ABSTRACT
As data-driven decision-making efforts have gained popularity, many teachers are now required or encouraged to use data—including standardized-test data—to inform instruction. Yet, the details of this process vary across contexts, as educators decide what data to use, how to analyze them, what conclusions to draw from them, and how to respond instructionally. In this chapter, the authors present a case study of a sixth-grade-math-teacher workgroup as they analyzed data under the guidance of instructionally expert facilitators. Findings suggest that this team developed promising practices that emphasized quality over quantity, looked beyond aggregated data to consider student thinking, and, crucially, linked these interpretations to instructional practice. Such promising practices mobilize instructional expertise by preparing teachers to carefully interpret various data, attend to student thinking, and then link that thinking to subsequent instruction. As such, they hold important implications for furthering research and practice in teachers’ data use.
