Skip to main content

Data-Driven Decision Making for School Leadership: A Critical Analysis of Supporting Systems

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Educational Technology ((LNET))

Abstract

Schools are complex adaptive systems comprising a vast range of interrelating agents including among others, the school principals, teachers, students, parents, and infrastructural assets. Therefore, school leaders are required to design the strategic plan of their schools by taking into account the full spectrum of the characteristics and behaviors of these agents and the complex manner in which they interrelate and affect the overall school performance. However, considering (a) the high complexity in collecting and processing the institution-wide data and towards generating feedback loops and (b) the wide range of the tasks that school leaders are expected to engage with, this data-driven decision-making process is challenging, and requires appropriate systems to support it. The contribution of this book chapter, therefore, is the critical analysis of 70 existing school leadership decision support systems (SL-DSS), in terms of their capacity to adequately support the full spectrum of school leadership tasks, as they are defined in this book chapter. This critical analysis aims to gather insights that could drive future implementations of SL-DSS toward providing more effective decision support affordances and tackling the identified shortcomings of existing systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • AITSL (2014). Australian professional standard for principals and the leadership profiles. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/ow54zdm.

  • Altrichter, H., & Kemethofer, D. (2015). Does accountability pressure through school inspections promote school improvement? School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 26(1), 32–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Augustine, C. H., Gonzalez, G., Ikemoto, G. S., Russell, J., Zellman, G. L., Constant, L., & Dembowsky, J. W. (2009). Improving school leadership: The promise of cohesive leadership systems. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • BCPVPA (British Columbia Principals’ & Vice-Principals’ Association). (2013). Leadership standards for principals and vice-principals in British Columbia. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://www.bcpvpa.bc.ca/downloads/pdf/BCPVPAStandards0913.pdf.

  • Breiter, A., & Light, D. (2006). Data for School Improvement: Factors for designing effective information systems to support decision-making in schools. Educational Technology & Society, 9(3), 206–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush, T. (2008). From Management to Leadership: Semantic or Meaningful Change? Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, 36(2), 271–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush, T., & Glover, D. (2003). School Leadership: Concepts and Evidence. Nottingham: National College for School Leadership.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush, T., & Glover, D. (2012). Distributed leadership in action: Leading high-performing leadership teams in English schools. School leadership & Management, 32(1), 21–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush, T., & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: what do we know? School leadership & Management, 34(5), 553–571.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson, D., Borman, G., & Robinson, M. (2011). A multistate district-level cluster randomized trial of the impact of data-driven reform on reading and mathematics achievement. Education and Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 33(3), 378–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CCSSO (Council of Chief State School Officers) (2014). Interstate school leaders licensure consortium (ISLLC) standards (draft For public comment). Retrieved January 26, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/ly2t74q.

  • Coburn, C. E., & Turner, E. O. (2011). Research on data use: A framework and analysis. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research & Perspective, 9(4), 173–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copland, M. A., & Knapp, M. S. (2006). Connecting leadership with learning: A framework for reflection, planning, and action. ASCD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copland, M. A., Knapp, M. S., & Swinnerton, J. A. (2009). Principal leadership, data, and school improvement. In T. Kowalski & T. J. Lasley II (Eds.), Handbook of data-based decision making in education (pp. 153–172). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cranston, N. (2013). School leaders leading professional responsibility not accountability as the key focus. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 41(2), 129–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, V. M., Schlager, M., Penuel, W. R., & Toyama, Y. (2008). Supporting the art of teaching in a data-rich, high performance learning environment. In B. Mandinach & M. Honey (Eds.), Data-driven school improvement: Linking data and learning (pp. 109–129).

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowther, F., Ferguson, M., & Hann, L. (2009). Developing teacher leaders: How teacher leadership enhances school success (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dahlkemper, L. (2002). School board leadership: Using data for school improvement. National School Board Association Research Policy Brief, 2(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Day, C., & Harris, A. (2002). Teacher leadership, reflective practice and school improvement. In K. Leithwood & P. Hallinger (Eds.), Second international handbook of educational leadership and administration (pp. 957–977). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dimmock, C. (2012). Leadership, capacity building and school improvement: Concepts, themes and impact. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, D. P. (2003). Data-driven decision-making: Is it the mantra of the month or does it have staying power? Technological Horizons in Education Journal, 30(10).

