Using Data to Improve Teacher Education : Moving Evidence into Action

This book offers concrete examples of how data can be used by faculty, staff, and program leaders to improve their collective work as teacher educators. Strong external accountability mandates often lead to tensions that undermine local morale and motivation. This volume focuses on the practical work of navigating these tensions so that valuable programmatic change can happen. It describes policies and practices drawn from a study of “high data use” teacher education programs from around the country that have strategically engaged the challenges of learning to use data for program improvement. Readers will see how the data-use work carried out in these programs strengthened local program identity and coherence. Representing a collaborative effort between researchers and practitioners, this volume presents lessons learned to assist teacher educators who are engaged daily with the challenges of making data useful and used in their programs.

Book Features:

• Examples of how tensions between external mandates for accountability and program improvement can be navigated in ways that are grounded in local program values.
• Detailed case study portraits of individual programs that offer a full and action-oriented sense of data use work.
• Strategies for ensuring that data systems are responsive to multiple stakeholders, such as faculty, administrators, students, and policymakers.
• A diversity of perspectives and experiences from small liberal arts colleges, large teacher preparation institutions, and research-intensive universities.

Charles A. Peck is a professor and former associate dean and director of teacher education at the University of Washington School of Education. Kristen Cuthrell is a professor and director of the Rural Education Institute at the East Carolina University College of Education. Désirée H. Pointer Mace is professor of education and director of graduate education programs at Alverno College and the author of Teacher Practice Online. Tine Sloan is a teaching professor in the Department of Education and director of the California Teacher Education Research and Improvement Network at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Diana B. Lys is assistant dean for educator preparation and accreditation and clinical assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.