Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schools

Educational systems worldwide seek sustainable school improvement by fostering collaborative organizational routines that support teachers' practises and students' learning outcomes. This study examines how five Estonian schools perceive evidence-driven school improvement in a 3-year schoo...

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Main Authors: Katrin Rääk, Eve Eisenschmidt
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-01-01
Series:Frontiers in Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1517985/full
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author Katrin Rääk
Eve Eisenschmidt
author_facet Katrin Rääk
Eve Eisenschmidt
author_sort Katrin Rääk
collection DOAJ
description Educational systems worldwide seek sustainable school improvement by fostering collaborative organizational routines that support teachers' practises and students' learning outcomes. This study examines how five Estonian schools perceive evidence-driven school improvement in a 3-year school-university partnership program. In each school, the principal and teachers collaborated with an external mentor. Supported by university experts, the school improvement teams worked on projects aimed at enhancing student learning in their schools and fostering a collaborative, evidence-driven school culture. Data was collected through focus group interviews with the school teams and analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings reveal that schools view data as connected to accountability and decision-making, with considerably less emphasis on instructional improvement. School organizational and teacher-related factors, together with data overload, hindered systematic data use. Notably, the school improvement program's effectiveness was most evident in the final year, with the sustainability of improvement largely dependent on collaborative routines.
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series Frontiers in Education
spelling doaj-art-1858e672137941a2a4c5bdb673c516872025-01-17T06:51:11ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2025-01-01910.3389/feduc.2024.15179851517985Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schoolsKatrin RääkEve EisenschmidtEducational systems worldwide seek sustainable school improvement by fostering collaborative organizational routines that support teachers' practises and students' learning outcomes. This study examines how five Estonian schools perceive evidence-driven school improvement in a 3-year school-university partnership program. In each school, the principal and teachers collaborated with an external mentor. Supported by university experts, the school improvement teams worked on projects aimed at enhancing student learning in their schools and fostering a collaborative, evidence-driven school culture. Data was collected through focus group interviews with the school teams and analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings reveal that schools view data as connected to accountability and decision-making, with considerably less emphasis on instructional improvement. School organizational and teacher-related factors, together with data overload, hindered systematic data use. Notably, the school improvement program's effectiveness was most evident in the final year, with the sustainability of improvement largely dependent on collaborative routines.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1517985/fullevidence-driven school improvementdata useroutinessustainable changecollaborationEstonia
spellingShingle Katrin Rääk
Eve Eisenschmidt
Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schools
Frontiers in Education
evidence-driven school improvement
data use
routines
sustainable change
collaboration
Estonia
title Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schools
title_full Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schools
title_fullStr Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schools
title_full_unstemmed Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schools
title_short Sustainable evidence-driven school improvement: routines and data use in Estonian schools
title_sort sustainable evidence driven school improvement routines and data use in estonian schools
topic evidence-driven school improvement
data use
routines
sustainable change
collaboration
Estonia
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1517985/full
work_keys_str_mv AT katrinraak sustainableevidencedrivenschoolimprovementroutinesanddatauseinestonianschools
AT eveeisenschmidt sustainableevidencedrivenschoolimprovementroutinesanddatauseinestonianschools