Educators are increasingly being asked to interact with data to facilitate students’ learning in the classroom. However, as an educational measurement community, we have little understanding of the factors and/or contexts that facilitate educators’ successful use of data. Educators’ use of score reports and the relationship to the intended use is integral to the concept of validity. A conceptual model, “Data Habit of Mind,” is proposed to study educators’ understanding, interpretation and potential applications of results from large-scale assessments. The metaphor, “Habit of Mind,” was originally coined by Robert Sternberg and Dan Keating, and has been applied in the education sector to describe educators’ habits of inquiry when interacting with assessments. Based on an extensive review of the literature, Data Habit of Mind is defined as a combination of statistical literacy and score report interpretation. Statistical literacy is the extent to which an individual is able to describe, organize and reduce, represent, and analyze and interpret data. Score report interpretation is the extent to which an individual is able to describe, summarize, question, and propose an application for a given set of elements on a score report. The combination of these two makes up an individual’s Data Habit of Mind. Twenty educators were interviewed to assess their level of statistical literacy and their score report interpretation skills. A cognitive interview approach was used to capture the educators’ cognitive processes as they solved performance-based tasks, and protocol analysis procedures were used to encode the responses into the conceptual model. Descriptions of educators’ Data Habit of Mind were then generated through qualitative matrix analysis. Four groups of educators were identified based on the patterns of relationship between their statistical literacy and score report interpretation scores. Demographic factors, including teaching experience, gender and educational background were not meaningful predictors of educators’ Data Habit of Mind. These results add to our understanding of how educators interpret and use test results and have implications for test validation processes.

Thesis advisor: Larry H. Ludlow / Teachers in the United States are increasingly tasked with using data to inform their classroom instruction both through federal policies, such as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2016), and state policies requiring the use of teacher-determined data-driven goals for performance evaluations (MA 603 CMR 35.07). Many teachers, however, report that they feel underprepared to engage in this type of work (Dunn et al., 2013), also called Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM). In addition, there is currently a limited set of instruments to measure the construct of using data to inform classroom instruction and the instruments that currently exist measure this construct using a typical Classical Test Theory design.This work developed an instrument called the Using Data to Inform classroom Instruction (UDII) scale to measure teachers’ use of data to inform classroom instruction. It used the Rasch/Guttman Scenario (RGS) methodology, an approach that develops scenarios that reflect the rich lived experiences of individuals (Antipkina & Ludlow, 2020; Ludlow et al., 2014). The RGS approach utilizes the Rasch model, part of the family of Item Response Theory models, which conceptualizes a construct as a hierarchical continuum. Scenario items and people are plotted on the same variable map, which allows for the development of rich descriptions of individuals at particular raw score locations on the continuum. An interpretative variable map is included to help schools and districts use the results of the survey. This work adds to the growing body of literature utilizing the RGS approach, as well as the literature focused on the use of data to inform classroom instruction (or DDDM). The UDII scale can be utilized by schools and districts who are engaged in the work of using data to inform classroom instruction to identify the current skillsets of teachers and/or teams of teachers to provide differentiated support, or it can be used before and after an intervention focused on using data to inform classroom instruction to measure change. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

Background: Health information system (HIS) performance has been defined as “data quality and the continuous use of information †. The quality of data, as well as the culture of data use in an organisation has been shown to shape the way data is used. In order to fully understand data use practices with the aim of strengthening the HIS, one needs to first understand whether the context and “culture†in the organisation is conducive to data use. Are the policies, structures, processes and people within the organisation aiding data use? In what ways do managers view and use data? Aim: In this study, we sought to explore the culture of health information use on a district and sub district management level. The aim was to contribute to the wider knowledge on information use by exploring the data use practices and factors that shape its use among these managers. What is the culture of data use in the district management structures? When, why and in what way does data get brought into the management discussion? Do managers feel that the information produced are useful in aiding their decision making, and what do they recommend be changed? What are the key factors that affect data use practices? Methods: This thesis comprises a literature review of published articles, conducted in order to provide context for the study of the culture of data use, whilst defining the problem to be investigated. The full thesis comprises the literature review, the original study protocol, a full manuscript in the format of a publishable article and a set of appendices. The study was granted ethical approval and permission from the provincial department of health. Given the exploratory purpose of the study, we conducted a mini ethnographic case study using qualitative research methods in a rural health district of the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The researcher employed ethnographic methods that included participant observation, in depth key informant interviews, document reviews as well as informal conversations to collect data. We used the PRISM framework as a guide for analysing our findings. Findings: Our findings suggest that there is a strong focus in this district on reporting requirements and technical aspects of producing good quality data. The drive to achieve excellence in production of quality data may be in tension with another important organisational value, which is the need of managers, for ease of access to relevant data, to facilitate decision-making and improvement of health service delivery. Managers’ overall experience is of not receiving the health information support they require. Instead, they experienced an organisational culture of using health information to narrowly measure targets and performance, which left them feeling unsupported and frustrated. Managers were resilient in managing these challenges and created alternative ways of accessing the data they needed for decision-making. Conclusion: We conclude that in our setting where the technical component of producing good data was well performed, this was not sufficient to guarantee effective use of data for quality improvements. Behavioural and organisational factors were found to play an important role as both obstacles and facilitators in shaping the culture of data use, information that is useful to inform design of interventions for health information strengthening.

