Over the past decade, educational policymakers have consistently called for data use. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, with its emphasis on annual progress in students’ achievement scores and quantitative evidence for school decisions, included a mandate for so-called “data-driven decision making.” More recently, the Obama administration designated building data systems that guide instruction as one of the four core requirements of the Race to the Top funding competition. Across the country, schools use data as part of Response to Intervention (RtI). Conversations about data dominate the educational landscape, and these discussions only seem poised to continue. This brief examines these issues.
