishment, revision, and refinement.

This book, jointly authored by two distinguished philosophers and two prominent social scientists, has an ambitious aim: to improve decision-making in education policy. First they dive into the goals of education policy and explain the terms "educational goods" and "childhood goods," adding precision and clarity to the discussion of the distributive values that are essential for good decision-making about education. Then they provide a framework for individual decision-makers that enables them to combine values and evidence in the evaluation of educational policy options. Finally they delve into the particular policy issues of school finance, school accountability, and school choice, and they show how decision makers might approach them in the light of this decision-making framework. The authors are not advocated particular policy choices, however. The focus instead is a smart framework that will make it easier for policymakers (and readers) to identify and think through what they disagree with others about.

This book integrates theory and practice in decision-making, with a specific focus on data-driven decision making. Applications are demonstrated in the contexts of administration, supervision, and teaching. The book provides a unique contribution to the literature in this field in that the studies of decision theory and data-based decision making are integrated. Focusing on educators assuming leadership roles in school improvement, the book's content is equally relevant for administrators, supervisors, and teachers. The book, however, is centered on data-driven decision making, both as a requirement of the No Child Left Behind Act and as a normative professional standard. Issues related to accumulating, storing, and protecting data in districts and schools also are covered. Applications in administration, supervision, and teaching are demonstrated.