Fundamentals of Using Data for Educators

Course Overview

Understanding and using data will assist educators in making decisions to foster powerful improvements in student outcomes. Effective use of data can support student learning and success. This course will provide educators with the skills they need to analyze and use data to answer important questions to drive positive change in their district, school, or classroom.

Prerequisite: There is no prerequisite for students who may take EDFN courses at the 500-599 level.

Required text: Students will need to purchase or borrow a textbook for this course. Students will need to obtain the following textbook(s):

• Estrellado, R. (2022). The K-12 Educator’s Data Guidebook. Routledge & CRC.

Rationale & Learning Objectives

Historically, schools focused only on compliance with accountability to plan for school improvement. When schools use comprehensive data analysis for creating improvement plans, they understand better where they’ve been and how to map out where they want to go.

The purpose of this 1-credit course is to introduce educators to the data inquiry process, as a beginner’s look at data literacy. Participants will learn to collect, analyze, communicate, and use multiple measures of data to improve teaching and learning. The data inquiry framework will inspire participants to work toward a commitment to improvement for their classrooms, schools and districts.

Course Topics

• Current Data Topics in Education
• Data Use Standards
• Data Inquiry Process
• Data Collection
• Multiple Measures of Data
• Availability of data systems
• Data analysis
• Creating SMART goals and data-driven action plans