School Districts’ Use of Talent Analytics: Barriers and Possibilities

2025/04/01 by Laura K. Rogers, Angela Cox, Ellen Goldring +3 · 1 voice
Computer Science · #Software System Performance and Reliability #Online Learning and Analytics

paper · doi:10.3138/jehr-2023-0067

Abstract

In this commentary, we discuss common barriers districts face in implementing and using talent analytics (personnel data systems) to build a more effective, diverse pool of school leaders. Our discussion draws upon insights from a large national sample of school districts implementing principal pipelines. We find that district leaders and administrators expressed a need for up-to-date, informative data systems to realize their principal workforce goals but that these aspirations were hampered by the limitations of time, funding, expertise, and their own misgivings. We share possibilities for the improved use of talent analytics to increase transparency and equity in districts’ principal and educator workforce development.

Citations

• Pathways to the Principalship
• School Principal Race, Teacher Racial Diversity, and Student Achievement

Discussions

• Everyone loves to debate the lowest hanging fruit in school improvement. It's this: building coherent district data systems. (Especially now in the era of declining investment in fed and SLDS!) We wr [bsky, 9 points, 2 comments]

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