Role Enactment and Types of Feedback: The Influence of Leadership Content Knowledge on Instructional Leadership Efforts

Instructional leadership is a primary task of school leaders, but this work may be complicated when leaders and teachers do not share content area or grade level expertise. Work around leadership content knowledge (LCK) acknowledges that school leaders cannot know everything about teaching in the content areas, but suggests leaders can work to bridge this divide. Still, little is known about how leaders’ LCK intersects with their efforts to support improvements in teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to explore ways in which LCK facilitates or, in its absence, hinders instructional leadership efforts. Thirty-one teachers and school leaders were interviewed about experiences receiving or providing instructional feedback. Analyses revealed factors that teachers perceived as foundational to instructional leadership efforts. Further, depending on their LCK, school leaders enacted a range of roles and provided different types of feedback

Socioscientific Issues-Based Instruction: The Messier Side of (Leading) Science Teaching

The present case centers on a socioscientific issues-based lesson taught by a preservice teacher (PST) in an AP Biology class. The PST designed and delivered a lesson on disease transmission and ways to avoid infection with connections to the COVID-19 pandemic mask mandates and vaccine reticence. The Principal received several emails from parents (positive and negative), citing the incorporation of political issues and critical race theory into the science lesson. With this framing, the case depicts how the Principal, PST, university supervisor, and cooperating teacher navigate the situation. The case highlights the role of school leader as instructional leader. In particular, to interact with teachers and other stakeholders about content and pedagogy, leaders must develop leadership content knowledge (LCK). The present case offers school leaders an opportunity to build LCK around the Nature of Science and socioscientific issues, while exploring how they might address challenges to curriculum and pedagogy

Efeitos gerais nos distritos escolares do uso de dados em sala de aula

In the present study, an examination is conducted in three school districts of how data are used to improve classroom practice.  In doing so, we explore the effects that attitudes toward data, principal leadership, and computer data systems have on how data are used to affect classroom practice.  Findings indicate that educators are ambivalent about data: they see how data could support classroom practice, but their data use operates in the presence of numerous barriers.  Many of these barriers are due to principal leadership and computer data systems; these barriers often have negative effects on attitudes toward data and disrupt the progression from using data to inform classroom practice.  It is hypothesized that many of these barriers can be removed through effective district policies to improve structures and supports for using data.En el presente estudio, se examinan como tres distritos escolares usan datos para mejorar la práctica docente. Se exploraron que efectos tienen las actitudes hacia los datos, el liderazgo de los directores/as, y los sistemas de procesamiento de datos para modificar prácticas en el aula. Los resultados indican que los educadores son ambivalentes acerca de los datos: ven cómo los datos podrían apoyar prácticas en el aula, pero el uso de datos funciona en presencia de numerosas barreras. Muchas de estas barreras se deben al liderazgo de directores/as y a los sistemas de procesamiento de datos informáticos. Estas barreras suelen tener efectos negativos en las actitudes hacia los datos e interrumpen la incorporación de datos para mejorar prácticas en el aula. Se formula la hipótesis de que muchas de estas barreras pueden ser removidas a través de políticas distritales eficaces que mejoren las estructuras y brinden apoyos para el uso de datos.Neste estudo, examinamos como três distritos escolares utilizaram dados para melhorar a prática docente. Foram explorados os efeitos de atitudes em relação aos dados, a liderança dos/as diretores/as, e os sistemas de processamento de dados para alterar as práticas de sala de aula. Os resultados indicam que os educadores são ambivalentes respeito a o uso dos dados: observam como os dados podem apoiar as práticas de sala de aula, mas o uso de dados se faz na presença de muitas barreiras. Muitas dessas barreiras são devidas a liderança  dos/as diretores/as e aos sistemas e processamento de dados informáticos. Essas barreiras tendem a ter efeitos negativos nas atitudes com o uso dos dados e interrompem os processos de incorporar dados para melhorar as práticas de sala de aula. Se formula a hipótese de que que muitas dessas barreiras podem ser removidas através de políticas distritais eficazes que melhoram as estruturas e fornecendo suporte para o uso de dados

"Doing data" : addressing capacity for data use through professional learning

textWhile school districts across the nation are pressed to make better and more frequent use of a range of educational data, they have few resources that help guide the process of improving educator capacity for data use. To date, there have been few efforts to examine the intersection of professional learning and data use to better guide efforts at improving educator data use capacity. In order to learn more about how school districts attempt to meet educator needs in terms of data-related learning, and how they use policies to approach this issue, I examined the intersection of data use and professional learning in three school districts. I used a qualitative case study methodology to examine these issues, and relied on interview data from n=110 individuals across the three districts, as well as document analysis in each district, to better understand the existing structures in each context and how those structures came to be. I also utilized random sampling for some focus groups, and used a peer nomination process for other focus groups, which allowed me to identify educators thought by their colleagues to be “exemplar” data users. I found that across the districts, educators at all levels articulated with remarkable consistency a range of skills and knowledge they said were essential to good data use. Also, educators were consistent in describing the kinds of professional learning structures they thought best supported their needs as learners. However, in most cases, district structures fell short of these ideals. The districts rarely codified expectations related to the structure of professional learning or to data-related skills and knowledge in formal policy, and planning related to data use tended to be fragmented among many departments and leaders. As a result, there were many assumptions that “someone else” or another department was providing support in terms of data-related professional learning, while many times data use-related learning simply fell between the cracks. Informed by existing research and the results of this study, I posited a model aimed at supporting policymakers as they engage in planning for data-related professional learning.Educational Administratio

