Background, rationale and research questions:

Although the empirical evidence on the educational impact of the systematic use of formal performance data from central tests is quite strong (Datnow & Park, 2018), the Flemish⁽¹⁾ education system is one of the few European education systems in which no form of central testing is widely implemented (OECD, 2013). As of school year 2023-2024, all Flemish pupils will also take central tests during their school career, which (in contrast to numerous other education systems) aim to take a strong development-oriented perspective.

While policymakers and governments expect teachers to use data to improve student learning, teachers still appear reluctant to integrate this data into their teaching practices (Schelling & Rubenstein, 2021). In this regard, a numerous number of descriptive studies provide in-depth insight into influencing factors of data use (Schildkamp, Poortman, Luyten, & Ebbeler, 2017). However, most of these studies only consider (a small number of) psychological factors to a limited extent. Since data use is essentially a human endeavour, it is important, in order to fully benefit from the rich potential of data use, to also study psychological aspects (Schildkamp, Poortman, Ebbeler, & Pieters, 2019).

Because the use of formal performance data from central tests for educational improvement can be considered a (relative) educational change, certainly in Flanders, but also to some extent in an international context, and to select psychological factors driving teachers’ data use for educational improvement, we drew inspiration from the literature related to ‘change readiness’. Armenakis, Harris and Mossholder (1993) consider teachers’ readiness as ‘one's beliefs, attitudes and goals regarding the extent to which change is needed and their perceptions of individual and organisational ability to successfully implement those changes’. The readiness to use formal performance data concerns, in other words, both ‘willing’ and 'being able' to change. Each of these dimensions explains an aspect of readiness (Rafferty, Jimmieson, & Armenakis, 2013) and is highlighted in the literature because of their role in successful educational change processes (Armenakis & Bedeian, 1999). Because readiness can be considered a predictor of behavior (Armenakis, Harris, & Mossholder, 1993), we expect that a positive teachers’ readiness (i.e. a positive appraisal of willing and being able to use formal performance data to improve student learning) may contribute to effective (future) data use. Consequently, this study firstly examines the extent to which teachers are ready to use formal performance data (from central tests) to improve student learning (RQ1).

Moreover, data use does not occur in isolation (Schildkamp et al., 2019). By including school-level factors we account for the fact that teachers’ readiness does not occur in isolation en can be impacted by a data use stimulating school culture (Prenger & Schildkamp, 2018). As a consequence we secondly study to what extent characteristics of a data use stimulating school culture have an impact on teachers’ readiness (RQ2).

In sum, the present study aims to address the aforementioned knowledge gap by quantitatively studying Flemish teachers' readiness to engage with formal achievement data (from central tests) to improve student learning and school culture’s impact.

^{(1) Flanders is the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.}

Operationalisation of concepts: In the operationalisation of the dependent variable ‘readiness’, we have focused on the ‘will’ and ‘able’ part of this concept. The ‘will part’ of readiness was operationalised in terms of emotions or affective appraisal towards data use (Jimerson, 2014) and in terms of the usefulness of the data to improve students’ learning (Vanhoof, Vanlommel, Thijs, & Vanderlocht, 2014). The ‘able part’ of readiness was operationalised by self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) and by teachers’ perceptions about having the necessary time for data use (Jimerson, 2016). These central predictors of teachers’ readiness can be impacted by teachers’ perception of a data use stimulating school culture (Prenger & Schildkamp, 2018). In this study, a data use stimulating school culture was operationalised by shared goals towards data use (Vanhoof, Verhaeghe, Van Petegem, & Valcke, 2012), by internal support and collaboration in data use (Schildkamp et al., 2019), by expectations regarding data use (Vanhoof et al., 2014), by experience in the use of standardised tests, by transformational leadership (Yu, Leithwood, & Jantzi, 2002) and by level of education. Instrument and sample: To answer the research questions, we administered an online survey. The content in this survey was both compiled from existing, validated scales and adopted items from previous research on data use and central tests. All items were statements to be scored on a 5-point Likert scale with a possibility to opt out. Finally, 611 Flemish teachers from 45 schools participated in the survey. Data analysis: To measure teachers’ individual perceptions of their readiness to engage with formal performance data to improve student learning and of a data use stimulating school culture, we constructed scales. By applying CFA, we examined the construct validity of each scale. In addition, a Cronbach's alpha was calculated for each multi-item scale as a measure of internal consistency. Based on these scales, we applied descriptive statistics for RQ1. In order to answer RQ2, we built and tested a path model. We started out with a model in wich shared goals, support and collaboration, expectations and use of standardised tests mediate the effect on teachers’ readiness to engage with formal performance data to improve student learning of transformational leaderschip and education level. Based on the modification indices we gradually added covariances and eliminated non-significant parameters in pursuit of a parsiminous final model with optimal fit. The path analysis was conducted in R with the lavaan-package (Rosseel, 2012).

Conclusion: Teachers’ readiness to use formal performance data to improve students’ learning can be considered an important bridge to effective data use (Armenakis et al., 1993). Yet, we found that teachers perceive only limited readiness: they have limited positive attitudes towards the use of formal performance data from central tests, they rather feel self-efficace for data use but at the same they do not perceive sufficient time to do so. However, the path model shows that the perception of a higher level of a data use stimulating school culture has a positive impact on teachers’ readiness. In this, positive attitudes towards data use can be promoted if teachers perceive expectations regarding the use of formal performance data from central tests as clear. In addition, the can part of readiness can be promoted by perceiving supportive relationships and collaboration. This finding suggest that teachers in particular engage with data use if they perceive data use as a team event. The many positive indirect effects of transformational leadership on teachers’ readiness we found, point to the important role of the school leader in cultivating a data use stimulating culture within school teams. Moreover, teachers' readiness to engage with formal performance data is no one-size-fits-all story. Primary school teachers appear to perceive a more stimulating data use culture, and consequently a higher degree of readiness than secondary school teachers. By studying teachers’ readiness and promoting school-level factors, this study (further) strengthen the bridge to the use of formal performance data to improve student learning. The Flemish context with the prospect of implementing central tests charachterised by a development-oriented perspective, provided a particularly appropriate case.

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