Data for Improvement and Accountability in U.S. Public Schools

Janet A. Weiss introduces a special issue examining the dual roles of data systems in U.S. public education. The collection of articles explores how data is used both to improve school staff performance and to hold schools and districts accountable for outcomes. This work, from the University of Michigan, analyzes the different logics of action and intervention behind these data strategies.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the design principles of data systems intended for school staff improvement based on the description of building teacher and principal knowledge.
• Comparing accountability-focused data systems with improvement-focused systems based on the described different logics of action.
• Studying the institutional contexts that support or discourage data use in educational decision-making as discussed in the articles.
• Researching the linkage between data provision to professionals and resulting educational practices and outcomes.

Strengths

• Content is authored by a recognized academic, Janet A. Weiss of the University of Michigan.
• Focuses on a clearly defined dual-purpose framework for educational data systems as described in the introduction.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

University of Michigan

Collection Method

Likely a collection of academic articles or commentary published as a special issue.

Geography

United States