Data-Driven Decisions and School Leadership:
Best Practices for School Improvement
Theodore J. Kowalski
Thomas J. Lasley II.
James W. Mahoney
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008
Chapter 1:
Problem Solving and Decision Making
in the Context of School Reform
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School reform mid-1980s
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Problem – Unproductive students
Strategy – Intensification mandates
Intent – Make students do more of what they
were already doing
Examples – higher graduation requirements,
longer school day, and longer school year
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School reform late 1980s
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Problem – Unproductive students and incompetent
educators
Strategy – Intensification mandates
Intent – Make students do more, increase rigor of
teacher preparation/licensing
Examples – Increased admission, retention, and
graduation requirements for teacher education,
require state testing for licensing, maintain or
accelerate mandates for student performance
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School reform after 1990
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Problem – Structure and culture of schools
Strategies – Deregulation and restructuring
Intent – Revamp the culture and structure of
schools to improve performance
Examples – State outcome-based
accreditation, school-improvement plans,
greater emphasis on improvement at the
local level
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Implications of current reform
initiatives
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Greater emphasis on district and school
reform agendas
Administrators must decide what to change
and not just how to implement mandates
Teachers and administrators assume greater
responsibility for practice
Problem solving and decision making are
central to professional practice
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The “how” and “what” of school
improvement
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Management focuses on “how to do”
Leadership focuses on “what to do”
Administration encompasses management
and leadership
Both teachers and administrators need to
lead and manage
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Change strategies
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Improvement (restructuring) requires change
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Change requires vision, planning, and
strategy
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Change strategies determine success
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Strategy: Show, initiate, rely on
rationality
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Provide empirical evidence supporting the
need for change
Initiate change
Depend on employee rationality for
compliance
Problem – employees often reject
evidence and do not act rationally
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Strategy: Set new norms, re-educate,
facilitate
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Provide a new standard of practice (or
organization)
Provide staff development for implementation
Provide resources for implementation
Problem – employee enthusiasm/support
wanes if new standard conflicts with
existing school culture
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Strategy: Rely on power and coercion
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Set new standards
Require educators to implement them
Rely on penalties to ensure compliance
Problem – employees resent coercion and
exhibit spiteful obedience only until
pressures for change subside
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Strategy: Create a vision, diagnose
culture, change culture
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Describe what school should look like in meeting its
mission at a designated point in the future
Determine whether prevailing assumptions, beliefs,
norms, and so forth are compatible with the vision
Restructure culture to ensure that it facilitates the
vision
Problem – most educators have not been
prepared to understand or change institutional
culture
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Relevance of change strategies to
practice
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Culture change provides the most effective
alternative to authentic school reform
Culture change requires open
communication, problem solving, and
decision making
Culture change requires educators to access
and apply data objectively and in a timely
manner
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Problem solving
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Understanding – framing and then analyzing the
problem
Formulating – identifying alternative solutions and
then selecting a preferred solution
Applying – activating the preferred solution
Reflecting – assessing and evaluating outcomes
Improving – adjusting the preferred solution if the
problem is not resolved or managed sufficiently
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Decision making elements
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Goal – what you want to accomplish
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Options – alternatives you could pursue in
attempting to reach your goal
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Choice – your preferred alternative
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Data-based decisions
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Involve goals, alternatives, and a choice just as all
other decisions
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Alternatives are assessed and evaluated using
quantitative and qualitative evidence (data)
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Choices are based on the evaluation of evidence
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Intent is to reduce the influence of emotion, bias, and
politics on choices
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Why data-based decisions are difficult
for educators
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Educators often are unprepared to use assessment
in relation to decision making
Educators do not integrate research and statistics
into their practice naturally
Data have often been viewed as the enemy
Process viewed as cumbersome and unnecessary
Politics and emotion are accepted as inevitable
Educators rarely engage in collaborative assessment
and decision making
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Four dimensions of data-based
decision making
Proficiency
generating data
Cultural
acceptance
Proficiency
using data
Resource
adequacy
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