ABSTRACT
Learning takes place neither in isolation, nor only at school. Multiple measures must be considered and used to understand the multifaceted world of learning from the perspective of everyone involved. The major job of every school is student learning. Staff must think through the factors that impact student learning to determine other data requirements. Analyses of demographics, perceptions, student learning, and school processes provide a powerful picture that will help people understand the school’s impact on student achievement. Comprehensive measures, used together and over time, provide much richer information. Different levels of analysis reveal answers to questions at varying depths of understanding. Demographic data are the part of our educational system over which people have no control. Demographic data give people a glimpse of the system and how the school organizes its system. Perceptions can be gathered through questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and/or observations.
