全球智库信息集成服务系统

Principals have data access, but lack access to disaggregated data and collaboration

• Most principals were able to use electronic systems to obtain academic data on their students, but many lacked access to these data in disaggregated form.
• Access to data — both aggregated and disaggregated — was reported as lowest for social and emotional competency data and postsecondary outcome data.
• Principals' use of data sources to support instructional leadership was common, but not universal.
• Principals were most likely to use data to select curricula, programs, and practices.
• Fewer than half of principals reported reviewing data with leaders from other schools.

Schools and districts across the United States have invested heavily in data management systems to facilitate educators' access to data that can inform their work. School principals, in particular, make countless decisions that could benefit from access to data in these systems. Principals also help create cultures of data use within their schools, providing guidance and supporting the conditions that enable other school staff to use data effectively and appropriately. Using results from a nationally representative survey of principals from the RAND Corporation's American Educator Panels, the authors examine middle and high school principals' access to several types of data about their students' outcomes and experiences, along with the ways in which principals report using those data. The authors also explore principals' reports regarding collaborations with leaders of other schools around data use because this type of collaboration can provide useful professional learning opportunities.

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