Data is one of the most powerful guides to instructional efficacy, revealing insights about the students you serve. Author Michael Roberts challenges educators to move past correlative data to active, data-driven decision making. Learn how to analyze data with a real sense of purpose, uncovering the causal data needed to build effective interventions and innovative teaching strategies that enhance achievement for every student. K–12 teachers, school leaders, and administrators can use this book to: Implement data as an insightful complement to teacher experience, knowledge, and skill - Analyze data actively and more effectively, finding patterns to inform actionable plans - Embrace data as a guide for improvement, not a means to threaten and blame - Cultivate teamwork, trust, and vision among educators sharing data across their school - Champion efficacy as the guiding principle toward data-driven decisions and changes Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Data Collection and Compliance Versus Data Use Chapter 2: The Facts Versus Your Gut Chapter 3: Data Observation Versus Data Analysis Chapter 4: Data as a Tool Versus Data as a Punishment Chapter 5: My Data Versus Our Data Chapter 6: The Way We’ve Always Done It Versus Finding a Way That Works Chapter 7: Data Compliance Versus Data Ownership Chapter 8: Work-Arounds Versus Plow-Throughs Epilogue References and Resources Index “Educators must learn to interact with all types of data to create a structured and systematic plan for informing instruction that leads to student success. With The Data Book for Educators Who Don’t Like Data (and Those Who Want to Use Data Better) , Michael Roberts has written another masterpiece. In this text, he reminds educators that they must look at ‘the human behind the numbers,’ and that ‘each number on the spreadsheet represents a student.’ It is a must-read for educators at all levels.” -- Bo Ryan / Principal, author, and Marzano Resources and Solution Tree associate “ The Data Book for Educators Who Don’t Like Data (and Those Who Want to Use Data Better) is a refreshingly practical and comprehensive how-to guide that demystifies data use in schools and turns it into actionable information that genuinely improves student learning and adult practice. Grounded in research, yet written with clarity and purpose, this book offers practical, easy-to-implement strategies that educators can apply at the district, school, team, and individual levels.” -- Jason A. Andrews / Superintendent of schools, Windsor Central School District, New York “ The Data Book for Educators Who Don’t Like Data (and Those Who Want to Use Data Better) offers practical, actionable strategies that support educators in purposeful data interpretation and application. This book will help strengthen grade-level teamwork, providing a compassionate yet appropriately rigorous framework that supports teams who may be struggling with either the skill or the will to engage in meaningful data analysis.” -- Jennifer Robinson / Principal, Maricopa Elementary School, Arizona Michael Roberts is an author and consultant with more than two decades of experience in education. He has been an administrator at the district level and has served as an on-site administrator at the high school, middle school, and elementary school levels. Prior to his stint as director of elementary curriculum and instruction in Scottsdale, Arizona, Michael was principal of Desert View Elementary School (DVES) in Hermiston, Oregon. Under his leadership, DVES produced evidence of increased learning each year from 2013 to 2017 for all students and met the challenges of 40 percent growth over four years, a rising population of English learners, and a dramatic increase in the number of trauma-affected students. Michael attributes the success of DVES to the total commitment of staff to the three big ideas and the four critical questions of a professional learning community. This commitment led to a schoolwide transition from me to we—a fundamental shift in thinking that made all the difference. Previously, Michael served as an assistant principal in Prosser, Washington, where he was named the 2010–2011 Three Rivers Principal Association Assistant Principal of the Year. In 2011–2012, he was a finalist for Washington Assistant Principal of the Year. Michael earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Washington State University and his master’s degree in educational leadership from Azusa Pacific University. To learn more about Michael’s work, visit https://everykidnow.com, or follow him @everykidnow on X or Instagram.