Indicator Quickstudy

The Utility of Indicators

Indicators have widespread utility across multiple fields. In the oil industry, indicators are used to determine whether a geographic region is likely to have oil; in epidemiology, they are used to determine who is likely to have a disease; in the Navy, they are used to determine whether sonar signals are likely to be warheads. And, within the last decade, indicators have been used in education to determine who is likely to drop out of high school and, therefore, in need of intervention.

Performance management analyses uses indicators to identify students who may be in need of an intervention to increase the odds of a positive outcome (e.g., advancing grades, passing a course, or graduating within four years). In the performance management framework, indicators allow users to leverage data that are already collected (or could be easily collected) to make informed decisions.

The field of economics distinguishes between two types of indicators for forecasting economic outcomes: leading and lagging. Leading indicators are reported more frequently and demonstrate where the economy is headed; lagging indicators are reported less frequently and demonstrate the end results. Within education, leading indicators are the data reported at multiple time points across the year, such as daily attendance, interim benchmark performance, and discipline referrals. Lagging indicators are the data that are reported on an annual basis, typically for accountability purposes, and can include performance on standardized assessments, annual attendance, and yearly discipline referrals. Together, leading and lagging indicators help tell a complete story about the health of a school or district.

The PM Village Indicator Database is a tool that provides searchable access to the leading and lagging indicators defined through the STTE project. The development of these indicators, including their definitions, related metrics and data elements, was guided by practitioners from the five STTE pilot districts and supported by research. To learn more about these indicators, explore the PM Village Database.