Refining Common Sense: Moving from Data to Information
by Vickie Williams Phelps, Elizabeth F. Warren
Category: Education

Designed to help educators collect and use data more effectively, this guide enables the reader to develop three tools to use in decision-making. 1.) A Data Notebook to capture the charts, notes, and agendas created during the process along with goals, questions, and process information. 2.) A Master Data Directory for compiling the data sources that are available in the district and school, and, 3.) The Information-Based Decision-Making Roadmap that contains all the finished documents that have been used to make decisions. In addition to developing a toolkit there is also a Testing Primer with basic standardized test information. The primer can be used as a stand-alone document and is specifically designed to assist the reader in using test data accurately when making decisions. Refining Common Sense will help educators: Develop a clear roadmap to answering questions about his/her goals, Collect data to answer questions, Turn data into information, Use information in decision-making. Written for teachers, principals, program directors, superintendents, board members, and other educators, the book also includes an accompanying CD with templates for all charts, and blank charts in the appendix for copying.