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, K. E., Airola, D. T., Lo, W. J., & Garrison, M. (2013). What teachers think about what they can do with data: Development and validation of the data driven decision-making efficacy and anxiety inventory. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 38(1), 87–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Earl, L., & Katz, S. (2006). Leading schools in a data rich world. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Earley, P. (2012). Standards for school leaders: competency frameworks and their applicability. European Policy Network for School Leadership. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/mjkpnoh.

  • European Commission. (2012). Supporting the teaching professions for better learning outcomes. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/ndbjhbo.

  • European Commission. (2013). Supporting teacher competence development for better learning outcomes. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://goo.gl/CZJHsj.

  • Firestone, W. A., & Martinez, M. C. (2009). Districts, school leaders and distributed leadership: Changing instructional practice. In K. Leithwood, B. Mascall, & T. Strauss (Eds.), Distributed leadership according to the evidence (pp. 61–86). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, B., Borden, B. C., & Hallgren, K. (2014). A conceptual framework for data-driven decision making. Mathematica Policy Research Report. Retrieved January 22, 2015 from http://tinyurl.com/phwuglp.

  • Gonzalez, R. A., & Firestone, W. A. (2013). Educational tug-of-war: internal and external accountability of principals in varied contexts. Journal of Educational Administration, 51(3), 383–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzales, S., & Lambert, L. (2014). Teacher leadership in professional development schools: Emerging conceptions, identities, and practices. Journal of School Leadership, 11(1), 6–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurr, D., & Drysdale, L. (2013). Middle-level secondary school leaders. Journal of Educational Administration, 51(1), 55–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, A. (2010). Distributed leadership: Current evidence and future directions. In T. Bush, L. Bell, & D. Middlewood (Eds.), The principles of educational leadership and management (pp. 55–69). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hargreaves, A., Morton, B., Braun, H., & Gurn, A. M. (2015). The changing dynamics of educational judgment and decision making in a data-driven world. In S. Chitpin & C. W. Evers (Eds.), Decision making in educational leadership: Principles, policies and practices (pp. 3–20). NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hauge, T. E., Norenes, S. O., & Vedøy, G. (2014). School leadership and educational change: Tools and practices in shared school leadership development. Journal of Educational Change, 15(4), 357–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendriks, M. A., & Scheerens, J. (2013). School leadership effects revisited: a review of empirical studies guided by indirect-effect models. School leadership & management, 33(4), 373–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hooge, E., Burns, T., & Wilkoszewski, H. (2012). Looking beyond the numbers: Stakeholders and multiple school accountability. OECD Education Working Papers, 85, OECD Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikemoto, G. S., & Marsh, J. A. (2007). Cutting through the data-driven mantra: Different conceptions of data-driven decision making. In P. A. Moss (Ed.), Evidence and decision making. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). (2009). Standards for administrators. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-A_PDF.pdf.

  • Kaufman, T. E., Graham, C. R., Picciano, A. G., Popham, J. A., & Wiley, D. (2014). Data-driven decision making in the K-12 classroom. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. Elen, & M. J. Bishop (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 337–346). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp, M. S., & Feldman, S. B. (2012). Managing the intersection of internal and external accountability. Journal of Educational Administration, 50(5), 666–694.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp, M. S., Swinnerton, J. A., Copland, M. A., & Monpas-Huber, J. (2006). Data-informed leadership in education. Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/qa39v34.

  • Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyriakides, L., Creemers, B., Antoniou, P., & Demetriou, D. (2010). A synthesis of studies searching for school factors: Implications for theory and research. British Educational Research Journal, 36(5), 807–830.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lai, M. K., & Hsiao, S. (2014). Developing data collection and management systems for decision-making: What professional development is required? Studies in Educational Evaluation, 42, 63–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lai, M. K., & Schildkamp, K. (2013). Data-based decision making: An overview. In K. Schildkamp, M. K. Lai, & L. Earl (Eds.), Data-based decision making in education (pp. 9–21). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2006). Successful school leadership what it is and how it influences pupil learning. Department for Education and Skills: National College for School Leadership. Retrieved March 2, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/ouha9k8.

