The essential ingredients for a data-driven culture have little to do with data itself, experts say. The real shift occurs when everyone in the educational community starts to change what they talk about and how they respond to conversational outcomes.

“That’s what exemplifies higher-performing schools that have transformed their entire culture: District leaders, school leaders, teachers and students are all working around the common goal of improving learning outcomes for students based on the data they have available,” says Mariana Aguilar, the research manager at GoGuardian, a software solution that helps schools filter, manage and monitor devices and content.

In practice, data-driven education can be challenging — but it’s worth the effort, say educators who have done it.

In California, the Saugus Union School District is in the third year of a professional learning community initiative focused on data-driven instruction. The PLC, implemented at SUSD’s 15 sites, includes a new curriculum and assessment structure. But what really moves the needle, according to three SUSD principals, are the insights that emerge when educators gather to discuss that data.

“The conversations are completely different,” says Mary Mann, principal of SUSD’s Cedarcreek Elementary School. “They’re less about the latest place to go on a field trip or what culminating project we’re going to do and more about ‘My students learned this, and I know it because the data shows it.’”

These insights, in turn, support data-driven education that can boost retention and graduation rates.

MORE ON EDTECH: Discover how data analytics can help K–12 schools combat absenteeism.

Why It’s Important to Base Educational Decisions on Student Data

Without analyzing student data, it’s all too easy to base decisions on opinion, assumption or anecdotal evidence, Aguilar says.

“The biggest miss for schools is not being able to make data-informed decisions that can optimize how funds are spent, how students receive resources and how teachers are being given resources,” she says. “What happens a lot of times, then, is you go with the loudest voice in the room.”

SUSD’s goal is to answer four questions: What do we want students to learn? How do we know if they’re learning? What do we do if they’re not learning? What do we do when they’ve mastered the material?

Data ensures that insights are accurate and actionable, says Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, the president of the Data Quality Campaign, a nonprofit advocating for data policy and use. “It really helps teachers personalize learning and pathways,” she says.

That, in turn, empowers teachers to be more agile in their instruction and to increase students’ ownership of their work. For administrators, data in schools can improve ROI on technology investments and highlight best practices.

At BASIS Charter Schools, for example, an extensive set of assessment tools helps to guide iterative adjustments to curricula, says Peter Bezanson, CEO of BASIS Educational Ventures. In one case, data showed that the students of a particular biology teacher consistently outperformed their peers, so BASIS designated her the biology mentor for all the schools.

“We said, ‘You’re going to push out your syllabus to everyone, and you’re in charge of the degree to which they can alter the syllabus,’” Bezanson says. “All of that comes directly from the data, not the personality of the teacher.”