New Orleans – June 18, 2018
6:00 pm
Summer Principals Academy | New Orleans at Teachers College, Columbia University presents a series of faculty evening book talks open to the public and hosted at Loyola Law School’s campus in New Orleans for educators and education leaders. This event sponsored by Teachers College, Columbia University.
Education Leadership Data Analytics: Using Big Data Visual and Education Analytics to Inform Evidence-Based Improvement Cycles in Schools
Dr. Alex Bowers
Education data analytics is an emerging domain that merges data science, education statistics and data mining, with data visualization to help school and district leaders, teachers and policymakers make better use of the data that we already collect in schools. These types of data include traditional types of school data such as grades, test scores, discipline reports and attendance, as well as more recent innovations in personalized learning and learning management systems. Yet there are few analytics and tools that help to directly inform school and system leader decision making through leveraging these recent innovations. In this presentation, Alex J. Bowers will discuss the emerging domain of what he terms Education Leadership Data Analytics, in which data science and big data analytic strategies can help inform organization and leadership decision making through evidence-based improvement cycles and early warning systems.
Dr. Alex J. Bowers
Alex J. Bowers is an Associate Professor of Education Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he works to help school leaders use the data that they already collect in schools in more effective ways to help direct the limited resources of schools and districts to specific student needs. His research focuses on the intersection of effective school and district leadership, data driven decision making, student grades and test scores, student persistence and dropouts. His work also considers the influence of school finance, facilities, and technology on student achievement. Dr. Bowers studies these domains through the application of Intensive Longitudinal Data analysis (ILD), such as data visualization analytics, multilevel and growth mixture modeling, and cluster analysis heatmap data dashboards. He earned his Ph.D. in K12 Educational Administration from Michigan State University, and previous to teaching and education research, spent a decade as a cancer researcher in the biotechnology industry, with an M.S. in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, and a B.S. in Biochemistry. Dr. Bowers is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2012 American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Emerging Scholar Award for Division A (Administration, Organization and Leadership), and the 2012 University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) Jack A. Culbertson Award for outstanding early faculty research. He was named an Outstanding Reviewer of the Year for the journalsAmerican Educational Research Journal (2009) and Educational Administration Quarterly (2012). Dr. Bowers is a faculty advisor to the Harvard Strategic Data Project and currently serves on the editorial boards of the journals Educational Administration Quarterly and the Journal of Education Finance and is co-editor of volume 4 (2013) volume 5 (2014) and volume 6 (2015) of the Information Age Publishing book series International Research on School Leadership. In 2012-2013, he served as the 2013 AERA Division A (Administration, Organization, & Leadership) annual meeting program chair and is currently the 2015-2017 co-chair of the AERA Districts in Research and Reform Special Interest Group. Click to proceed to Teachers College, Columbia University Faculty Profile.
