Learning Sciences Lunch and Learn with Dr. Ann O’Connell, “Data as Evidence: Local to Global Implications for Building an Evidence-base in Education”

Education leaders and policy makers rely on data to address or plan for complex challenges, such as strengthening teacher quality, increasing parent, teacher, and student engagement, impacting student achievement, and promoting educational equity. A critical component of data-based decisions is data quality, which can vary depending on the type of data being used, how the data are collected, or the impact on data quality of unintended events including weak data management systems, school disruptions, political contexts or other factors.  Along with the growing demand for high-quality data is the increasing global attention on evidence-based programs and practices in education. Within the context of a team-based training program for selection and use of evidence-based programs, sources of data as evidence and considerations for improving data quality are reviewed. Consistent with school-based and system-wide supports for actionable and high-quality data evidence, we aim for a better understanding of data-related challenges and for collaborative identification of promising approaches to addressing these challenges.

Bio:

Ann A. O’Connell, Ed.D., is Professor of Educational Psychology in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. She is the Charles A. DeMarzo and Keith N. Lamb Endowed Chair in Educational Equity, and coordinator of the Evaluation, Statistics and Measurement specialization at the GSE. Dr. O’Connell joined Rutgers in September 2024. Her research areas include multilevel models and analyses for complex samples, use of evidence-based interventions in education, and methods for evaluating education and health interventions. She is a former Fulbright Scholar to Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and is committed to efforts that improve capacity for quantitative research, data use and statistical methods locally and abroad.