SLLA Data-Informed Decision Making 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A school improvement team wants to identify the root cause of declining 8th-grade science scores. Which protocol is MOST appropriate for this purpose?
- Fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram analysis (Correct answer)
- Force-field analysis
- SWOT analysis
- Affinity grouping of teacher opinions
Correct answer: Fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram analysis
A fishbone diagram is a structured root-cause analysis tool that maps multiple contributing factors to an identified problem.
Question 2: When comparing your school's chronic absenteeism rate to the state average, a school leader is using which type of data comparison?
- Longitudinal comparison
- Criterion-referenced comparison
- Cohort comparison
- Benchmarking (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Benchmarking
Benchmarking compares a school's performance to an external standard or peer group to gauge relative standing.
Question 3: Which action BEST demonstrates using a data-informed cycle of continuous improvement?
- Collecting state test scores annually and filing them in the office
- Analyzing student work, implementing a targeted strategy, monitoring results, and adjusting accordingly (Correct answer)
- Setting ambitious goals at the start of the year and reviewing them in June
- Sharing data with parents during conferences once per semester
Correct answer: Analyzing student work, implementing a targeted strategy, monitoring results, and adjusting accordingly
Continuous improvement requires an iterative cycle of analysis, action, monitoring, and adjustment rather than one-time data review.
Question 4: A leader reviews discipline referral data and finds that Black male students receive out-of-school suspensions at three times the rate of other groups for similar infractions. This pattern MOST likely indicates:
- Black male students engage in more serious misconduct
- Inconsistent or biased application of discipline policies (Correct answer)
- Insufficient behavioral support programs schoolwide
- An error in the data collection system
Correct answer: Inconsistent or biased application of discipline policies
Disproportionate discipline rates for similar infractions across racial groups are a documented indicator of implicit bias in policy application.
Question 5: Which measure of central tendency is MOST affected by extreme outlier scores in a data set?
- Mode
- Median
- Mean (Correct answer)
- Percentile rank
Correct answer: Mean
The mean incorporates every data point's value, so extreme outliers pull it disproportionately in their direction.
Question 6: A school leader wants to build teacher capacity for data analysis. The MOST effective long-term strategy is:
- Hiring a full-time data analyst to interpret reports for staff
- Providing one-time professional development on reading spreadsheets
- Embedding collaborative data inquiry into regular team meeting structures (Correct answer)
- Distributing printed data reports to teachers monthly
Correct answer: Embedding collaborative data inquiry into regular team meeting structures
Embedding data inquiry into recurring collaborative structures builds sustainable analytical habits rather than isolated skills.
Question 7: A principal is comparing this year's 4th-grade scores to last year's 4th-grade scores. This is an example of:
- Cohort tracking
- Cross-sectional comparison (Correct answer)
- Longitudinal analysis
- Value-added modeling
Correct answer: Cross-sectional comparison
Comparing the same grade level across different groups of students from different years is a cross-sectional, not longitudinal, comparison.
SLLA Data-Informed Decision Making 3
A school improvement team wants to identify the root cause of declining 8th-grade science scores.
Which protocol is MOST appropriate for this purpose?