A Handbook of Statistics and Quantitative Analysis for Educational Leadership is an approachable reference for all levels of educational leadership. The topics are presented with a clarity that makes the mathematics accessible, even if the reader has not had prior training in research methods or statistics. The handbook's refreshing treatment of the material includes concrete examples and questions for discussion that provide educational leaders the tools they need to make data-based decisions. From understanding statistical vocabulary to the choosing of statistical procedures, the topics presented are organized in increasing complexity, providing a solid foundation upon which the next topic may be based. A Handbook of Statistics and Quantitative Analysis is an invaluable reference tool in the pursuit of a masters or doctoral degree.

The chief executive officer of a corporation is not much different from a public school administrator. While CEOs base many of their decisions on data, for school administrators, this type of research may conjure up miserable memories of searching for information to meet a graduate school requirement. However, the value of data-based decision making will continue to escalate and the school community—students, teachers, parents and the general public—expect this information to come from their administrators. Administrators are called on to be accountable, but few are capable of presenting the mountain of data that they collect in a cohesive and strategic manner. Most statistical books are focused on statistical theory versus application, but Statistics Made Simple for School Leaders presents statistics in a simple, practical, conceptual, and immediately applicable manner. It enables administrators to take their data and manage it into strategic information so the results can be used for action plans that benefit the school system. The approach is 'user friendly' and leaves the reader with a confident can-do attitude to communicate results and plans to staff and the community.

Student Affairs by the Numbers aims to be the go-to book for student affairs professionals who want to know the basics of quantitative research and statistics for their work. Books on assessment in student affairs tend to discuss processes more than research design and statistics. Most books on statistics share too much information for practitioners, overwhelming them and making it difficult to discern what they need to know. Since these books do not use examples from student affairs, it is even more difficult for practitioners to connect with new concepts.Student Affairs professionals need to know how to design a study, collect data, analyze data, interpret results, and present the results in an understandable manner. This book will begin by establishing the need for these skills in student affairs and then quickly move to how to develop a research culture, how to conduct research, how to understand statistics, and concluding with how to change our research/assessment behaviors in order to make higher education better for students.

Pt. 1. Theoretical and practical perspectives -- pt. 2. Building support for data-based decisions -- pt. 3. Data-based applications.

School leaders come in many forms - superintendents, principals and other building leaders, department heads, Board of Education members, heads of the Parent Teacher organizations, teachers’ union representatives, state and federal agency heads, and others. As leaders they are expected to make wise, expeditious and knowledgeable decisions. It is not acceptable to speculate and base decisions on qualitative input. Hard data is regarded as elementary to a school leader’s toolbox, and expertise with data is expected. This expectation will only intensify with the advent of social media, increased data accessibility, sophisticated technology and astute consumers of education. Statistics can make data-based decision-making efficient and ultimately support school leaders with the most critical task – accurately interpreting what is discovered. Why not make statistics your most potent tool? Statistics Made Simple for School Leaders: A New Approach for Using Student, Staff and Community Data can help. This book serves as a handbook for school leaders. With this book, they can confidently and successfully execute data-based decisions to the benefit of their schools, students, staff and community.

This Handbook explores the discourse within the field of educational leadership and management. It provides a clear analysis of the current field as well as older foundational ideas and newer concepts which are beginning to permeate the discussion. The field of educational leadership and management has long acknowledged that educational contexts include a variety of leaders beyond school principals and other school officials such as informal and middle level leaders. By looking at the knowledge dynamic rather than a static knowledge base , this Handbook allows research to be presented in its multidimensional, evolving reality.

Our fifth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on the use of data in schools and districts as useful information for leadership and decision making. Schools are awash in data and information, from test scores, to grades, to discipline reports, and attendance as just a short list of student information sources, while additional streams of data feed into schools and districts from teachers and parents as well as local, regional and national policy levels. To deal with the data, schools have implemented a variety of data practices, from data rooms, to data days, data walks, and data protocols. However, despite the flood of data, successful school leaders are leveraging an analysis of their school’s data as a means to bring about continuous improvement in an effort to improve instruction for all students. Nevertheless, some drown, some swim, while others find success. Our goal in this book volume is to bring together a set of chapters by authors who examine successful data use as it relates to leadership and school improvement. In particular, the chapters in this volume consider important issues in this domain, including: • How educational leaders use data to inform their practice. • What types of data and data analysis are most useful to successful school leaders. • To what extent are data driven and data informed practices helping school leaders positively change instructional practice? • In what ways does good data collection and analysis feed into successful continuous improvement and holistic systems thinking? • How have school leadership practices changed as more data and data analysis techniques have become available? • What are the major obstacles facing school leaders when using data for decision making and how do they overcome them?