PCP Data-Driven Decision Making 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal law requires schools to publicly report disaggregated student performance data by subgroup?
- Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (Correct answer)
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- Title IX of the Education Amendments
Correct answer: Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
ESSA requires states and districts to publicly report academic achievement data broken down by race, income, disability, and English learner status.
Question 2: A principal notices that student performance data improves each spring. Before celebrating, the principal should consider which data validity threat?
- Seasonal or testing effects that inflate scores artificially (Correct answer)
- Teacher effectiveness declining over time
- Curriculum being too difficult in fall
- Students transferring out in spring
Correct answer: Seasonal or testing effects that inflate scores artificially
Score gains near standardized testing windows may reflect test preparation rather than genuine learning gains, a validity threat called 'teaching to the test.'
Question 3: What is the PRIMARY purpose of a school data dashboard for a building-level principal?
- To provide a real-time, at-a-glance view of key performance indicators for decision-making (Correct answer)
- To replace teacher gradebooks
- To share student grades publicly
- To satisfy state reporting requirements
Correct answer: To provide a real-time, at-a-glance view of key performance indicators for decision-making
A well-designed data dashboard consolidates key indicators—attendance, behavior, grades, assessment—so principals can monitor school health and act quickly.
Question 4: A principal wants to determine whether a new reading intervention actually caused student improvement. Which research design provides the strongest evidence of causation?
- Randomized controlled trial (RCT) (Correct answer)
- Teacher survey
- Pre-post comparison with no control group
- Focus group discussion
Correct answer: Randomized controlled trial (RCT)
Randomized controlled trials eliminate confounding variables by randomly assigning participants to treatment and control groups, providing the strongest causal evidence.
Question 5: Which practice BEST supports a culture of data-driven decision making among teachers?
- Regularly scheduled collaborative data team meetings focused on student learning (Correct answer)
- Requiring teachers to submit weekly data reports to administration
- Posting individual teacher performance data publicly
- Using data only for annual performance evaluations
Correct answer: Regularly scheduled collaborative data team meetings focused on student learning
Collaborative data teams normalize data use, build shared ownership of student outcomes, and translate findings into instructional changes more effectively than top-down mandates.
Question 6: Under FERPA, a principal may share a student's academic records without parental consent in which situation?
- With school officials who have a legitimate educational interest (Correct answer)
- With any teacher who requests the records
- With community members at a school board meeting
- With local media covering school performance
Correct answer: With school officials who have a legitimate educational interest
FERPA's 'school officials with legitimate educational interest' exception allows sharing records internally when there is a genuine educational need without parental consent.
PCP Data-Driven Decision Making 2
Which federal law requires schools to publicly report disaggregated student performance data by subgroup?