8 Using research evidence and data

Question 1

Evidence and data can be used in three forms:

Answer 1

 routine data for daily use, for example in England, schools receive information about the school performance and benchmark information about groups of similar schools. Inspection reports on schools are also publicly available on the Internet
 data from wider research projects including international studies such as the PISA study (reported later in the session)
 gathered through practitioner or action research within the institution.

Question 2

professionals in education in the UK and elsewhere are encouraged to emulate what is seen as best practice in medicine (????, ?????) and to ensure that their practice is informed by the use of evidence and data.

Answer 2

professionals in education in the UK and elsewhere are encouraged to emulate what is seen as best practice in medicine (Hargreaves, 1996) and to ensure that their practice is informed by the use of evidence and data.

Question 3

Evidence-informed practice is not unproblematic, but there is evidence (????, ????) to suggest that it can promote both professional development and school improvement (????, ????).

Answer 3

Evidence-informed practice is not unproblematic, but there is evidence (Joyce et al., 1999, and Jackson, 2002) to suggest that it can promote both professional development and school improvement (Stoll et al., 2002).

Question 4

Data can bring information and thus help you to:

Answer 4

 encourage evidence-based practice, drawing specifically on common themes, namely ‘the need to find out what we already know; the desirability of holding this knowledge in an easily accessible and updateable format, and the requirement that research should be more policy-relevant than it has sometimes been in the past’ (Oakley, 2002, p. 284)
 bring about improvement in education systems and schools, targeting specific areas for improvement and determining what needs to be addressed, usually linked to some form of training and/or change management and/or capacity building through CPD. The data can also be used as a baseline to monitor and evaluate progress as a result of school improvement efforts.

Question 5

WHO?WHEN?
claim that: ‘In the knowledge society, the sharing of data and information has become a critical part of decision-making.’

Answer 5

Earl and Fullan (2003, p. 384) claim that: ‘In the knowledge society, the sharing of data and information has become a critical part of decision-making.’

Question 6

All of the … data are available for schools either as a by-product of the public examining system or as a result of central government initiatives to provide ‘accountability’ measures. In addition, there are several local LEA [Local Education Authority] based schemes of assessment that are used within local areas.
WHO? WHEN?

Answer 6

Goldstein, 2001

Question 7

there can be a temptation to regard some countries as data ____ while others are data _____, and to make the assumption that the type of data available means that the data ____ countries, like the UK have better education systems simply because they have a lot of data.

Answer 7

there can be a temptation to regard some countries as data rich while others are data poor, and to make the assumption that the type of data available means that the data rich countries, like the UK have better education systems simply because they have a lot of data.

Question 8

At the beginning of the century, there had been three main international comparative education studies

Answer 8

• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
• The Trends International Mathematics and Science (TIMMS)
• Civic Knowledge and Engagement surveys of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Assessment (IEA, 2002)

Question 9

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) first published in 2002.

Answer 9

In this comparison, students aged 15 are tested in the areas of reading literacy, mathematical and scientific literacy, and general outcomes such as students’ motivation and learning strategies. http://www.oecd.org/edu/preschoolandschool/. The most recent data were published in 2012

Question 10

The Trends International Mathematics and Science (TIMMS) survey, which compares the

Answer 10

The Trends International Mathematics and Science (TIMMS) survey, which compares the performance of 13 year olds in mathematics and science. TIMSS data have been collected in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011,

Question 11

Civic Knowledge and Engagement surveys of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Assessment (IEA, 2002) – surveys which were carried out with

Answer 11

Civic Knowledge and Engagement surveys of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Assessment (IEA, 2002) – surveys which were carried out with 14 year olds about their attitudes to school and society

Question 12

Some of the points of the standardised tests that you may have thought of may relate to the dominance of _______ culture and thinking in education and the impact of __________. The aspects of schooling that are compared (mainly reading, mathematical, and science literacy) appear to focus on a _________ cultural view of which data are important.

Answer 12

Some of the points that you may have thought of may relate to the dominance of Western culture and thinking in education and the impact of globalisation. The aspects of schooling that are compared (mainly reading, mathematical, and science literacy) appear to focus on a Westernised cultural view of which data are important.

Question 13

In developing countries where the public use of performance data is not commonplace, funding has often become linked to performance targets for schools and local districts in a way that is similar to data rich countries. And funding, either as a ______-support or as a _________-pressure, has begun to be linked with targets.

Answer 13

In developing countries where the public use of performance data is not commonplace, funding has often become linked to performance targets for schools and local districts in a way that is similar to data rich countries. And funding, either as a reward-support or as a punishment-pressure, has begun to be linked with targets.

Question 14

Within such systems the imposition of targets for institutions or school authorities can be viewed as an effective means of centralised control
Who?when?

Answer 14

Within such systems the imposition of targets for institutions or school authorities can be viewed as an effective means of centralised control
Goldstein (2003)

Question 15

Education systems that are data rich can run the risk of exaggerating

Answer 15

Education systems that are data rich can run the risk of exaggerating centralised control and conformity.

