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Did your students' test scores rise last year? If you're like many of our Principal Files team members, you've witnessed an increase in scores over the past several years. Seldom is it by chance that those scores have risen; it's the result of a concerted effort by an entire staff -- an effort that is very likely to include extensive data analysis, focused teacher training, frequent monitoring of student progress, practice testing throughout the year, student and staff incentives, and other strategies.

Seventh-graders who take algebra are ahead of the game but can throw off attempts to use state test results to judge their schools' performance. Most students don't take Algebra 1 until eighth or ninth grade, but a few school districts offer it to a significant number of seventh-graders. So the results released earlier this month on state math tests can be misleading, districts such as Murrieta Unified point out.

This study from the Rand Corporation explores how teachers and principals use test score data, what features of its use are relevant to them, and what assistance is available to help them use the data for instructional decisionmaking.