Data Wise in Action: Stories of Schools Using Data to Improve Teaching and Learning

What does it look like when a school uses data wisely? Data Wise in Action, a new companion and sequel to our bestselling Data Wise, tells the stories of eight very different schools following the Data Wise process of using assessment results to improve teaching and learning.

Data Wise in Action highlights the leadership challenges schools face in each phase of the eight-step Data Wise cycle and illustrates how staff members use creativity and collaboration to overcome those challenges.

Data Wise in Action builds on the work of leading faculty and graduate students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who joined with exemplary practitioners in 2005 to produce Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning. Since its publication, Data Wise has been read by thousands of school leaders, many of whom have shared the book with colleagues and staff. The success of the original book has generated a new demand among school leaders: to hear real stories from schools that are implementing the Data Wise process. Data Wise in Action answers that need. It offers both inspiration and practical guidance for school leaders.

Kathryn Parker Boudett is Director of the Data Wise Project and Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Co-editor of Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning, her research and teaching focus on helping educators make effective use of a wide range of data sources to improve instruction and student achievement. She thanks Mike, Shannon, Dorothy, and Eliza for all their love and support.

Jennifer L. Steele has been an elementary school teacher in Virginia and a high school teacher in California and has conducted research on teacher and administrator professional development in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. She currently studies financial incentives for teachers. She thanks Rosie for her unflappability and priceless two cents.