Data ethics in education: a theoretical, practical, and policy issue

Responsible data use has emerged as an important concept in education, especially in the wake of the COVJD-19 pandemic, which continues to highlight inequities. The knowledge and skills to use data effectively and appropriately are at the heart of data ethics. Educators must tightly couple data literacy with an ethical approach to using data—that is, they must be thoughtful about what they choose to do with data, how they go about their work, and how they center their work to benefit, rather than to harm, those engaged in the work of schooling, including students, teachers, families, and other educators. In this article, intended to provoke thought around data ethics among educators, researchers, and policymakers, we take a broad view of what data are and assert that data ethics go far beyond protecting the privacy and confidentiality of data. To be an ethical data user means using the right data in the right ways for the right purposes. The article lays out a context for data ethics, demonstrates how ethics are coupled with data literacy, provides examples of data ethics in practice, and recommends steps for strengthening ethical data use in practice.Responsible data use has emerged as an important concept in education, especially in the wake of the COVJD-19 pandemic, which continues to highlight inequities. The knowledge and skills to use data effectively and appropriately are at the heart of data ethics. Educators must tightly couple data literacy with an ethical approach to using data—that is, they must be thoughtful about what they choose to do with data, how they go about their work, and how they center their work to benefit, rather than to harm, those engaged in the work of schooling, including students, teachers, families, and other educators. In this article, intended to provoke thought around data ethics among educators, researchers, and policymakers, we take a broad view of what data are and assert that data ethics go far beyond protecting the privacy and confidentiality of data. To be an ethical data user means using the right data in the right ways for the right purposes. The article lays out a context for data ethics, demonstrates how ethics are coupled with data literacy, provides examples of data ethics in practice, and recommends steps for strengthening ethical data use in practice

Leading Inquiry in Schools: Examining Mental Models of Data-Informed Practice

In order to learn more about the ways in which educators in various roles construe “data” and “data use,” we conducted a study in a small school district in central Texas, collecting survey data from n=154 educators in August 2012. Analyses revealed that while all educators reported using some form of evidence to inform practice, the terms used to describe that evidence varied. Further, more teacher participants attached mixed connotations to the terms, as compared to district leaders and campus leaders. Teachers whose survey responses suggested broader, more improvement-oriented mental models of data use reported slightly higher levels of commitment to data-informed practice. We review models of data-rich collaborative inquiry that provide approaches similar to “data-driven decision making” but which may avoid accountability- and compliance-laden language that appears to heighten anxiety among some teachers

Implementation of a collaborative data use model in a United States context

Collaborative data use requires educator capacity in moving data to action to address root causes of student underperformance. Implementation of the model used in the present study has proved promising in European countries for building educator capacity and addressing problems-of-practice, but this model has not been studied in the United States (US), where structural issues and accountability factors present different challenges. In the present study, we explored enabling and hindering factors of the implementation in an elementary school in the US to better understand how differences in policy and practice contexts influence collaborative data use. Organizational structures and some policies in the US hindered implementation. Drawing on our findings, we suggest shifting thinking around data use to accommodate for both short cycles of data use (for straightforward problems) and intentionally slow cycles for stickier problems; furthermore, nesting collaborative data use within high-priority initiatives may help mitigate barriers to future implementations

Efectos generales en los distritos escolares del uso de datos en el aula

In the present study, an examination is conducted in three school districts of how data are used to improve classroom practice. In doing so, we explore the effects that attitudes toward data, principal leadership, and computer data systems have on how data are used to affect classroom practice. Findings indicate that educators are ambivalent about data: they see how data could support classroom practice, but their data use operates in the presence of numerous barriers. Many of these barriers are due to principal leadership and computer data systems; these barriers often have negative effects on attitudes toward data and disrupt the progression from using data to inform classroom practice. It is hypothesized that many of these barriers can be removed through effective district policies to improve structures and supports for using data.----- ------ ----- En el presente estudio, se examinan como tres distritos escolares usan datos para mejorar la práctica docente. Se exploraron que efectos tienen las actitudes hacia los datos, el liderazgo de los directores/as, y los sistemas de procesamiento de datos para modificar prácticas en el aula. Los resultados indican que los educadores son ambivalentes acerca de los datos: ven cómo los datos podrían apoyar prácticas en el aula, pero el uso de datos funciona en presencia de numerosas barreras. Muchas de estas barreras se deben al liderazgo de directores/as y a los sistemas de procesamiento de datos informáticos. Estas barreras suelen tener efectos negativos en las actitudes hacia los datos e interrumpen la incorporación de datos para mejorar prácticas en el aula. Se formula la hipótesis de que muchas de estas barreras pueden ser removidas a través de políticas distritales eficaces que mejoren las estructuras y brinden apoyos para el uso de dato

Holme, Jennifer Jellison, Meredith P. Richards, Jo Beth Jimerson, and Rebecca W. Cohen, Assessing the Effect of High School Exit Examinations, Review of Educational Research, 80(December, 2010), 476-526.

Sums up and appraises the research on the topic in relation to student achievement, dropping out or graduation, post-secondary outcomes, and school responses

Sustaining Effective Individualized Behavior Support: Barriers and Enablers

Function-based support is a widely researched and highly effective form of intervention for students with persistent problem behavior. However, individualized behavior support practices for students continue to be implemented inconsistently in school settings, and educators often use valuable resources adopting interventions that are not likely to be successfully implemented or sustained over time. This article presents findings from a follow-up study of school personnel trained to design and implement function-based behavior support for students with challenging behavior. The purpose of the study was to determine (a) the extent to which participants continued to use the skills learned during their training after the removal of all formal research supports and (b) the perceived barriers and enabling factors personnel encountered when continuing to provide function-based student support