Investing in Educator Data Literacy Improves Student Achievement: Evidence of Impact

Date: 4/1/2012

Since 2007 the Oregon DATA Project has been investing resources to provide educators on-the-job training around effective data use to improve student achievement. New evidence shows that their efforts are paying off. A 2011 Oregon DATA Project report detailed the impact of their investment in the state's educators, finding the following:

• Participating schools were closing the achievement gap at a faster rate than schools without access to data training.
• Teachers in participating schools felt more comfortable using data in their classrooms, suggesting a culture change around data use.

With this report Oregon emerges as a shining example of this type of investment in educators. Still, most states have not sufficiently invested in their educators by providing them the resources they need—including access and training on how to use data in the classroom—to do the vital work of improving student learning.

Topic: Data Literacy Teacher Effectiveness