  • Leithwood, K., Mascall, B., Strauss, T., Sacks, R., Memon, N., & Yashkina, A. (2007). Distributing leadership to make schools smarter: Taking the ego out of the system. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 6(1), 37–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtenstein, B. B., Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., Seers, A., Orton, J. D., & Schreiber, C. (2006). Complexity leadership theory: An interactive perspective on leading in complex adaptive systems. Emergence: Complexity and Organization, 8(4), 2–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liou, Y., Grigg, J., & Halverson, R. (2014). Leadership and the design of data driven professional networks in schools. Journal of Educational Leadership and Management, 2(1), 29–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandinach, E. (2012). A perfect time for data use: Using data driven decision making to inform practice. Educational Psychologist, 47(2), 71–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, J. A., & Farrell, C. C. (2014). How leaders can support teachers with data-driven decision making A framework for understanding capacity building. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, J. A., Pane, J. F., & Hamilton, S. (2006). Making sense of data driven decision making in education: Evidence from recent RAND research. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslowski, R. (2006). A review of inventories for diagnosing school culture. Journal of Educational Administration, 44(1), 6–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Means, B., Padilla, C., & Gallagher, L. (2010). Use of education data at the local level from accountability to instructional improvement. Report prepared for U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/mcvtwss.

  • Mottus, A., Kinshuk, Graf, S., & Chen, N.-S. (2015). Use of dashboards and visualization techniques to support teacher decision making. In Kinshuk, & R. Huang (Eds.), Ubiquitous learning environments and technologies, Lecture notes in educational technology (pp. 181–199). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mourshed, M., Chijioke, C., & Barber, M. (2010). How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better. London: McKinsey & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulford, B. (2003). School leaders: Challenging roles and impact on teacher and school effectiveness. Paris: Commissioned paper by the Education and Training Policy Division, OECD. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/37133393.pdf.

  • Murray, J. (2013). Critical issues facing school leaders concerning data informed decision-making. School Leadership & Management, 33(2), 169–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nachmias, R., Mioduser, D., Cohen, A., Tubin, D., & Forkosh-Baruch, A. (2004). Factors involved in the implementation of pedagogical innovations using technology. Education and Information Technologies, 9(3), 291–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NEA (National Education Association). (2014). The teacher leadership competencies. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/p4dto9e.

  • OECD. (2008). Improving school leadership volume 1: Policy and practice. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://www.oecd.org/education/school/44374889.pdf.

  • OECD. (2009). Teacher Evaluation A conceptual framework and examples of country practices. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.oecd.org/education/school/44568106.pdf.

  • OECD. (2011). Well-being at school: does infrastructure matter? Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/ozzkwqc.

  • OECD. (2013). Leadership for 21st century learning. OECD Publishing. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/leadership-for-21st-century-learning_9789264205406-en.

  • OECD. (2014a). Education at a glance 2014: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://www.oecd.org/edu/Education-at-a-Glance-2014.pdf.

  • OECD. (2014b). School improvement through strong leadership. Retrieved January 22, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/k62u4sc.

  • Olson, D. (2008). Multi-Criteria Decision Support. In F. Burstein & C. W. Holsapple (Eds.), Handbook on decision support systems 1: Basic themes (pp. 299–314). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Oswald, M., & Engelbrecht, P. (2013). Leadership in disadvantaged primary schools: Two narratives of contrasting schools. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 41(5), 620–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, V., & Datnow, A. (2009). Co-constructing distributed leadership: district and school connections in data driven decision-making. School Leadership & Management, 29(5), 477–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Picciano, A. (2009). Developing and nurturing resources for effective data-driven decision making. In T. Kowalski & T. J. Lasley II (Eds.), Handbook of data-based decision making in education (pp. 123–135). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pick, R. A. (2008). Benefits of decision support systems. In F. Burstein & C. W. Holsapple (Eds.), Handbook on decision support systems 1: Basic themes (pp. 719–730). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Portin, B. S. (2005). School-based leadership in the US in an age of reform: What does it take? Education Research and Perspectives, 32(2), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, D. (2008a). Decision support systems: A historical Overview. In F. Burstein & C. W. Holsapple (Eds.), Handbook on decision support systems 1: Basic themes (pp. 121–140). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Power, D. (2008b). Understanding data-driven decision support systems. Information Systems Management, 25(2), 149–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhee, C., & Rao, R. (2008). Evaluation of decision support systems. In F. Burstein & C. W. Holsapple (Eds.), Handbook on decision support systems 2: Variations (pp. 313–327). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, V. (2007). School leadership and student outcomes: Identifying what works and why. Winmalee, NSW: Australian Council of Leaders. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/mhj2um6.