No description available.

The use and analysis of data has become a keystone in national policy for educational improvement and a foundational condition in the award of federal grant monies (U.S. Department of Education, 2008, 2009a, 2009b, 2010). Principals are expected to lead their schools in the use of data and are accountable for adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Effective use of data can move educators toward student centric learning plans and interventions which improve achievement. While current literature emphasizes the importance of assessment data used to guide sound instructional decisions, gathering scores and generating reports by grade and level does little at individual schools unless there is strong site-based leadership to guide faculty and staff in targeting areas of improvement, implementing a plan, monitoring progress, and adjusting actions. This qualitative case study describes how the principal's leadership guided a journey of data-focused decision making at one middle school. This dissertation describes use of data in decision-making processes to promote student learning from the perspective of a school which has been implementing data-focused decision making for several years and was selected for its established use of student assessment data. This research focused on the processes individuals and groups use to better understand and use data within a school context and the role of school leaders in supporting these actions. The intent of this case study is to describe and understand how school leaders make the use of data an integral part of the operation within a middle school in a large suburban mid-Atlantic school district. By looking at how principals embed data analysis and interpretation in the decision-making processes of the school and engage teachers in the use of data to promote student learning, findings could be useful as a guide to other educational leaders as they implement site based actions and related professional development for school-based leaders and teachers. / Ed. D.

<p>HIV/AIDS is the largest and most serious global epidemic in the recent times. To date, the epidemic has affected approximately 40 million people (range 33 &ndash / 46 million) of whom 67%, that is, an estimated 27 million people are in the Sub Saharan Africa. The Sub Saharan Africa is also reported to have the highest regional prevalence of 7.2% compared to an average of 2% in other regions. A medical cure for HIV/AIDS remains elusive but use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has resulted in improvement of quality and quantity of life as evidenced by the reduction of mortality and morbidity associated with the infection, hence longer and good quality life for HIV/AIDS patients on ART.</p>

<p>HIV/AIDS is the largest and most serious global epidemic in the recent times. To date, the epidemic has affected approximately 40 million people (range 33 &ndash / 46 million) of whom 67%, that is, an estimated 27 million people are in the Sub Saharan Africa. The Sub Saharan Africa is also reported to have the highest regional prevalence of 7.2% compared to an average of 2% in other regions. A medical cure for HIV/AIDS remains elusive but use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has resulted in improvement of quality and quantity of life as evidenced by the reduction of mortality and morbidity associated with the infection, hence longer and good quality life for HIV/AIDS patients on ART.</p>

Magister Public Health - MPH / HIV/AIDS is the largest and most serious global epidemic in the recent times. To date, the epidemic has affected approximately 40 million people (range 33 - 46 million) of whom 67%, that is, an estimated 27 million people are in the Sub Saharan Africa. The Sub Saharan Africa is also reported to have the highest regional prevalence of 7.2% compared to an average of 2% in other regions. A medical cure for HIV/AIDS remains elusive but use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has resulted in improvement of quality and quantity of life as evidenced by the reduction of mortality and morbidity associated with the infection, hence longer and good quality life for HIV/AIDS patients on ART. / South Africa

