Education Week has just cited preliminary data and findings from CCT's two-year independent study of use of the Grow Network's student data reports within the New York City school system in an article on data-driven decision-making that appears in the May 26th issue of the weekly newspaper. Written by Lynn Olsen, the article examines how practitioners in Pennsylvania, New York City, and Chicago view and make use of the Grow Network's web- and print-based school data reports.

A two-year, $400,000 study, financed by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and conducted by the Education Development Center, suggests teachers and principals in the Big Apple are using the reports. While the nonprofit research center has not finished analyzing all the data, said Margaret Honey, a vice president at the Newton, Mass.-based EDC who directed the study, "there was just absolutely no doubt that the format of the Grow reports was incredibly useful to everyone."

Based on interviews with teachers and principals in 15 New York City elementary and middle schools and surveys sent to more than 700 educators, researchers found that teachers used the reports in three ways: to help with planning, including setting class priorities and doing weekly or monthly lesson planning; to differentiate instruction; and to converse with parents and others.

Some teachers, for example, printed out all the teaching materials on the Grow Network's Web site and then set up a file folder for each child that contained the student's Grow report and practice activities targeted for him or her.