Teachers’ Use of Student Data Systems to 

Improve Instruction 

U.S. Department of Education 

Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development 

Prepared by: 

Barbara Means 

Lawrence Gallagher 

Christine Padilla 

SRI International 

2007 
This report was prepared for the U.S. Department of Education under Contract Number ED-04-CO0040/0002 with SRI International. Bernadette Adams Yates served as the project manager. The views 

expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No 

official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education is intended or should be inferred. 

U.S. Department of Education 

Margaret Spellings 

Secretary 

Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development 

Doug Mesecar 

Acting Assistant Secretary 

Policy and Program Studies Service Office of Educational Technology 

Alan Ginsburg Timothy J. Magner 

Director Director 

Program and Analytic Studies Division 

David Goodwin 

Director 

September 2007 

This report is in the public domain, except for the graphic on the front cover, which is used with 

permission and copyright, 2007, xPlane. Authorization to reproduce this report in whole or in part is 

granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the suggested citation is: U.S. 

Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, Teachers’ Use of 

Student Data Management Systems to Improve Instruction, Washington, D.C., 2007. 

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iii

CONTENTS

List of Exhibits..................................................................................................................v 

Introduction.......................................................................................................................1 

Purpose of the Brief ..........................................................................................................1

Data Sources .....................................................................................................................1 

Findings.............................................................................................................................2 

 Access to a Student Data System..........................................................................2 

 How Teachers and Districts Use Student Data Systems.......................................8 

 Support for Using Student Data Systems............................................................14 

Summary.........................................................................................................................17 

References.......................................................................................................................19 
iv
v

EXHIBITS

Exhibit 1 Percentage of Teachers Reporting Access to a Student Data System ............3 

Exhibit 2 Types of Data That Districts Store Electronically ..........................................5 

Exhibit 3 Teacher Reported Categories of Data and Support Available to Them..........7 

Exhibit 4 Percentage of Teachers Who Reported Using a Student Data System 

 at Least a Few Times a Year for a Specific Function.....................................8 

Exhibit 5 Percent of Districts Using a Data System at Least a Few Times a Year 

for a Specific Function..................................................................................10 

Exhibit 6 Percentage of Teachers Who Reported Using a Student Data System 

at Least a Few Times a Year for a Specific Function, by Teaching Area ....12 

Exhibit 7 Teachers Who Reported Using a Data Management System at Least 

a Few Times a Year for a Specific Function, by Poverty Level of School...13 

Exhibit 8 Teachers Who Reported Using a Data System at Least a Few Times 

a Year to Make Instructional Decisions, by Social Context of Use..............15 

Exhibit 9 Teachers Indicating Support for Using Student Data to Guide 

Instruction, by Source of Support .................................................................17 
vi
 1 

INTRODUCTION

During the past four years, the data collection and reporting requirements of No Child Left

Behind (NCLB) have stimulated the development or adoption of new education data systems by 

many states and districts. This work has been necessary, but it is not sufficient for data-driven 

decision making to make a mark on education at the local level. Data-driven educational decision 

making is more than a data system. It is a set of expectations and practices around the ongoing 

examination of student data to ascertain the effectiveness of educational activities and 

subsequently to refine programs and practices to improve outcomes for students. In this rapidly 

changing field, little is known about the prevalence of data-driven decision-making activities 

nationally or about the supports and barriers for putting these practices into place. 

PURPOSE OF THE BRIEF 

Using data from national surveys of teachers 

and school districts, this brief provides the first 

national estimates of the prevalence of K–12 

teachers’ access to and use of electronic student 

data management systems. Specifically, the 

brief addresses three research questions: 

What is data-driven 

educational decision making?

In an education context, data-driven 

decision making is the analysis and 

use of student data and information 

concerning educational resources 

and processes to inform planning, 

• How broadly are student data systems being 

implemented in districts and schools? 

• Within these systems, how prevalent are 

tools for generating and acting on data? 

• How are school staff using student data 

systems? 

resource allocation, student 

placement, and curriculum and 

instruction. The practice entails 

regular data collection and ongoing 

implementation of a continuous 

improvement process. 