  • Schechter, C., & Atarchi, L. (2014). The meaning and measure of organizational learning mechanisms in secondary schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 50(4), 577–609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schildkamp, K., & Ehren, M. (2013). From “Intuition”- to “Data”-based decision making in Dutch Secondary Schools? In K. Schildkamp, M. K. Lai, & L. Earl (Eds.), Data-based decision making in Education (pp. 49–67). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schildkamp, K., Karbautzki, L., & Vanhoof, J. (2014). Exploring data use practices around Europe: Identifying enablers and barriers. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 42, 15–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, M., & Somers, M. (2006). Organizations as complex adaptive systems: Implications of complexity theory for leadership research. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(4), 351–365.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sergis, S., Zervas, P., & Sampson, D. G. (2014a). A holistic approach for managing school ICT competence profiles towards supporting school ICT uptake. International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence, 5(4), 34–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sergis, S., Sholla, I., Zervas, P., & Sampson, D. G. (2014b). Supporting school ICT uptake: The ASK School ICT Competence Management System. In International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication Technologies and Learning (IMCL2014) (pp. 359–363).

    Google Scholar 

  • Sergis, S., & Sampson, D. G. (2014). From teachers’ to schools’ ICT competence profiles. In D. G. Sampson, D. Ifenthaler, J. M. Spector, & P. Isaias (Eds.), Digital systems for open access to formal and informal learning (pp. 307–327). Dordrecht: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, S. (2013). The simple, the complicated, and the complex: Educational reform through the lens of complexity theory. OECD Education Working Papers, 96, OECD Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solar, M., Sabattin, J., & Parada, V. (2013). A maturity model for assessing the use of ICT in school education. Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 206–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stufflebeam, D. L., & Shinkfield, A. J. (2007). Evaluation theory, models, and applications. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun, M., Frank, K. A., Penuel, W. R., & Kim, C. M. (2013). How external institutions penetrate schools through formal and informal leaders. Educational Administration Quarterly, 49(4), 610–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • TLEC (Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium). (2010). Teacher leader model standards. Retrieved March 12, 2015, from http://www.teacherleaderstandards.org/downloads/TLS_Brochure.pdf.

  • Trombly, C.E. (2014). Schools and complexity. Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, 11(1), 40–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uhl-Bien, M., Marion, R., McKelvey, B. (2007). Complexity leadership theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(4), 298–318.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (2011). ICT competency framework for teachers. Retrieved February 12, 2015, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002134/213475e.pdf.

  • Vieluf S., Kaplan, D., Klieme, E., & Bayer, S. (2013). Teaching practices and pedagogical innovation: Evidence from TALIS, OECD Publishing. Retrieved January 15, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/p78w77w.

  • Wallace Foundation. (2013). The School principal as leader: Guiding schools to better teaching and learning. Retrieved January 25, 2015, from http://tinyurl.com/azcy2ww.

  • West, D. L., Peck, C. M., Reitzug, U. C., & Crane, E. A. (2014). Accountability, autonomy and stress: principal responses to superintendent change in a large US urban school district. School Leadership & Management, 34(4), 372–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, P. (2009). Data-based teacher selection viewed from a planning, recruitment, and selection perspective. In T. Kowalski & T. J. Lasley II (Eds.), Handbook of data-based decision making in education (pp. 413–428). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yukl, G. A. (2002). Leadership in organizations (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, Y., & Frank, K. A. (2003). Factors affecting technology uses in schools: An ecological perspective. American Educational Research Journal, 40(4), 807–840.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

The work presented in this paper has been partially supported by (a) the “Open Discovery Space: A socially-powered and multilingual open learning infrastructure to boost the adoption of eLearning Resources” Project that is funded by the European Commission’s CIP-ICT Policy Support Programme (Project Number: 297229) and (b) “Inspiring Science: Large Scale Experimentation Scenarios to Mainstream eLearning in Science, Mathematics and Technology in Primary and Secondary Schools” Project that is funded by the European Commission’s CIP-ICT Policy Support Programme (Project Number: 325123).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stylianos Sergis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Appendix

Appendix

In Table 8.6, the detailed list of the school leadership decision support systems identified and utilized in the book chapter is presented, i.e., their title and URL.

Table 8.6 List of school-oriented leadership decision support systems (SL-DSS) reviewed in Sect. 8.3

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Sergis, S., Sampson, D.G. (2016). Data-Driven Decision Making for School Leadership: A Critical Analysis of Supporting Systems. In: Huang, R., Kinshuk, Price, J. (eds) ICT in Education in Global Context. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47956-8_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47956-8_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-47955-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-47956-8

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics