The K-12 Educator’s Data Guidebook: Reimagining Practical Data Use in Schools

The K-12 Educator’s Data Guidebook is a comprehensive field guide for school professionals learning to use data. “Non-data people,” rejoice! Requiring no prior proficiency in data tools and programming, this book validates the implicit challenges of learning to use data to empower educators and features original real-world examples from in-service educators to illustrate common problem-solving. Each chapter uses stories, humor, and a human approach to set the tone for a safe and fun learning experience. Through this highly practical foundation, everyday educators can better engage school initiatives, professional development, and instructional challenges that require competent data use for improving school systems.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: You and Data: A Relationship 1. Discovering Your Data Gifts 2. Why Tests Aren’t Enough 3. Rewriting Your Data Story 4. Time is the Problem Part 2: Your Data Field Guide 5. Charts 6. Tables 7. Student-Level Data 8. Accountability Data Part 3: Process Made Practical 9. Using Data Questions 10. Practical Is Personal 11. Reflect and Revise Part 4: A New Direction 12. When Intuition and Data Meet 13. Go Deep, Go Wide, Go Out

About the Author :
Ryan Estrellado is an author and educator. He is the author of the book The K–12 Educator’s Data Guidebook: Reimagining Practical Data Use in Schools, in which he humanizes, challenges, and reframes how data is used in education. He is a co-author of Data Science in Education Using R, an innovative open-source book about learning data science using real-life education data. Ryan has over twenty years of experience in public education. He is an alumnus of the Strategic Data Project, a project of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University.

Review :
"When it comes to data in education, The K-12 Educators Data Guidebook addresses the elephant in the room: experts other than classroom teachers use data to make important decisions about what teachers and students do. Ryan Estrellado’s key argument is that data use can be accessible and meaningful teachers. Highly readable and invitingly humorous, this book will become a foundational resource for educators looking power up their use of data. It will also provide researchers, data analysts, and policymakers with a lens to consider what a more humane data literacy in K-12 educational contexts could look like." —Joshua Rosenberg, Assistant Professor of STEM Education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA "My parents, career educators, believed that only central office administrators used data. They never imagined that they could use data to improve their teaching, to address disparities, and to empower their students. I wish this book had existed when they were in the classroom. It provides an approachable guide for all educators to understand and harness the power of data for good." —Miriam Greenberg, Director of the Strategic Data Project at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, USA "The K-12 Educator's Data Guidebook provides concrete examples, reflections, and activities to help educators accurately and effectively interpret, describe, and use data. Well-organized and accessible even to new users of data, this excellent resource is filled with valuable insights on how to use data to answer specific questions in schools." —Cara Jackson, Senior Associate in the Social and Economic Policy Division at Abt Associates "Grounded in Ryan Estrellado’s practical experience, this book provides accessible tools for using data to inform decision making in schools." —Amanda Datnow, Professor of Education Studies at University of California San Diego, USA "Some people might pick up this book because they think it is 'good for them' to understand how to use data for advancing the goals of K-12 schools. When they read it, they'll get a deeper, more personal, and, dare I say, more fun experience than they bargained for. Ryan Estrellado helps us recognize that data can transform how we see the world. I am excited for teachers and administrators to read this book because they will be able to unlock their data-driven superpowers to understand our students and systems better. They, too, can become data storytellers, improving the K-12 experience for students, teachers, and communities based on insights from data." —Ji Son, Professor of Psychology at California State University, Los Angeles, USA