The data toolkit : ten tools for supporting school improvement / Robert T. Hess, Pam Robbins ; foreword by Kate Dickson.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Build your team -- 2. Identify the problem: using data to transform our intentions -- 3. The three guiding questions: making instruction work -- 4. Analyze your students: let the data decide -- 5. Four quadrants: creating crosshairs with data -- 6. Wagon wheel: using multiple points of data to drive instruction -- 7. Five whys: the power of questions -- 8. Relations diagram: discovering the key drivers -- 9. The fishbone: making a difference with data -- 10. School improvement mapping: making strategic decisions and taking action -- 11. Now what? Using the tools in the classrom, school, and district.

"Using data for school improvement is a key goal of Race to the Top, and now is the time to make data-driven school improvement a priority. However, many educators are drowning in data. Boost your professional learning community's ability to translate data into action with this new book from Pam Robbins and Robert T. Hess. The Data Toolkit provides ten easy-to-use tools that don't require statistical expertise, can be implemented in a timely manner, and facilitate problem-solving at the classroom, school, and district levels. These proven methods help educators: Frame the questions; Drive the conversation; Engage in productive reflection; Uncover understandings; Create a data-driven plan; Achieve and monitor results.

"Written in an educator-friendly format each chapter contains instructions on using the tool, a sample scenario, and examples - practical resources that will help your PLC be the best it can be. Also included are case studies that show how data teams, PLCs, and individual teachers have used the book's methods in their own settings. The culminating school improvement mapping tool guides the team through designing an action plan focused on increasing student learning and achievement outcomes."-- Publisher description.