New York City’s Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS) is one of the most extensive investments in data-driven education reform in the country to date. ARIS consists of assessment, analytic, and reporting tools that provide teachers and administrators with information they can transform into improved classroom practice. The Research Alliance designed a three-part study to investigate how frequently middle school teachers and administrators use of the wealth of data to which ARIS provides access, the ways they use ARIS data, and the conditions that allow them to understand, use and learn from ARIS data. The first component uses data generated from ARIS web logs and analytic reports to assess educators’ ARIS usage, variations in usage, and the relationship between ARIS usage and student achievement. The second component incorporates original data collection using surveys, interviews, and focus groups to learn about factors that influence teachers’ use of ARIS. The third component examines the initial rollout of ARIS-Local, a teacher-directed, enhanced version of ARIS that is currently being developed.

The Spencer Foundation funded this project.

Key Staff and Collaborators

James Kemple, Thomas Gold, John Tyler (Brown University), Rachel Cole, Adriana Villavicencio, Jessica Lent, Andria Natale, Michael Segeritz, Janet Brand, and Kaitlin Trippany

Publications

Final report anticipated December 2012.