Data Driven Leadership

Tools and techniques from the trailblazers in data-based education reform Over a period of several years, Amanda Datnow and Vicki Park visited public schools with a reputation for being ahead of the pack in data-driven decision making. The results of this pioneering study reveal how education leaders can make data work for students and teachers, rather than against them. This book is an essential guide to meeting the challenges of high-stakes accountability, building performance-based schools, and improving student outcomes. By following the advice in this book, you’ll be able to transform data overload into a data-positive school culture. You’ll learn the difference between “data-driven leadership” and “data-informed leadership,” and how to use distributed leadership to inspire collaboration and guided analysis. Incorporating narrative reflections drawn from real educators and administrators, the authors refine their observations and interviews into practical conclusions that leaders can put to use immediately. This book empowers leaders to support inquiry, build trust in data-based initiatives, establish goals for evidence use, and provide educators with the skills they need to mobilize data for the good of all stakeholders. “Datnow and Park’s ideas are easily accessible and grounded in clear examples, and their seven ‘calls’ about what needs to be done nail the problem and the solutions. Use this book as your action guide and you’ll be rewarded with better results in student learning.” —Michael Fullan, professor emeritus, University of Toronto “Datnow and Park uncover, at last, what it means to use data to inform leadership. Documenting the four P’s (people, policies, practices, and patterns) in schools, we learn about the organization and dynamics of reform informed by data. A must read!” —Ann Lieberman, senior scholar, Stanford University

Data is your most valuable leadership asset—here's how to use it The Data Driven Leader presents a clear, accessible guide to solving important leadership challenges through human resources-focused and other data analytics. This engaging book shows you how to transform the HR function and overall organizational effectiveness by using data to make decisions grounded in facts vs. opinions, identify root causes behind your company’s thorniest problems and move toward a winning, future-focused business strategy. Realistic and actionable, this book tells the story of a successful sales executive who, after leading an analytics-driven turnaround (in Data Driven, this book’s predecessor), faces a new turnaround challenge as chief human resources officer. Each chapter features insightful commentary and practical notes on the points the story raises, guiding you to put HR analytics into action in your organization. HR and other leaders cannot afford to overlook the power and competitive advantages of data-driven decision-making and strategies. This book reflects the growing trend of CEOs choosing analytics-minded business leaders to head HR, at a time when workplaces everywhere face game-changing forces including automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. It is urgent that human resources leaders embrace analytics, not only to remain professionally relevant but also to help their organizations successfully navigate this digital transformation. HR professionals can and must: Understand essential data science principles and corporate analytics models Identify and execute effective data analytics initiatives Boost HR and company productivity and performance with metrics that matter Shape an analytics-centric culture that generates data driven leaders Most organizations capture and report data, but data is useless without analysis that leads to action. The Data Driven Leader shows you how to use this tremendous asset to lead your organization higher.

Organizations are being forced to undergo a digital transformation and this is creating a tumultuous period of change for them. Those that wish to win with data must implement a data culture - a complex undertaking.

The chief executive officer of a corporation is not much different from a public school administrator. While CEOs base many of their decisions on data, for school administrators, this type of research may conjure up miserable memories of searching for information to meet a graduate school requirement. However, the value of data-based decision making will continue to escalate and the school community—students, teachers, parents and the general public—expect this information to come from their administrators. Administrators are called on to be accountable, but few are capable of presenting the mountain of data that they collect in a cohesive and strategic manner. Most statistical books are focused on statistical theory versus application, but Statistics Made Simple for School Leaders presents statistics in a simple, practical, conceptual, and immediately applicable manner. It enables administrators to take their data and manage it into strategic information so the results can be used for action plans that benefit the school system. The approach is 'user friendly' and leaves the reader with a confident can-do attitude to communicate results and plans to staff and the community.

A comprehensive, practical guide to using data effectively for school improvement! This hands-on guidebook explains essential statistical and assessment information to help principals make critical and sustainable choices to promote student learning. Broad-based strategies include collecting and analyzing various types of data about student achievement, professional development, allocation of resources, family involvement, and community standards. Part of theLeadership for Learning series, this resource: Supports school leaders in developing and sustaining continuous improvement Links data-based decision making with issues of accountability and shared mission and goals Includes numerous examples and cases, a glossary, school improvement template, sample forms, and data tools