Globally, a wealth of educational data has been collected on learner performance in a bid to improve and monitor the quality of education. Unfortunately, the data seem to have had only limited influence on learning and teaching in classrooms. This thesis aimed to bridge this gap between the availability of learner performance data and their use in informing planning and action in schools. A design research approach was used to optimise the feedback system for the South African Monitoring system for Primary schools (SAMP). Design research aims to produce both an intervention to address a complex real-world challenge and to develop design guidelines to support other designers faced with similar challenges in their own context. In this research, the process of developing and improving the feedback system was also used to examine ways of facilitating the use of the feedback. Multiple cycles of design, implementation and evaluation of four different prototypes of the feedback system were conducted, employing evaluations from both experts (e.g. Dutch and South African academics, research and educational psychologists, instrument designers and teacher trainers) as well as school users (teachers, principals and HoDs). Mixed methods were employed throughout the study, with different sub-samples of school users sampled from the population of 22 schools (English, Afrikaans and Sepedi) in the Tshwane region participating in SAMP. The various research cycles incorporated interviews, observations, journals, questionnaires, the Delphi technique and expert evaluations to examine not only data-use, but also aspects such as problem-solving, planning, data-literacy and attitudes towards evidence-based practice in the schools. Data was analysed using Rasch Modelling, descriptive statistics and computer-aided qualitative data analysis. The study showed that an effective feedback system facilitates appropriate use through a gradual process of enlightenment, is flexible and responsive to user inputs, values collaboration and includes instrument, reporting and support components in its design. An optimum feedback system also positively influences school feedback and monitoring culture by providing opportunities for positive experiences with feedback and increasing data-literacy. This improves the chances of feedback being used for planning, decision-making and action in the schools. An effective feedback system must also offer a comprehensive package to accommodate different users, with various levels of data sophistication, functioning in diverse contexts. The research also showed that an effective feedback system mediates thinking about educational instruction and curriculum and can therefore be a potent change agent. Use of clear, simple, intuitive data presentation in the feedback system allows for experiential learning to increase user data-literacy. The design research approach employed in this study offers an appropriate and powerful approach to adapting, developing and optimising a feedback system. User involvement in design research ensures greater contextualisation and familiarity with the system, while engendering trust and a greater sense of ownership, all of which increase the receptiveness and responsiveness of users to feedback. Finally, the research also contributed design guidelines for other developers of feedback systems, an integrated conceptual framework for use of monitoring feedback and a functioning feedback system employed by 22 schools in the Tshwane region. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

[pt] presente tese intitulada Gestores escolares e sistemas de administração e avaliação em Minas Gerais: uma proposta de modelo de análise do uso de dados buscou compreender as diferentes articulações entre os fatores organizacionais e os atores educacionais perante o processo de uso pedagógico dos dados na gestão das escolas. Para tanto, inicialmente, realizamos uma revisão bibliográfica na qual mapeamos sete fatores que influenciam no processo de uso pedagógico dos dados, a saber: o contexto organizacional, os sistemas de gestão, o suporte e acesso à tecnologia, a formação para uso dos dados educacionais, a racionalidade do diretor, o clima escolar e a liderança do diretor. Diante disso, em cada um dos capítulos desta tese discutimos teoricamente cada um desses fatores conjugados com os dados empíricos dos estudos de caso realizados em duas escolas estaduais de Minas Gerais sob a jurisdição da Superintendência Regional de Ensino de Juiz de Fora (MG). Após os processos de análise desenvolvidos durante a pesquisa e a partir da experiência da pesquisadora nas escolas, apresentamos no capítulo final da tese um novo fator a ser agregado como um potencial influenciador no uso de dados para fins pedagógicos na escola: a confiança nos dados. Isso porque o fato de os gestores educacionais confiarem ou não nos dados provenientes dos sistemas de administração e avaliação faz com que os dados educacionais sejam ou não utilizados pedagogicamente na escola. Como resultado final desta tese apresentamos uma proposta de modelo de análise do uso de dados. / [en] The present thesis entitled School managers and administration and evaluation systems in Minas Gerais: a proposal for a model of analysis of data use sought to understand the different articulations between organizational factors and educational actors before the process of pedagogical data use in the management of data. schools. To this end, initially, we performed a bibliographic review in which we mapped seven factors that influence the process of pedagogical use of data, namely: the organizational context, management systems, support and access to technology, training for the use of educational data , the director s rationality, the school climate and the director s leadership. Therefore, in each of the chapters of this thesis we theoretically discuss each of these factors combined with the empirical data of the case studies carried out in two state schools in Minas Gerais under the jurisdiction of the Regional Teaching Superintendence of Juiz de Fora (MG). After the analysis processes developed during the research and from the experience of the researcher in schools, we present in the final chapter of the thesis a new factor to be added as a potential influencer in the use of data for pedagogical purposes in the school: trust in the data. This is because the fact that the educational managers trust or not the data of the administration and evaluation systems makes the educational data to be used pedagogically in the school. As a final result of this thesis, we present a proposal for a model of analysis of the use of data.