DATA SOURCES

This brief reports on analyses of two data sets from the U.S. Department of Education’s National 

Educational Technology Trends Study (NETTS). The primary data set used in this brief consists 

of responses of a nationally representative sample of K–12 teachers to a survey administered in 

fall and winter 2005. The teachers were clustered in schools sampled from districts participating 

in a NETTS district survey. The secondary data set consists of respondents to the NETTS district 

survey—a nationally representative sample of districts surveyed in spring 2005. Both district and 

teacher respondents were asked to report on activities during the 2004–05 school year. 

Teachers were sampled from 975 schools within districts selected for the NETTS district survey. 

High-poverty schools were oversampled to obtain more precise data about their technology use. 

The final teacher sample consisted of 6,017 teachers; 82 percent of them responded to the 

survey. The teacher survey collected information on teacher background characteristics; general 
2 

technology access, supports, and barriers; technology-related professional development; 

technology use by teachers and students; and items on the topic of this evaluation brief—the use 

of technology-supported student data management systems. Sampling weights were applied to 

obtain nationally representative estimates based on teacher responses. 

Districts were sampled from among the 12,483 districts that received federal Enhancing 

Education Through Technology (EETT) funds in 2003, as well as an additional 2,239 districts 

that had not received EETT funds.1 The district survey was mailed to 1,039 district information 

technology professionals; 99 percent of them responded to the survey. The survey covered a 

variety of topics regarding the federal EETT program, including the availability of a technologysupported student data management system and its accessibility to teachers. 

FINDINGS

Access to a Student Data System 

Roughly half of all teachers (48 percent) reported having access to an electronic data system 

that provides them with student data. 

The first requisite for using an electronic student data system to support data-driven decision 

making is data access. Only about half of all K–12 teachers reported having access to an 

electronic student data system during the 2004–05 school year (Exhibit 1). 

Teachers in schools that were above average in the proportion of students eligible for free or 

reduced-price lunches were just as likely as those in lower-poverty schools to report having 

access to such a data system.2

 A somewhat lower proportion of elementary school teachers (45 

percent, compared with 54 percent of both middle and secondary school teachers) reported 

having access to a student data system. 

 

1

 The 60 largest urban districts were selected with certainty; districts composed entirely of special education schools 

and vocational-technical schools and independent charter schools that are their own districts, were excluded from 

the district sampling frame. To obtain the NETTS teacher survey sample, schools were selected from the districts 

in the district survey, and then a stratified sample of teachers was selected from the sampled schools (schools were 

stratified by poverty and grade level). Although the sampling process was sequential, entities at each level were 

selected at random (e.g., teachers were randomly selected from staff rosters from each of the schools in the 

sample). 

2

 For schools, “higher poverty” was defined as above a specified cutoff in terms of the percentage of students who 

were eligible for the free or reduced-price lunch program. The dividing line between higher-poverty and lowerpoverty schools was selected to ensure that for each school type (elementary, middle, or high school), there would 

be the same number of teachers in the higher-poverty and the lower-poverty groups, as reported in the NCES 

Common Core of Data (CCD). Elementary schools with 29.7 percent of their students eligible for free or reducedprice lunches were classified as higher poverty. For middle and high schools, the poverty thresholds were 24.3 

percent and 15.9 percent, respectively. 
3 

Of the teachers who said they had access to a 

student data system, the great majority (75 

percent) reported that it was provided by their 

district. Some teachers (15 percent) reported 

having access to a student data system made 

available by their school; relatively few 

teachers (4 percent) reported having a system 

provided by their state; 6 percent did not know 

the source of the system to which they had 

access. 

What is an electronic student 

data system? 

The collection of wide-scale 

information on the availability and 

use of electronic student data 

systems is hampered by the lack of a 

generally accepted definitions for a 

“student data system.” Generally 

speaking, an electronic data system 

is a collection of programs 

supporting the digital storage, 

manipulation, and extraction of 

information from a database. In 

addition to housing current and 

historical data on students, some data 

systems include programs 

capable of capturing transactions 

such as attendance, managing 

curriculum resources, and analyzing 

student data.

Exhibit 1 

Percentage of Teachers Reporting Access to a Student Data System 

Exhibit reads: Overall, 48 percent of teachers said that they had access to a 

student data system in school year 2004–05. 

Note: * indicates significant difference between teachers in elementary schools 

and those in middle or high schools. 

