Standards for Effective Data Use
It’s clear that educators today need to develop data savvy. The Statewide Longitudinal Data System partners, comprised of educational leaders across 13 states, provide a set of Data Use Standards describing the knowledge, skills and behaviors needed for effective data use to inform instructional and programmatic decisions.

It is recommended that school and district leadership teams reflect about their professional growth in data use knowledge, skills and professional behaviors. These standards provide a good beginning for such reflection as they detail “the essential knowledge, skills, and professional behaviors required by teachers and administrators to effectively use data to inform instructional and programmatic decisions.” The standards are divided into three subgroups, which are listed in the table below:
Knowledge, Skills and Professional Behavior Standards for Data Use
Knowledge
Skills
Professional Behaviors
Fundamental Knowledge
Processing Knowledge
Conceptual Knowledge
Planning
Selecting
Collecting
Analyzing
Interpreting
Communicating
Acting
Ethical Use
Rules and Regulations
Collaboration
Continuous Improvement

As state and local education agencies increasingly focus on serving educators with their data systems, a common challenge has arisen: identifying the critical knowledge and skills needed by teachers and administrators to use data effectively. Many states are creating data literacy and data use training programs for pre- and in-service educators without a common foundation on which to base the content. In addition, several state education agencies and educator preparation programs have begun communicating about how to create a stronger alignment between pre- and in-service training for educators regarding data use.