Date of Conferral
2020
Degree
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
School
Education
Advisor
Mary Trube
Abstract
The research problem addressed by this study is that educators do not know how students’ assessments are being used for data-driven decision making to plan for instruction and design curriculum. Data-driven decision making has been implemented throughout the Southeastern region of the United States for several years as part of public-school reform efforts. The purpose of this basic qualitative study with interviews was to explore how early childhood principals, academic coaches, and teachers used students’ assessment data for data-driven decision making to plan for instruction and design curriculum in two rural schools. This study addressed local concerns about how educators used students’ assessments for data driven decision making to plan for instruction and design curriculum. The Gill, Borden, and Hallgren data-driven decision making framework guided this study. Following collection of data from semistructured interviews with 2 principals, 2 academic coaches, and 8 teachers, data were analyzed using open-coding followed by descriptive and structural coding. Findings revealed that educators systematically used assessment data during preliminary activities (accessing, comparing, and analyzing the previous year student assessment data), continuous activities (monitoring students’ mastery and identifying appropriateness of curriculum), and culminating activities (reviewing and evaluating current year data for planning future instruction and designing curriculum). This study contributes to positive social change by promoting a collaborative climate among all educators to systematically use students’ assessment data to plan for instruction and design curriculum.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Brandy Shanice, "Early Childhood Educators’ use of Students’ Assessments for Data-driven Decision Making" (2020). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 9581.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/9581
