A survey of K-12 teachers by the Data Quality Campaign reveals that teachers value data use. Of the 750 teachers surveyed, 86% said they believe that using data is an important part of being a teacher, and 80% said that using data to inform their teaching is a valuable use of their time. How are teachers using data? Respondents said they use data to help plan instruction (86%), identify students’ learning goals (88%), and know what students are learning (89%).
Learning to use data well takes time, and the results show that teachers may need more training. Only 17% said they learned to use data in their preservice training, and 45% said they taught themselves on the job. Although 51% said that administrators gave them time to use data, 81% reported that they had to use personal time to do so.
Source: Data Quality Campaign. (2019, September). Teachers want to use data but can’t go it alone. Washington, DC: Author.
