Leading Schools in a Data-Rich World: Harnessing Data for School Improvement

by Steven Katz and Lorna M. Earl

Book Overview

Turn skepticism about data into knowledge for true educational reform

More versatile than mere number crunching and statistics, data can be an effective tool--or even a powerful catalyst--for change within a school. By replacing cynicism with conviction, learning to harness data′s power, and becoming good users of data to positively impact student achievement, school leaders can develop three crucial capacities: an inquiry habit of mind, data literacy, and a culture of inquiry.

Lorna M. Earl and Steven Katz show educators how to become comfortable with data, and provide valuable tools for school improvement teams to use in their work, including:

Vignettes to support group discussionActivities for practicing the ideas and concepts in the bookTask sheetsShort case studies with actual school data that show how the full process works in a school

To improve schools, data can and should be a vital force in the change process. Using this essential resource, school leaders, school teams, study groups, and students of education can all make sense of data to plan and reform for maximum benefit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1412906466
• ISBN13: 9781412906463
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Corwin Publishers
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.9" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Book review

I really enjoyed this book about school improvement. It is one that I will keep and not resell. It had some great points in it when leading a staff through the perils of selecting yearly goals.