Abstract:

Educators in schools constantly make decisions that significantly impact the dynamics of their teaching and learning. For the most part, they rely on their personal and professional experiences to inform their decision-making processes. However, while valuable, trusting past experiences can sometimes be misleading and lacking the evidence needed for making informed decisions. Recognizing this challenge, educational stakeholders are increasingly looking for ways to expand the factors driving their decision-making processes. Research suggests that integrating data-driven decision-making alongside experiential knowledge can enhance the effectiveness of educational decision-making processes, and teaching at large. In this context, education dashboards, which present relevant stakeholders with information regarding learning environment and learners themselves, and hence serve as data-driven decision-making support systems, offer a promising direction. Through regular monitoring and analysis of data presented via the dashboard, educational institutions can identify areas of strength and areas for growth, enabling them to refine teaching strategies and plan interventions accordingly. In essence, educational dashboards have the potential of driving positive educational transformation at all levels, from teaching to policymaking. Considering the growing need to strengthen research-practice partnership, this paper presents part of a broader study of an early implementation of a newly developed dashboard at a national level in Uruguay. The aim of the study was to examine the use of an education dashboard developed in the Uruguayan education system, and to broaden and improve its usage, by examining the needs of its users in order to improve their decision-making. The research question we discuss herewith is: What are the facilitating and hindering factors for the use of the education dashboard by educators, as consumers and producers of data, as a basis for decision-making?

This qualitative study was carried out in Uruguay, where a new dashboard for school staff had been developed at the national level. We had two cohorts of participants. First, 27 principals and 22 classroom teachers from secondary schools dedicated to nurturing students facing educational challenges (María Espínola Centers) who were interviewed in focus groups; secondly, nine national-level policymakers and specialists, from fields related to our research, e.g., education, psychology, information technology, system management, and public policy, who were interviewed. Data collection was carried out between June and August 2023, with all focus groups and interviews recorded and fully transcribed before being analyzed. Analyzing the data in a bottom-up manner resulted in 131 statements referring to facilitating and hindering factors for current use of the education dashboard. We classified them according to facilitating factors (n=55) and hindering factors (n=76). We further searched for themes that participants addressed when describing these factors, and consequently identified five major themes: Data Management, Implementation & Training, Policy, Technical & Infrastructure, and User Experience (UX). Some of these themes have both facilitating and hindering factors. Our findings have implications for policymakers, education dashboard developers, and school staff.

Keywords:

Education dashboard, data-driven decision making, secondary school.