Data-Driven Leadership

by Amanda Datnow, Vicki Park

"School leaders must know how to analyze, interpret, and use data so that they can make informed decisions in all areas of education, ranging from professional development to student learning. This book offers strategies and tools to help launch or fine-tune efforts to become a performance-driven school. Based on the authors' extensive work with 12 schools, the book includes an examination of such essential topics as: establishing a data culture, investing in an information management system, selecting the right data, and analyzing and acting on data to improve performance"--

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jon Lowry · Rating 3 out of 5]

District A and District B had this quality, but District A and District C had this quality. Then again, District B is unlike District A or District C. Wait, which district? This was one unnecessary confusion. I'm sure it was very clear to the researchers, but I didn't expect to need to keep a character chart just to keep up with which district was which.

I may be unfair, but any teacher that has taught in a district that utilized data-driven decision making won't be learning anything new. This just formally acknowledges the truth. At least I agree with the results, but it's nothing groundbreaking.

[Caston Binger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to read this book as a course requirement. Unlike the other books I read on data driven decision making and leadership, this was a pretty good. It did not put me to sleep or bore me with educational jargon. Datnow (and Park) address some of the potholes that leaders face when trying to create a positive school culture that uses different forms a data. They also discuss key factors and steps that are known to help with the implementation process.

[Zena Bailey-Harris]

Course required reading. Valid, informative & easy to follow.

[Ellon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good for a graduate class textbook. Although I wish that they gave the 'districts' they references fake names instead of using letters. I found it hard to remember what "district A" did versus "district B' and think I would have been able to keep them straight if they had used names instead. I really liked the medicine analogies in the beginning.