Across the country, debates about the future of public education, and the systems we use to understand and improve it, are growing louder. Yet even as oversight structures shift and long-standing data systems erode, I see something different on the ground: local leaders, educators, families, and students using data not as a checkbox or afterthought, but as a catalyst for equity. When paired with community voice and purpose, data become more than numbers; it becomes a mirror (to reflect), a map (to envision), and often a megaphone (to amplify).
Why Data Matters for Equity
When we talk about equity in education, we often start with values like fairness, inclusion, and justice. But values alone don’t change systems. We need to be able to see where gaps exist, understand who is being underserved or harmed, and measure progress toward more just outcomes. That’s where data, when collected and used ethically, transparently, and with humility, come in.
High-quality, disaggregated data help us move beyond assumptions and anecdotes. It gives us the tools to ask better questions: Are students of color equitably represented in advanced coursework? Are students with IEPs being suspended at disproportionate rates? Where are chronic absenteeism rates highest, and what supports are in place? Which staff members are advancing into leadership roles?
Yet numbers can only take us so far. To fully understand what the data reveal, and just as importantly, what it doesn’t, we must pair it with stories, context, and lived experience from an array of voices. Triangulating quantitative data with qualitative methods like interviews, focus groups, and participatory inquiry helps uncover the “why” behind the patterns. It allows us to hear directly from students, families, and educators, particularly those whose voices have historically been excluded from decision-making. When we prioritize both statistical insight and human perspective, we create a fuller, more just picture of how systems are working and for whom.
But data alone aren’t enough. When held only by central offices, used only by those with positional power, or presented without context or stories of impact, data can feel shallow or deficit-based. Possibly even punitive. The power of data lies not just in what we collect, but in how we use it and who we invite into the process.
Community-Centered Evaluation as an Equity Practice
In a time when public education systems are facing increasing scrutiny and the very infrastructure for gathering and sharing information is under strain, the need for locally grounded, community-centered data systems has never been more urgent. When formal data oversight weakens, the responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability doesn’t disappear; it shifts. And often, it shifts to the very communities most impacted by inequitable systems.
Community-centered evaluation begins with a different set of assumptions. It asks not just what the data show, but who has the power to interpret it, who is invited into the conversation, and how the findings are used to shape decisions. It treats families, students, and educators not as passive recipients of data, but as co-constructors of knowledge, meaning, and strategy.
In GSP’s work, we’ve seen the power of this approach again and again: when paraprofessionals and education assistants are actively engaged in setting professional development calendars, when family liaisons support in the design and administering of family surveys, or when high school students help identify metrics that better reflect what success and proficiency look like across diverse academic paths. These aren’t just acts of engagement. They’re acts of resistance to a system that too often relies on top-down mandates and distant metrics to tell local stories.
Community-centered evaluation not only strengthens data literacy and trust, it helps ensure that the measures we use and the questions we ask align with the lived realities and aspirations of those most impacted by our systems. In this landscape, where public oversight is weakened or underresourced, local evaluation becomes a vehicle for building relationships, collective agency, and informed action.
Principles in Practice
Community-centered evaluation is a mindset and a practice. It requires intentionality, humility, and a commitment to equity and self-reflection at every step. Here are a few principles that guide GSP’s evaluation work:
- Practically criticality and reflection in the name of equity. Take pauses throughout the evaluation process to ensure equity stays at the center. Push yourself and your team to ask tough questions about the biases or assumptions that may be leading decision-making in your process.
- Share power through participatory inquiry. Engage students, families, educators, and community partners as co-analysts and co-designers, not just as data sources.
- Use data to surface stories, not just statistics. Pair quantitative trends with qualitative insights to better understand root causes and lived experiences from all corners of the community.
- Build local capacity for data use. Support educators and community members in accessing, interpreting, and applying data in ways that drive action and reflection.
- Prioritize transparency and accessibility. Ensure that data tools and findings are understandable, publicly available, and grounded in real questions that matter to communities.
- Reframe evaluation as a lever for equity, not compliance. Design measures and processes that reflect the values, goals, and realities of the communities we serve.
A Call to Action
As federal data systems face new uncertainty and political tensions cast long shadows over public education, now is the time to double down and not step back. We must protect and expand our local capacity to understand what’s happening in our schools, and more importantly, to act on what we learn. This moment calls for more than technical fixes. It calls for shared ownership, community voice, and a renewed commitment to using data as a tool for reflection, accountability, and justice.
GSP is proud to live this commitment in part through our annual Common Data Project – a long-standing collaborative effort between New England state education agencies to track and report on a set of common data points representing student attainment across the region. Updated annually, you can see the latest year’s report and explore the data via our interactive dashboard.
At Great Schools Partnership, we believe that every student deserves to be valued, every community deserves to be heard, and every system must be willing to change. Data, when used intentionally, transparently, and with humility, are a powerful tool to help get us there. Interested in learning more about the resources GSP has developed to support schools in their data-informed improvement efforts? See our relevant tools and workshops here.
About the Author
Brean Witmer is the Director of Research and Strategy at the Great Schools Partnership (GSP). She brings over a decade of experience in community- and school-based programming, research, policy analysis, and program evaluation to GSP, and has worked with nonprofit organizations and research institutions in Boston, New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Brean believes in the power of using data to enhance equitable policies and practices, to improve student outcomes, to create safe and supportive learning environments, to engage community members and families, and to tell meaningful stories of change.
