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A Perfect Time for Data Use: Using Data-Driven Decision Making to Inform Practice

Data-driven decision making has become an essential component of educational practice across all levels, from chief state school officers to classroom teachers, and has received unprecedented attention in terms of policy and financial support. It was included as one of the four pillars in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009), indicating that federal education officials seek to ensure that data and evidence are used to inform policy and practice. This article describes the emergence of data-driven decision making as a topic of interest, some of the challenges to and opportunities for data use, and how the principles of educational psychology can and must be used to inform how educators are using data and the examination of its impact on educational practice.