چکیده (انگلیسی):

ne of the first acts of President George Bush was to propose legislation that would forever change the
face of education in America. That legislation, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated that
every child in America make at least marginal progress, deemed „adequate yearly progress‟ or AYP
each school year (U.S. Department of Education NCLB Executive Summary, 2003). As this legislation filtered down
to school systems it meant that data must be collected systematically and routinely at every school at every level to
demonstrate the success of all students. This data collection, which has become the foundation for what is now being
referred to as „data-driven decision making,‟ must become a part of the „toolbox‟ of school administrators nationwide.
The knowledge of how to collect such data inherently must be at the grasp of K-12 school administrators. It was this
driving force, along with what we as former school administrators felt were best practices that led to departmental
reform. This reform has now been dubbed the „Research Thread‟ for The University of Southern Mississippi‟s P -12
program of Educational Administration.