Support for Using Student Data to Inform Teachers’ Instruction

A new report finds an intensive approach to help teachers use data to adjust instruction did not improve students’ achievement, perhaps because the approach did not change teachers’ use of data or reported classroom practices.

The Institute of Education Sciences released a report yesterday (September 30) entitled Evaluation of Support for Using Student Data to Inform Teachers’ Instruction. This report from the National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) assesses one approach to supporting teachers’ use of student data to inform their instruction – referred to as data-driven instruction (DDI).

The study assigned half of the 102 participating elementary schools to receive funding for a data coach of their choosing as well as intensive professional development for coaches and school leaders on helping teachers use student data to inform their instruction. Comparing the classroom instruction and student achievement in schools that received the extra support versus those that did not provides evidence on the effectiveness of this specific approach to providing support for DDI.

Key findings include:

• The study’s DDI coaching and professional development did not increase teachers’ data use or change their instructional practices. Prior research has suggested specific ways teachers can use data to improve student learning – for example, to monitor student progress or to plan individualized instruction. The support offered in this study was intended to boost collaboration among teachers to analyze student data and tailor their instruction in response. However, teachers in schools who received additional DDI support reported using data and data-driven instructional approaches in largely the same ways as teachers in schools not receiving extra support.

• The study’s support for DDI did not improve students’ achievement. On average, students had similar achievement in math and English/language arts whether they were in schools that received extra DDI coaching and professional development or not. Students in each group scored near the 40th percentile on their state assessments in each subject.