Dramatic changes are taking place in Grand City, from changes in the economy and workforce, to shifts in the city’s demographic makeup. Grand City now is also experiencing the influx of many refugees from Risa. The impact on local schools and services has been tremendous, including falling test scores. Changes are needed at all levels to accommodate a growing population and new job opportunities. In the recent city elections, Mayor Tara Keller won a decisive victory by promising to address these issues. Additionally, she sees this as an opportunity to identify needs based on data, invest in new ideas, and make program improvements.
One of Mayor Keller’s initiatives is to form a task force with representatives from across the community to study the issues and to form a plan for addressing them. Unlike some task forces convened previously, this one will include leaders from across the community. Among the institutions participating will be early childhood programs, the school district, the community college, and private schools. Mayor Keller’s task force will be reviewing, analyzing, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative data about the city’s children, students, and citizens.
Beginning in this module, and throughout this course, you will take on the role of a member of Mayor Keller’s task force to analyze the issues and trends affecting education and the city’s future growth and to plan for needed changes.
Note that throughout this course, you will be asked to represent the perspective of your specialization. Whether your background is in early childhood, educational technology, special education, or another area, you will draw on your experience and expertise to contribute to the task force.

As Fullan (2016) notes, change is not easy, even when it is sought. As an educational leader in your community, you may be familiar with the issues facing Grand City and recognize the need for change. Not unlike many 21st-century cities, it is growing, its economy is changing, and its early childhood and other educational programs must change to accommodate the diverse needs of the next generation. As the demographics have changed, key indicators such as test scores have declined. Mayor Keller won the election by campaigning to make changes in the schools and the community to reverse these trends.
The mayor has approached leaders in the community to join her in developing a plan to prepare the city for a newly competitive educational and economic landscape. In preparation for the first task force meeting, Mayor Keller has asked its members to gather and review data for Grand City, related to their specialized area. As you will see, the task force includes a variety of professionals from diverse economic, civic, early childhood, K–12 education, and other community programs. Before the task force can make recommendations, it must understand what is happening by analyzing data relevant to the schools and students.
For this Discussion, you will analyze the educational and demographic data of Grand City by taking on the role of a task force member from your own specialization. You will then consider the implications of that data on its programs, schools, and community.
To prepare:
• Read the Gonzalez-Shancho and Vincent-Lancrin (2016) and Mandinach et al. (2015) articles related to data collection and analysis in education. Reflect on the difficulty they describe regarding making data accessible to decision makers. With the volume of data available, how can users get the information they need without feeling overwhelmed by the volume of data available?
• Read the Mandinach et al. (2015) article regarding best practices and practices to avoid in the use of data. Are there other practices you would add to either list?
• Review the Fullan (2016) chapters for this module. Consider Fullan’s thoughts related to educational change and how, using the data and your role in the community, you might apply them to Grand City’s task force.
• In the City Hall location in Grand City, view the video of the mayor’s welcome to the education task force. The video includes introductions to several of Grand City’s stakeholders who are members of the task force.
• Review the Grand City demographic, community, and educational data, in City Hall in Grand City. From your perspective as an educational leader in the community—whether your expertise is in early childhood, K–12, administrator, educational technologist, or other specialist—consider what the important changes are over time in the data and trends that emerge. What trends are important for the task force to consider? What is the impact of the data on the Grand City community and its educational programs (both early childhood and K–12)?