Parental Educational Decision Making: The Information They Seek and What They Want from Data Systems

Abstract

Background/Context Parents are important consumers of educational information, especially with stipulations in ESSA. Yet, research on parental information needs is limited. It is important to understand how the information is displayed for parents in accessible and understandable ways. This study uses a theoretical perspective of parental engagement and social networking to ground the research. Purpose/Objective/Research Questions Education is awash with information. This study sought to understand the nature of the information parents seek to make decisions about their child's education. It also sought to understand the characteristics of data displays that would make information accessible and understandable. What information do parents seek to make decisions about their children's education? Where do parents go to obtain educational information? What sources do parents access to obtain the needed information? What design characteristics do parents prefer to help them navigate websites and understand the presented information? Setting The study took place in focus groups held across Missouri. Population/Participants Twenty-one focus groups were convened with 118 parents from urban, suburban, and rural areas of Missouri. Intervention/Program/Practice Focus groups addressed the need to involve parents in educational decisions and their need for data. They were asked a series of questions to elicit responses about the information they seek to make decisions about their child's education. Parents were also asked about the design, ease of access, and understandability of data displays. Research Design The study used small focus groups and a standardized interview protocol. To elicit more detailed and deeper focused responses, alternative prompts were used to ensure that participants understood what was being asked. Data Collection and Analysis Parents responded to structured questions and visual displays. Responses were recorded through comprehensive note taking. The responses were analyzed using ATLAS.ti to identify underlying themes. Findings/Results Parents seek qualitative data sources that supply descriptions of schools and districts. They want not only test scores and school grades but also information that helps them understand the schools. They want details about the teachers, leaders, and programs offered and information about safety and processes. Parents want the information presented in accessible and understandable formats that include better graphics and more easily understood details. Conclusions/Recommendations Education agencies need to consider how to present diverse information that will meet stakeholders’ needs. This is relevant because not all parents are familiar with data displays. Parents seek descriptive data that are locally relevant and represented on school or district websites and data systems.

Attractive Rural Schools in Czechia

“…The unavailability of standardised data on the academic performance of schools in Czechia may play a role in the preference for 'soft' characteristics, too, as there is extensive evidence from other educational systems (including large-scale field experiments) that the availability of academic performance data leads families to prefer higher achieving schools (e.g. Houston & Henig, 2023;Valant & Weixler, 2022), although parents usually also consider other school traits and differences in preferences exist between different subgroups (Beuermann et al, 2023;Mandinach et al, 2020).…”

Who Communicates Well with Data: Examining Data Literacy among Pre‐service Secondary Teachers

“…Pre-service teachers are college students in teacher education programs and would be potential future school teachers who are influential to the future generation. Teacher education has long been promoting information technology integration and recently highlighted the importance of data decision-making (Mandinach & Gummer, 2016a, 2016b. In order to ensure future school teachers possess the ability to adapt to various tools/technologies and utilize data properly, it is crucial to investigate preinformation professionals can thus provide appropriate data-literacy-relevant services based on the current state.…”

“…While Mandinach and Gummer (2016a) framework provides a solid foundation to discuss data literacy for teaching, the lack of a ready-to-use data literacy survey instrument drives the current study to develop a data literacy assessment instrument that can be applied to the contexts of pre-service secondary teachers. The current study aims to develop an instrument to understand the current state of data literacy among pre-service teachers.…”

“…Research in LIS tended to be exploratory in nature and focused on teenagers (e.g., Bowler et al, 2017; Chi et al, 2018; Bowler et al, 2022). Empirical studies (e.g., Ebbeler et al, 2016; Kippers et al, 2018; Beck & Nunnaley, 2021) using the framework of data literacy for teaching proposed by Mandinach and Gummer (2016a) typically focus on educators' data literacy in four different aspects—identify problems, collect data, analyze data, and transform data. It remains unclear how pre‐service teachers perform in data literacy.…”

Data-based decision-making (DBDM) in education

“…In terms of developing a survey regarding teachers' data usage, I first identified the areas to be covered in the survey. Given the complexity of quantifying "data use," I operationalized this concept by singling out measurable empirical indicators (Mandinach & Gummer, 2016a), such as data training, 125 resources, accessibility, and collaboration among teachers on data analysis. I also incorporated five demographic questions regarding race/ethnicity, gender, age, teaching experience, and education level.…”