Source: NETTS teacher survey, 2005. 

48%

49%

47%

45%

54%

54%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Overall

Higher poverty

Lower poverty

Elementary*

Middle

High

School

poverty

Teacher grouping

Grade

taught

Percent of teachers
4 

More than 60 percent of districts reported having made electronically stored student data 

available to their teachers in 2004–05. 

Among the districts responding to the NETTS survey of local education agencies, 62 percent 

said that they had electronic data that teachers could access. But many teachers in these districts 

were unaware that there was a system they could access. Among those districts in which teachers 

were sampled for the NETTS teacher survey, just 53 percent of teachers in districts that reported 

providing electronic data that teachers could use reported having access to an electronic student 

data system.3 It is quite possible that teachers were unaware of the data access provided by their 

district or that teachers lacked the hardware, network connection, or know-how to access a 

system theoretically available to them. Another possibility is that many teachers regard a student 

data system as something more than access to district-stored student data. This problem could 

have been exacerbated by the fact that the NETTS district and teacher surveys used somewhat 

different terminology.4 

There were also 393 teachers who said they had access to a district-provided student data 

management system, although their districts reported that they did not have student data stored 

electronically in a system that teachers could access. Because the extent to which this 

discrepancy reflects teacher misconceptions concerning the source of a system, differences in 

question interpretation, or misreporting by the district or the teacher is unknown, the teacher 

survey data were analyzed both with and without these 393 cases. The trends and patterns 

reported in this brief do not appear to be strongly influenced by responses of this set of teachers. 

When the analyses reported in this brief were rerun without these 393 cases, only a single 

statistic changed significantly (and that change was just 2 percentage points).5

 

As of 2004–05, over two-thirds of all school districts maintained electronic records of students’ 

standardized test scores. 

Based on all districts responding to the NETTS district survey, the most frequent types of 

electronic data maintained by districts were attendance (99 percent), demographics (94 percent), 

course enrollment histories (93 percent), special education information (92 percent), and grades 

(89 percent). (See Exhibit 2.) Standardized test scores were maintained in electronic form by 69 

percent of districts. Fewer districts stored electronic data on teacher qualifications (49 percent) 

 

3

 This statistic is based on a subsample of 448 districts from which participating schools and teachers were drawn. 

4

 The district survey asked whether the district stored specific types of data electronically and then whether teachers 

could access each type of electronically stored data. The teacher survey asked whether the teacher had access to 

“an electronic data management system that provided you with student data.” 

5

 The numbers reported in this brief include responses of these 393 teachers; the alternate value for the statistic that 

would change significantly if these cases were excluded is provided in a table note for Exhibit 8. 
5 

and on participation of students in particular educational programs, such as those using an 

innovative classroom curriculum (37 percent). 

Exhibit 2 

Types of Data That Districts Store Electronically 

Exhibit reads: Almost all districts (99 percent) stored attendance data in 

electronic form; 69 percent stored student standardized test scores 

electronically. 

Source: NETTS district survey, 2005.

Even though nearly half of all teachers (48 percent) reported having access to student data 

systems, they did not necessarily have the information or tools they needed to make use of the 

student data available to them. 

There is typically a lag between standardized test administration (usually done in the spring) and 

availability of student data. Researchers have noted teachers’ frustration with data systems that 

do not include achievement measures for the group of students with whom they are currently 

working (Thorn, 2002). Less than 40 percent of teachers with access to a student data system 

reported having access to standardized test scores from the current year for their students 

(2004–05 data in Exhibit 3). Given that only 48 percent of teachers reported having access to a 

student data system, this means that just 19 percent of responding teachers said that they had 

access to current-year test scores for their students. Even fewer teachers (less than 20 percent of 

99%

94%

93%

92%

89%

69%

49%

43%

37%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Attendance

Demographics

Course enrollment histories

Special education information

Grades

Standardized test scores

Teacher qualifications

Teacher professional development

Program participation

Percent of districts
6 

the 48 percent with data access) reported having access to software that they could use to analyze 

and interpret test scores. Around a fifth of teachers (22 percent) with access to a student data 

system reported that it included course enrollment histories for their students. 

