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Data rooms -- sometimes called "war rooms," after military strategy rooms -- are conference rooms or classrooms dedicated to posting, reviewing, and analyzing data. The rooms often are adorned with charts, graphs, and statistics about the students, school, and district. The accountability era has encouraged more educators to employ rather than just store data.

Administrators who use data rooms say putting the information out in the open has helped them learn more about trends and zero in on problem areas they might have missed before.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM EDUCATION WORLD:

• Using Data Rooms to Map Your Way to Success
• Making Data Work for Your School

OTHER RESOURCES:

• The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement: Evaluation Information.
  Tips for using data to improve schools.
• National Staff Development Council: On the job: Data analysts focus school improvement efforts
  Advice on using data analysis to focus school improvement.

Article by Ellen R. Delisio
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