Data-Based Decision-Making in Schools: Examining the Process and Effects of Teacher Support.

The idea of data-based decision-making (DBDM) at the classroom level is that teachers use assessment data to adapt their instruction to students' individual needs and thus improve students' learning progress. In this study, we first investigate this theoretically assumed DBDM process, and second, we evaluate the effectiveness of teacher support on the different steps of this process. Using longitudinal data of N = 120 teachers and their N = 2458 students, we analyzed the relations between teachers' log-file-based data analysis activities, teachers' self-reported frequency of instructional decision-making, and students' learning progress in reading by means of latent mediation analyses. Moreover, we analyzed whether additional teacher support in the form of instructional recommendations, teacher training, and prepared teaching material can promote the implementation of different steps of DBDM. Results of latent mediation analyses revealed positive associations of teachers' data analysis with their instructional decision-making and students' learning progress. Teacher support was positively associated with data analysis and students' learning progress (mediated by data analysis). Results are discussed regarding the theoretically assumed steps in the DBDM process and the potential of teacher support with a focus on teachers' instructional decision-making. Educational Impact and Implications Statement: Providing teachers with assessment data on student learning progress should lead to a better alignment of instruction to students' needs, thereby improving student achievement. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that the more teachers engaged with assessment data, the more they reported using them for instructional decisions. In addition, students of teachers who engaged more deeply with assessment data made greater learning gains over the course of the school year. Some of the teachers received additional support to make data-based instructional decisions in the form of instructional recommendations, teacher training, and prepared teaching materials. This support was associated with more frequent data use by teachers, which in turn was associated with higher student learning progress via an indirect effect. Our analyses of the process of data-based decision-making (DBDM) in schools underline that teacher trainings in combination with instructional recommendations and prepared materials have the potential to improve DBDM practice in general education and increase student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]