Only a small proportion of the teachers with access to a student data system reported that the 

system incorporated online assessments (17 percent) or online instruction that students could use 

(13 percent). Just 6 percent of teachers with access to a student data system said that it provided 

information on students’ participation in supplementary education programs such as tutoring. 

The only two types of data that a majority of teachers with access to a student data system 

reported being able to access were class attendance and course grades (74 percent and 66 

percent, respectively). 
7 

Exhibit 3 

Teacher Reported Categories of Data and Support 

Available to Them

Exhibit reads: Of the 48 percent of teachers who reported having access to a 

student data system, 74 percent indicated that they had access to attendance 

data, and 39 percent indicated access to the current year’s (2004–05) 

students’ standardized test scores. 

Note: <2003–04 indicates access to standardized test scores from years prior 

to 2003–04. 

Source: NETTS teacher survey, 2005.

74%

66%

47%

45%

39%

38%

32%

30%

22%

18%

17%

17%

15%

13%

11%

6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Attendance

Course grades

Grade-level scores 2003-04

Grade-level scores 2004-05

Student scores 2004-05

Student scores 2003-04

Grade-level scores < 2003-04

Student scores <2003-04

Course histories

Estimates of AYP

Software to analyze data

Online assessments for students

Prior school(s) attended

Online instruction for students

Links scores with instructional resources

Supplementary education program participation

Percent of teachers with access to student data system
8 

How Teachers and Districts Use Student Data Systems 

Teachers are using student data systems to provide information to parents, to monitor their 

students’ status with respect to accountability requirements, and to plan and refine their 

instruction. 

A large majority (89 percent) of teachers with access to a student data system said that they used 

the system at least a few times during 2004–05. Given the fact that only 48 percent of teachers 

reported having access to a student data system in 2004–05, this means that just 43 percent of 

teachers were using a data system in that school year. When system use for particular purposes is 

examined, the most commonly reported use of data systems was to inform parents about their 

students’ progress. Seventy percent of the teachers who had acess to student data systems had 

used them for this purpose (Exhibit 4). Similarly, 65 percent of the teachers who had access to 

student data systems had used them to track individual students’ test scores. About 44 percent of 

the teachers with system access had used the systems to examine test scores for a class of 

students.

Exhibit 4 

Percentage of Teachers Who Reported Using a Student 

Data System at Least a Few Times a Year for a Specific 

Function

Exhibit reads: Of the 48 percent of teachers who reported having 

access to a data system, 70 percent said that they had used system data 

to inform parents of student progress; 55 percent said that they had 

used system data to identify individual students’ skill gaps. 

Source: NETTS teacher survey, 2005.

70%

65%

60%

55%

50%

49%

44%

42%

41%

37%

36%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Inform parents

Track individual test scores

Track other measures

Identify skill gaps

Inform curriculum changes

Pacing

Track test scores by grade

Student placement

Identify promising practices

Track AYP

Assess test-taking needs

Percent of teachers with access to student data system
9 

Use of student data systems to plan and individualize instruction appears less common than 

use of the systems to inform parents or keep track of accountability measures. 

Just over half (55 percent) of the teachers with access to student data systems reported having 

used system data to identify individual students’ skill gaps, 50 percent had used data from the 

systems in planning changes to the curriculum, and 41 percent had used data to evaluate 

promising classroom practices. The ways in which teachers use the data systems may be 

influenced by the types of data and data query functions in the systems available to teachers 

(Wayman et al., 2004). 

Tracking accountability measures is also the primary use that districts make of their student 

data systems. 

The NETTS district survey asked district staff to report the purposes for which they used their 

student data systems. Like teachers, district staff report using the system to track test scores and 

other measures of student progress, for student placement, and to inform parents of student 

progress (Exhibit 5). Similar proportions of district and teacher respondents reported using a 

student data system to help inform curriculum changes (61 percent and 50 percent, respectively). 

Forty-one percent of districts with student information systems used student data from their 

systems in evaluating promising practices, and 28 percent used data systems in evaluating 

teacher performance. 
10 

Exhibit 5 

Percent of Districts Using a Data System at Least a Few Times a 

Year for a Specific Function

Exhibit reads: Among districts storing data electronically, 80 percent reported 

using the system to track other measures of student progress; 61 percent 

reported using data systems to inform curriculum changes. 

