Data-Based Decision Making in Action

Carol Stack's on-line diary allows us to look over the shoulder of a top principal at work.

Like most principals facing a new school year, Carol Stack, at the Jefferson Middle School in Champaign, Illinois, had set a series of goals for herself in September of 1999. One of her top goals was to reduce the school's suspension rate. She had a hunch that particular groups of students were being suspended in disproportionate numbers, but she didn't have a firm handle on the scope of the problem. Stack knew that she needed the facts, and so she focused on what she calls "sleuthing the data," spending a good deal of time in September immersing herself in suspension rates by race, gender, and academic performance. Her approach has been lauded by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle–Grades Reform, a project based at EDC.

In between supervising her staff, meeting with students, administrators, and parents, and poring over data, Stack also managed to find time to keep a detailed diary of her school year. Stack's Principal's Diary, written for MiddleWeb, an on–line resource for educators, is also featured on the National Forum's Schools to Watch Web site. Dr. Stack's diary gives readers a rare chance to see a top school leader in action, pushing herself and her colleagues toward better performance.

"Sleuthing the data" is a key to that improvement. The data the administration and staff collect and analyze serve as the basis for school decision making. Data give evidence of need, of improvement, and of success or failure. Using the data helps the school be accountable to itself and to its public about the school's progress.

Collecting data also gives the school political clout. According to the Schools to Watch Web site, the central office staff says, "Carol always has her ducks in a row." For instance, when Dr. Stack requested an additional reading position, she presented data to demonstrate the need and promised feedback. Says a district administrator, "She said, 'Give me the position and I will show you results in terms of growth.' She came in with data, a plan, a feedback schedule, and her expectations for year–end results, and she got the new position."

According to Nancy Ames, EDC vice–president and director of the National Forum, Carol Stack's experience shows the potential of a data-based approach to school improvement: "Like the other Schools to Watch principals, Carol had a strong sense of where she wanted to take her school. She used data to help focus the school's attention on the highest priority needs and to mobilize her staff and community members in support of the change process."

"Schools to Watch" is a national initiative launched by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle–Grades Reform in 1999. The National Forum is an alliance of more than 60 educators, researchers, and officers of national associations and foundations dedicated to improving schools for young adolescents across the country.

Through the Schools to Watch initiative, the National Forum identified four schools across the United States that were well on their way to meeting the Forum's criteria for high performance. Forum members believe that three things are true of high–performing middle–grades schools:

They are academically excellent—these schools challenge all students to use their minds well.
They are developmentally responsive—these schools are sensitive to the unique develop-mental challenges of early adolescence.
They are socially equitable—these schools are democratic and fair, providing every student with high–quality teachers, resources, and supports.

To achieve this level of performance, high–performing schools establish norms, structures, and organizational arrangements to support and sustain their trajectory toward excellence. They have a sense of purpose that drives every facet of practice and decision making.

The Forum selected Barren County Middle School in Glasgow, Kentucky, and Jefferson Middle School in Champaign, Illinois, in May 1999. During the second and final selection round in December 1999, the Forum selected Freeport Intermediate School in Freeport, Texas, and Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Chicago, Illinois.

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When School Reform Lasts

Summer 2002
Volume 4, No. 1

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Read Excerpts from Dr. Carol Stack's Principal's Diary (1999–2000)