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In efforts to improve their educational offerings and outcomes, schools and districts collect a variety of data, including student transcripts, enrollment records, and standard achievement test scores. However, they often fail to use the data they collect in a systematic manner to identify strengths and weaknesses at their sites, to determine improvement strategies or to monitor progress. Recent research conducted by Allen Phelps and colleagues recommends several steps for making better use of data:

1. Examine the need for and feasibility of collecting and analyzing data at the school level.
2. Use "home-grown" sources of postschool outcome data when teaching educators how to collect, analyze, and use data.
3. To inform local school leaders about the effectiveness of school practices and policies, create a data collection and dissemination process that links school and classroom practices with students' postschool performance.

For more information see Brief no. 6, published by the Research Institute on Secondary
Education Reform at http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/riser/Brief%206.pdf.