Note: Other student progress measures are measures other than test scores and 

graduation rates. 

Source: NETTS district survey, 2005.

70%

65%

60%

55%

50%

49%

44%

42%

41%

28%

5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Track other student progress

Track class test scores

Student placement

Inform parents

Inform curriculum changes

Track school graduation rates

Inform professional development offerings

Inform resource allocation

Evaluate promising practices

Evaluate teacher performance

Other

Percent of districts
11 

There were few differences by grade level and subject area in how teachers reported using 

student data systems. 

Using five teacher grade or subject categories (elementary generalist, middle and high school 

English, middle and high school mathematics, middle and high school science, and middle and 

high school social studies), statistically significant differences were found in the prevalence of 

just three of the 11 data system uses examined in the survey.6

 As shown in Exhibit 6, differences 

were found in the following uses: 

• Identifying skill gaps. Teacher groups varied in their propensity to use data systems to 

identify their students’ skill gaps. The difference between elementary teachers (61 

percent), who were the group most likely to do so, and middle and high school 

mathematics teachers (43 percent), who were the group least likely to do so, was 

statistically significant. 

• Tracking other measures. Different teacher groups varied in their use of data systems to 

track measures of student progress other than standardized test scores. Reported use of 

this practice varied from a high of 68 percent for middle and high school history and 

social studies teachers with access to student data systems to a low of 46 percent for 

mathematics teachers. 

• Pacing. Among teachers with access to a data system, there were differences across 

teacher groups in the proportion using student data to help determine how to pace 

instruction. Elementary teachers (54 percent) appeared to be most likely to report using a 

data management system to help in pacing instruction; middle and high school 

mathematics teachers and history and social studies teachers appeared least and likely (40 

percent) to report doing so, but the difference did not attain statistical significance. 

 

6

 For each system use, an omnibus test for differences in the proportion of teachers using the system in that way was 

conducted. For the three uses for which the omnibus test was significant at p<.05, every possible pair-wise 

combination of teacher categories was examined. Significance levels for the post-hoc tests were set using the 

Benjamin and Hochberg (1995) procedure for controlling false discovery rates. Only one of the individual 

pairwise comparisons (the difference between elementary and middle and high school math teachers using a 

student data management system to identify skill gaps) attained significance. 
12 

Exhibit 6 

Percentage of Teachers Who Reported Using a Student Data System at Least a Few 

Times a Year for a Specific Function, by Teaching Area 

Middle/High School 

System Use 

Elementary 

School English Math Science 

History or 

Social 

Studies 

Inform parents 66 74 69 68 78 

Track individual test scores 65 62 69 56 65 

Track other measures* 63 58 46 51 68 

Identify skill gaps* 61^

 47 43^ 46 49 

Inform curriculum 51 52 42 51 55 

Pacing* 54 52 40 41 40 

Track test scores by grade 44 43 38 44 48 

Student placement 40 39 54 33 46 

Identify promising practices 42 43 33 44 43 

Track AYP 39 35 39 33 30 

Assess test-taking needs 35 48 28 37 40 

* Use varies significantly across the five teacher categories. ^ Percentage using system to identify skill gaps differs significantly between elementary teachers and 

middle and high school math teachers.

Exhibit reads: Among teachers who reported using a student data system, 66 percent of elementary 

teachers said that they used the system to inform parents about student progress. Among middle and 

high school teachers, 74 percent of English teachers, 69 percent of math teachers, 68 percent of 

science teachers, and 78 percent of history and social studies teachers said that they used the system 

to inform parents about student progress. 

Source: NETTS teacher survey, 2005. 

Teachers in higher-poverty schools reported using their student data system at least as 

frequently as did teachers in lower-poverty schools. 

The poverty level of the school tends to have some association with frequency of data system use 

for all the purposes examined (Exhibit 7), but the difference between teachers from higherpoverty and lower-poverty schools was statistically significant for only three of the 11 uses 

included in the survey. Teachers at higher-poverty schools were more likely than their colleagues 

at lower-poverty schools to use student data systems to track grade-level test scores, to identify 

promising teaching practices, and to assess their students’ need for test-taking practice. 
13 

Years of teaching experience appear to have little influence on the purposes for which teachers 

use student data systems; the only significant difference in data system use related to years of 

teaching was a greater likelihood that teachers with the most experience (9 or more years) would 

use the student data system to inform parents about student progress. 

