Implementation and effects of a schoolwide data-based decision making intervention: a large-scale study

In the Netherlands, similarly to the international context, there is a growing attention for the use of data to base (instructional) decisions on. The underlying assumption is that data-based decision making (DBDM) enhances student achievement. In our joint dissertation, the effects of a DBDM intervention, developed at the University of Twente, were evaluated. The DBDM intervention was unique in two ways. First, the content of the intervention included the whole DBDM package rather than one or two isolated components: evaluation and analyzing results, setting SMART and challenging goals, determining a strategy for goal accomplishment, and executing this strategy. Second, the entire school team participated in this intervention rather than few team members or the school leader. Consequently, DBDM was implemented throughout the entire school organization and all teachers were involved and influenced by the training. This is important because teachers are considered to influence student outcomes the most. Findings reveal that student achievement for both mathematics as well as spelling improved in the participating schools. Besides, we were not only focused on the product of DBDM (i.e. improved student achievement) but also looked into school organizational factors such as school leadership, school data culture, and school collaboration patterns that influence the DBDM-implementation process. Furthermore, we investigated the development of educator characteristics such as data literacy, teaching quality, and the attitude towards DBDM, since these are all identified as influential to DBDM-implementation. Finally, it was examined whether (the development of) these characteristics can explain variation in the intervention effects (in terms of student achievement) between schools. Results indicate that schools with strong intervention effects differed from schools with no intervention effects with regard to their teachers’ teaching quality, staff’s attitude towards DBDM, and the school data culture