Course Content
Introduction to Data-Driven Decision-Making in Education
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The Leadership Problem Data Should Solve
The Main Data Types in Schools
Quality, Bias, and Common Traps
Ethics, Privacy, and Trust
Activity: Draft Your Minimum Viable Dashboard
Week 1 Quiz
Finding Patterns Without Overcomplicating It
This week shows you how to turn raw data into clear insight. You will learn simple routines for trend checks, subgroup scans, and triangulation. You will finish with a short pattern scan that leads to a practical next step.
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What Patterns Matter, and Why
The Pattern Scan Routine Leaders Can Teach
Triangulation: Making Safer Inferences
Simple Visuals Leaders Should Use Well
Assignment: Pattern Scan and Next Step
Week 2 Quiz
From Patterns to Causes
This week helps you move from “what we see” to “why it might be happening”. You will practise simple diagnosis tools that reduce guesswork. You will finish with a cause map and three testable hypotheses.
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Correlation is Not Causation, and Why Leaders Get Caught
Root Cause Tools That Work in Schools
Leading and Lagging Indicators: What to Watch First
How much evidence is enough to act
Assignment: Cause Map and Three Testable Hypotheses
Week 3 Quiz
Choosing Actions That Match the Evidence
This week helps you select actions that fit the problem you have diagnosed. You will learn a simple way to choose an intervention, set success criteria, and plan implementation. You will finish with a one-page action logic model that can be shared with your team.
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Interventions Fail When They Do Not Match the Problem
Choosing Actions: The Decision Checklist
Success Criteria and Decision Rules
Implementation Basics Leaders Must Protect
Assignment: One-page Action Logic Model
Week 4 Quiz
Leading a Sustainable Data-to-Action Culture
This week focuses on sustainability. You will learn how to build routines, roles, and meeting protocols that make data use normal, not seasonal. You will finish the course with a complete school data decision plan.
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Roles and Routines That Make Data Use Normal
A Meeting Protocol for Data Conversations That Build Trust
Reporting for Boards and Families Without Losing Meaning
The Continuous Improvement Cycle Leaders Should Embed
Capstone: School Data Decision Plan
Week 5 Quiz
Data-Driven Decision-Making for School Leaders

Many school initiatives fail for a simple reason. The action does not match the problem. Leaders then blame implementation, when the real issue was selection.

Start with a clear statement:

  • Problem: What pattern are we seeing?

  • Cause hypothesis: Why might it be happening?

  • Decision: What action best fits this cause?

Four common mismatches

  1. Training when the issue is clarity
    Staff do not need more workshops. They need clearer expectations and better tools.

  2. Accountability when the issue is skill
    Pressure without support breeds compliance, not improvement.

  3. Resources when the issue is coherence
    More time does not help if the work is poorly designed.

  4. New programmes when the issue is implementation
    A new initiative will not fix weak routines.

A practical leader move
Ask, “What is the smallest change that could shift this pattern?”

Key Takeaways

  • Do not jump from problem to programme.

  • Match action to the most plausible cause.

  • Choose the smallest change worth testing.

Quick Check

Name one initiative your school has run that did not match the real problem. What was the mismatch?

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