Exhibit 7 

Teachers Who Reported Using a Data 

Management System at Least a Few Times a Year for a Specific 

Function, by Poverty Level of School 

Exhibit reads: Of the teachers who reported access to a student data 

system, 42 percent of teachers in higher-poverty schools reported using 

the data system to assess students’ need for test-taking practice, while 

29 percent of teachers in lower-poverty schools did so. 

Note: * indicates significant difference between teachers in higher-poverty 

and those in lower-poverty schools. 

Source: NETTS teacher survey, 2005.

70%

66%

63%

59%

53%

52%

48%

44%

45%

39%

42%

70%

63%

57%

51%

47%

46%

39%

41%

36%

34%

29%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Inform parents

Track individual test scores

Track other measures

Identify skill gaps

Inform curriculum

Pacing

Track test scores by grade*

Student placement

Identify promising practices*

Track AYP

Assess test-taking needs*

Percent of teachers with access to student data system

Higher poverty Lower poverty
14 

Support for Using Student Data Systems 

Teachers reported that using the student data system in collaboration with school colleagues 

was almost as common as using the system on their own. 

The social context in which teachers use data systems (whether as a solitary activity or in 

collaboration with colleagues) provides an indication of the kinds of decisions being addressed 

with data. Teachers who use student data to make instructional decisions for their own class or 

for individual students in their class are likely to spend time examining data on their own. 

Teachers who are engaged in making broader decisions, such as those related to a school 

improvement plan or department- or grade-level decisions about curriculum and instruction are 

likely to look at data with colleagues. The data-driven decision-making movement promotes both 

kinds of activity, and past research suggests that a school culture stressing collaboration 

facilitates the implementation of data-driven decision making (Chen, Heritage, and Lee, 2005). 

Around three-quarters (77 percent) of the teachers with access to a student data system said that 

they had used it on their own; 71 percent said that they had used it in a joint activity with other 

staff from their school (Exhibit 8). 

Nearly 60 percent of the teachers with access to a student data system reported having used the 

system as part of a district activity in their school and 27 percent as part of a district activity with 

staff from other schools. Less than 5 percent reported having used the system in a social context 

other than the four included in Exhibit 8. 
15 

Exhibit 8 

Teachers Who Reported Using a Data 

 System at Least a Few Times a Year to Make 

Instructional Decisions, by Social Context of Use 

Exhibit reads: Of the 48 percent of teachers who reported access to a 

student data system, 77 percent said they had used the system on their 

own and 71 percent said they had used it with other teachers at their 

school; 58 percent said that they had used the system as part of a district 

activity conducted at their school. 

Note: If teachers who reported having access to a district-provided 

system in districts that said they did not provide teachers with access to 

student data systems are deleted from the analysis, the percentage of 

teachers saying they had analyzed data on their own is reduced to 75 

percent. 

Source: NETTS teacher survey, 2005.

77%

71%

58%

27%

5%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

On own

Working with

school colleagues

District activity in

school

District activity

with other schools

In another setting

Percent of teachers with access to student data system
16 

The most common supports for teachers’ use of student data systems come from their schools 

and not through formal course work. 

Over 60 percent of teachers with access to student data systems reported having received 

professional development on this topic at their school; a similar proportion reported that their 

principals supported data-driven decision making (Exhibit 9). In contrast, less than 10 percent of 

teachers with access to systems reported having had formal course work on the use of student 

data systems. 

Roughly a quarter (28 percent) of teachers who had access to student data systems said they had 

received support from a consultant or mentor teacher for this activity. Only 8 percent of teachers 

reported having had formal course work on data-driven decision-making. One-sixth (16 percent) 

of teachers with access to a data system reported having had paid time set aside for examining 

student data and using data to make decisions about practice. (This would include time during 

the regular school day or regular professional development days covered by their salary, as well 

as any summer or after-school sessions for which they received a stipend.) 