Explore why — now more than ever — the world is in a race to become data-driven, and how you can learn from examples of data-driven leadership in an Age of Disruption, Big Data, and AI In Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Lessons in Data-Driven Leadership in an Age of Disruption, Big Data, and AI, Fortune 1000 strategic advisor, noted author, and distinguished thought leader Randy Bean tells the story of the rise of Big Data and its business impact – its disruptive power, the cultural challenges to becoming data-driven, the importance of data ethics, and the future of data-driven AI. The book looks at the impact of Big Data during a period of explosive information growth, technology advancement, emergence of the Internet and social media, and challenges to accepted notions of data, science, and facts, and asks what it means to become "data-driven." Fail Fast, Learn Faster includes discussions of: The emergence of Big Data and why organizations must become data-driven to survive Why becoming data-driven forces companies to "think different" about their business The state of data in the corporate world today, and the principal challenges Why companies must develop a true "data culture" if they expect to change Examples of companies that are demonstrating data-driven leadership and what we can learn from them Why companies must learn to "fail fast and learn faster" to compete in the years ahead How the Chief Data Officer has been established as a new corporate profession Written for CEOs and Corporate Board Directors, data professional and practitioners at all organizational levels, university executive programs and students entering the data profession, and general readers seeking to understand the Information Age and why data, science, and facts matter in the world in which we live, Fail Fast, Learn Faster p;is essential reading that delivers an urgent message for the business leaders of today and of the future.

Organizations are being forced to undergo a digital transformation and this is creating a tumultuous period of change for them. Those that wish to win with data must implement a data culture - a complex undertaking. It requires an in-depth understanding of the data ecosystem, its components, and the interaction between people, process, technology, and data, to deliver business value. Data-Driven Leaders Always Win connects the dots across various data management fields, and their practical application, using real life experience that the author gained while leading enterprise-wide data management programs at the world's largest financial services company. Being data-savvy and data-driven are core skills for leaders and their organizations to win in the "Age of Data." Some areas you'll explore: - What are the opportunities and challenges that Big Data and IoT present? - What is Dark Data and why you must manage it better? - The dark side of Big Data and how it's impacting your organization. - The "Golden Square" and why every leader needs to learn about it and apply it. - Steps you cantake to win with data. - How leaders can develop a data culture within their organizations? Regardless of the industry vertical you are in - if you are a leader, aspire to be one, or wish to influence your leadership team, and move up the corporate ladder in the "Age of Data," then this book is for you."

Our fifth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on the use of data in schools and districts as useful information for leadership and decision making. Schools are awash in data and information, from test scores, to grades, to discipline reports, and attendance as just a short list of student information sources, while additional streams of data feed into schools and districts from teachers and parents as well as local, regional and national policy levels. To deal with the data, schools have implemented a variety of data practices, from data rooms, to data days, data walks, and data protocols. However, despite the flood of data, successful school leaders are leveraging an analysis of their school’s data as a means to bring about continuous improvement in an effort to improve instruction for all students. Nevertheless, some drown, some swim, while others find success. Our goal in this book volume is to bring together a set of chapters by authors who examine successful data use as it relates to leadership and school improvement. In particular, the chapters in this volume consider important issues in this domain, including: • How educational leaders use data to inform their practice. • What types of data and data analysis are most useful to successful school leaders. • To what extent are data driven and data informed practices helping school leaders positively change instructional practice? • In what ways does good data collection and analysis feed into successful continuous improvement and holistic systems thinking? • How have school leadership practices changed as more data and data analysis techniques have become available? • What are the major obstacles facing school leaders when using data for decision making and how do they overcome them?

With real-world examples from actual schools, this book shows you how to nurture a culture of continuous improvement, meet the needs of individual students, foster an environment of high expectations, and meet the requirements of NCLB.

"This series allows school principals to integrate theory and practice themselves, resulting in highly insightful and practical strategies that will make a difference in schools. Practitioners: lead thyselves!" —Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto "Avoiding high-flown theory on the one hand and mere bullet points on the other, these books represent the best that highly expert leaders have to offer—intellectually informed ideas about how to deal with the compelling practical issues of principalship." —Andy Hargreaves, Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education Boston College "This series of little volumes provides a valuable resource for new principals who would become accomplished instructional leaders and seasoned principals looking to strengthen their leadership capacity." —Roland S. Barth, Founding Director Harvard Principals′ Center "Addresses some of the most important challenges facing school leaders today. The authors bring a remarkable combination of deep, practical experience and academic sophistication to these challenges." —Ken Leithwood, Professor Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto A proven process for demonstrating and communicating school improvements! As the call for educational accountability increases, so does the importance of data. This practical guide, part of the Leading Student Achievement series, helps school leaders use evidence to shape, revise, and assess instructional reform. Focusing on the significance of data in the development of realistic solutions to specific educational issues, this resource defines four types of data and helps principals: Understand their role as leader, communicator, and professional developer for data-driven reform Introduce the use of data into the school improvement planning cycle Create a team to gather relevant, valid, and comprehensive data With brainstorming templates, case studies, and planning forms for embedding data use into a school′s culture, The Principal as Data-Driven Leader helps schools start on a journey to genuine accountability and demonstrable gains in student performance.