Teachers and administrators working in schools accredited by the North Central Association will be very comfortable with the language and concepts within this book.  Edie Holcomb effectively relates her experiences as a teacher, principal, staff developer, and school improvement specialist in several states to the importance of using data to develop and sustain a school improvement plan.  She begins with the development of a school portfolio based upon data, the selection of a set of goals to guide the school improvement effort, agreement upon a set of assessments to document student growth over time, and the selection of strategies expected to cause student achievement to increase.

Holcomb highlights many practices that have become part of the NCA school improvement process, and she presents them in a conversational manner that engages the reader.  For instance, she presents the critical need to focus upon defined goals for improvement rather than the strategies to reach the goals.  The need to consider assessment before strategies is also discussed. She helps the reader understand the need for disaggregation of data without going into complicated statistical language.  The tendency of some policy makers and media people to focus upon single score percentile ranks is considered, and she offers an excellent discussion of how student achievement might better be portrayed through quartile placement.  She also offers examples of how survey data might be best used in an analysis so that multiple comments offered by single individuals do not skew the results.

The language and examples offered by Holcomb are presented in ways that alleviate the fears felt by many people who seem apprehensive about data analysis.  She offers a variety of techniques for working with the school staff in the presentation and management of data, and these techniques are presented in a format that could be easily used in any school or with community groups.  Diagrams and charts that both amplify the text and provide examples that would work well for staff presentations are included in the book.  She concentrates upon developing enthusiasm for school improvement, developing improvement plans that are worth the time and energy of the staff, maintaining focus upon increased student growth, and communicating successes.  Her writing style is informal; the reader can quickly sense an identification with her experience and a connection to practical application.

This book would be especially useful as shared reading by members of a steering committee and a profile committee in a school approaching the beginning of its school improvement cycle.  Taking a couple of weeks for a committee to read and discuss this book as a precursor to the initiation of a new improvement cycle could very nicely set the stage for effective utilization of school data.

Holcomb's work is both a discussion of the critical need for understanding the use of data in the school improvement process and a handbook for working with the staff of a school engaged in developing a school improvement plan.  Teachers and administrators charged with leading a school through a cycle of continuous school improvement will find this well-written book an invaluable tool.