Teachers in higher-poverty schools were as likely as those in lower-poverty schools to report 

each type of support for using student data systems. Mathematics teachers were less likely than 

other teachers to report having received professional development for use of student data 

systems, and teachers with nine or more years of teaching experience were also less likely than 

their less-experienced colleagues to report having had this kind of professional development. 
17 

Exhibit 9 

Teachers Indicating Support for Using 

Student Data to Guide Instruction, by Source of Support 

Exhibit reads: Of the 48 percent of teachers who reported having access 

to a student data system, 63 percent had received professional 

development at school; 16 percent reported having had paid time set 

aside for student data use. 

Source: NETTS teacher survey, 2005.

SUMMARY

The data reported in this brief provide a snapshot of teachers’ access to and supports for using 

student data systems in the 2004–05 school year. They provide a baseline against which 

outcomes associated with new federal, state, and district efforts to promote the use of data 

systems to improve instruction and student achievement can be compared. 

About half of all teachers reported having access to an electronic student data management 

system in school year 2004–05 (but there is some ambiguity concerning the meaning of 

“access” and “data management system,” as demonstrated by apparent discrepancies between 

teacher and district responses). Of those teachers who reported having access to a data system, 

a majority reported making use of it for monitoring student progress, planning, and refining 

their instruction, or keeping parents informed (all of which are promoted under NCLB). 

Teachers in higher-poverty schools were no less likely than their counterparts in lowerpoverty schools to report having access to and using student data systems, and for some 

purposes they reported more frequent data use than did teachers at lower-poverty schools. The 

63%

61%

28%

18%

16%

8%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Professional development at school

Principal encouragement

Support from mentor

Professional development outside school

Paid time set aside

Formal course work

Percent of teachers with access to student data system
18 

survey data suggest also that teacher collaboration around student data system use is common. 

Teachers were nearly as likely to use their student information system with their colleagues as 

on their own. More than half of teachers with access to student data systems reported that they 

had received professional development and principal support to use the data system—two key 

support elements. 

At the same time, in the 2004–05 school year teachers did not necessarily have appropriate 

data or the tools they needed to make good use of student data in planning and individualizing 

instruction. Less than half of the teachers who reported having had access to a student data 

system said that the system had student test scores from the current year. Few teachers 

reported having software to help them analyze and interpret test scores, and few had received 

formal training or course work on the use of student data to inform instruction. Some teachers 

had received support from a consultant or mentor teacher. Differences in the use of student 

data systems by grade level and subject area imply different levels of need, related to varying 

uses of data and differences in teachers’ current skill sets. In 2004–05, the majority of 

teachers had yet to use data to plan and individualize instruction. Previous research examining 

data-driven decision making in individual schools has suggested that the lack of time 

allocated to collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data is a major barrier to effective 

implementation of this practice (Ingram, Louis, and Schroeder, 2004; Marsh, Pane, and 

Hamilton, 2006). On the NETTS survey, only about one-sixth of teachers with access to data 

systems reported that they had had paid time set aside for data use. Hence, for the most part, 

districts are in essence expecting teachers to use the data system as an extra activity, either 

conducted on their own time or substituted for other activities during their regular planning 

period. 

District staff will need to confront these issues as they review their data-driven decisionmaking practices and plan support and professional development activities, and by teacher 

preparation staff as they assess their teacher training programs. 
19 

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Benjamin, Y., and Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate: A practical and 

powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series B), 57, 

289-300. 

Chen, E., Heritage, M., and Lee, J. (2005). Identifying and monitoring students’ learning needs 

with technology, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 10(3), 309-332. 

Ingram, D., Louis, K. S., and Schroeder, R. G. (2004). Accountability policies and teacher 

decision making: Barriers to the use of data to improve practice. Teachers College Record, 

106(6), 1258-1287. 

Marsh, J. A., Pane, J. F., and Hamilton, L. S. (2006). Making sense of data-driven decision 

making in education: Evidence from recent RAND research (RAND Education Occasional 

Paper). Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND. 

Thorn, C. A. (2002). Data use in the classroom: The challenges of implementing data-based 

decision-making at the school level. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American 

Educational Research Association, New Orleans. 

Wayman, J. C., Stringfield, S., and Yakimowski, M. (2004). Software enabling school 

improvement through analysis of student data (Report No. 67). Baltimore, Md.: Center for 

Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, Johns Hopkins University.