K-12 Data Driven Decision Making: 10 Simple Implementation Steps

I believe data should be at the heart of strategic decision in any institution whether they are huge districts or a single schools. Although the task towards a K-12 data driven decision making environment may look daunting at first, breaking it down into smaller, more manageable steps will make the process go much easier.

Data can provide insights that help you answer your key business questions (such as ‘How can I improve student performance?’). Data leads to insights; CEO and principals can turn those insights into decisions and actions that improve the performance. This is the power of data.

In this post I look at the process for applying data to your decision making – broken down into a simple ten-step process. Don’t be tempted to skip steps or jump ahead to juicier parts – the strategic steps are as important (if not more) than the data itself.

1. Start with strategy
   It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the possibilities that a big data world provides, and it’s easy to get lost in the noise and hype surrounding data. Starting with strategy helps you ignore the hype and cut to what is going to make a difference for your school. Instead of starting with what data you could or should access, start by working out what your school is looking to achieve.
2. Hone in on the business area
   You now need to identify which areas are most important to achieving your overall strategy. If you could only work on improving one or two areas, which would you choose? For most schools , student performance and operations areas are key ones to look at.
3. Identify your unanswered business questions
   Now that you’ve identified your strategic objectives, the next step is to work out which questions you need to answer in order to achieve those goals. By working out exactly what you need to know, you can focus on the data that you really need. In my experience schools should start from student performance such as grading, behaviors and attendance. Your data requirements, cost and stress levels are massively reduced when you move from ‘collect everything just in case’ to ‘collect and measure x and y to answer question z’.
4. Find the data to answer your questions
   The next step is to identify what data you need to access or acquire in order to answer these questions. It’s really important to understand that no type of data is inherently better or more valuable than any other type. Focus on identifying the ideal data for you: Make a note of which data sets you could use to answer those questions. You can then choose the best data options to pursue based on how easy the data is to collect, how quick and how cost effective it is.
5. Identify what data you already have
   Once you’ve identified the data you need, it makes sense to see if you’re already sitting on some of that information, even if it isn’t immediately obvious. Internal data accounts for everything your school currently has or could access. If the data doesn’t already exist, then find ways of collecting it either by putting data collection systems in place or by acquiring or accessing external data.
6. Collect the data
   Much of this step comes down to setting up the processes and people who will gather and manage your data. You will already be collecting data in PowerSchool or any other SIS, in which case there’s no need to collect data as such.
   
7. Analyze the data
   You need to analyze the data in order to extract meaningful and useful school insights. After all, there’s no point coming this far if you don’t then learn something new from the data. The most common types of analytics are text analytics and image analytics. The past few years have seen an explosion in the number of platforms available for data analysis such as Tableau, Microsoft Power BI and Looker.
8. Present and distribute the insights
   Unless the results are presented to the right people at the right time in a meaningful way then the size of the data sets or the sophistication of the analytics tools won’t really matter. You need to make sure the insights gained from your data are used to inform decision making and, ultimately, improve performance. These days there are more interesting ways to present data and exciting tools to help you do it.
9. Incorporate the learning into the business
   Finally, you need to apply the insights from the data to your decision making, making the decisions that will transform your district for the better … and then acting on those decisions. For me, this is the most rewarding part of the data journey: turning data into action.
10. Strive for continuous improvement
    Increasingly, school districts are using data-driven decision making to ensure continuous improvement. Once districts have identified relationships or gaps in data, they can take the most important step – making changes and defining new strategies. Whether the decision for change is big or small, the key is to make the most informed decision possible given the data that is available.

The best way for the leader to get started is to lay the groundwork for a district-wide shift to a culture of information, education and communication. One way to do that is to find “data warriors” throughout the organization. These “believers” should come from all levels within the system and show enthusiasm over the possibilities of data-driven decision making.