Question 16

The danger then is that a Westernised view of school effectiveness can be _______, in return for money, on a country that has different values and needs. In ______, for example, to judge schools’ effectiveness, they are asked to provide the Ministry of Education annually with data on teacher and pupil attendance, resources and the quality of drinking water (see Module 1 Session 5). Should these data, valuable for the country’s development, be discarded to provide data that meet targets but may have little relevance?

Answer 16

The danger then is that a Westernised view of school effectiveness can be imposed, in return for money, on a country that has different values and needs. In Gambia, for example, to judge schools’ effectiveness, they are asked to provide the Ministry of Education annually with data on teacher and pupil attendance, resources and the quality of drinking water (see Module 1 Session 5). Should these data, valuable for the country’s development, be discarded to provide data that meet targets but may have little relevance?

Question 17

Apart from the difficulties of interpretation, there are limitations for managers in education systems and schools to the usefulness of numerical data. It is true that they sum up ____ has happened, but they do not explain the ___ or suggest how to change things

Answer 17

Apart from the difficulties of interpretation, there are limitations for managers in education systems and schools to the usefulness of numerical data. It is true that they sum up what has happened, but they do not explain the why or suggest how to change things

Question 18

One of the major benefits of becoming a learning organisation is the knowledge of how to turn data into _________, the information into ________, and, crucially, the knowledge into _____ that impacts positively on the learning of all members of the organisation.

Answer 18

One of the major benefits of becoming a learning organisation is the knowledge of how to turn data into information, the information into knowledge, and, crucially, the knowledge into action that impacts positively on the learning of all members of the organisation.

Question 19

the question to consider is,

Answer 19

the question to consider is, what action comes from data that your school analyses?

Question 20

The next link, from information to knowledge, remains highly dependent on the school’s existing knowledge base and the quality of its learning processes as an organisation. The link can be put at risk in three ways.

Answer 20

1. This can be by the form of the data. For example, the seeking of parents’ views about their children’s education, may generate information about the areas which they rate highly and lowly, but may not provide suggestions about how the less effective aspects can be improved. Educational programmes may then not improve as a result.
2. Schools can simply seek the wrong kind of data – data that are not appropriate for site-based improvement.
3. It can be that schools try to use data when the existing information base is poor.

Question 21

In essence, the key to the effectiveness of data in contributing to your institution’s improvement lies in the school or organisation…

Answer 21

In essence, the key to the effectiveness of data in contributing to your institution’s improvement lies in the school or organisation learning effectively from the data.

Question 22

When you are collecting data in/for your school, you need to do several things, regardless of whether your school’s or organisation’s knowledge base is advanced or not.

Answer 22

1. Ensure that you only collect data that are usable.
2. Arrange data for feedback clearly and explicitly in the most appropriate way for the existing information base of your school or organisation.
3. Recognise that data systems have to be paralleled by the development of learning systems so that you utilise the data effectively.

Question 23

The argument goes that schools and colleges are becoming increasingly data __________, with the result that systems for processing data have replaced ___________ of classroom processes.

Answer 23

The argument goes that schools and colleges are becoming increasingly data obsessed, with the result that systems for processing data have replaced understanding of classroom processes.

Question 24

The actual experience of the process of _______ and __________ data is usually very beneficial and more important than having data for the sake of ____.

Answer 24

The actual experience of the process of collecting and examining data is usually very beneficial and more important than having data for the sake of data.

Question 25

In education systems where there is a richness of performance data, as in England, it is important for school managers and educators working with schools to develop an informed criticality to the data.
As the London teacher points out, the data need to be part of a school’s information bank. So, whatever the data, you need to develop a criticality to three issues:

Answer 25

In education systems where there is a richness of performance data, as in England, it is important for school managers and educators working with schools to develop an informed criticality to the data.
As the London teacher points out, the data need to be part of a school’s information bank. So, whatever the data, you need to develop a criticality to three issues:
1. how to access data
2. how to distinguish the good data from the bad
3. how to acquire and generate a range of data relevant to institutional effectiveness.

Question 26

you should always start by asking yourself several questions about the data as suggested by Scott (????). These are:

Answer 26

you should always start by asking yourself several questions about the data as suggested by Scott (2000). These are:
 Who is the author(s) of the data? What is their stance?
 What is the purpose? Is there an intended impact?
 Who is the audience?
 Is there any relevance in the timing?
 What data are not there?

Question 27

Why should schools be interested in conducting research?

Answer 27

The answer is to be found in schools and classrooms where teachers, singly or collaboratively, have engaged in some form of research and found it to be a highly satisfying and energising professional activity. For teachers who have engaged in researching their own schools and classrooms it has not only brought new insights, new levels of understanding and new challenges, but enhanced the quality of learning and teaching at the same time.