Building Data Culture & Trust in Education (with Jessica Lane)

In this episode, I sit down with Jessica Lane, founder of Data-Informed Impact, to unpack the critical role of data in K-12 education—and how to use it responsibly, effectively, and equitably. Jessica shares her expertise on building a strong data culture in schools, improving data literacy, and creating clear, ethical data visualizations that empower—not overwhelm—educators and leaders.

We explore the often-overlooked human side of data: how to build trust around data use, avoid duplicative processes that drain educators’ time, and leverage data to evaluate systems. Jessica also offers insights into how different stakeholders—teachers, administrators, district leaders—use data from both micro and macro lenses, and how EdTech plays a role in the broader data landscape.
Whether you're a classroom teacher, building leader, or part of a district team, this conversation will help you think critically about using data as a tool for improvement—not just compliance.

Key Topics Covered:
✔️ Building a positive and ethical data culture in schools
✔️ Improving data literacy for educators and leaders
✔️ How to design accessible, meaningful data visualizations
✔️ Strategies to streamline administrative processes and reduce redundancy
✔️ Student data use and privacy
✔️ Understanding the micro vs. macro data needs across K-12 stakeholders

About Our Guest:
As the founder of Data-Informed Impact, Jessica Lane is known for turning webs of data into easy-to-leverage visual dashboards, systems, and training for K-12 schools – fully equipping leaders and teachers to close the student success gap together. 

Having created custom solutions for 160 schools across the United States and Canada since 2020, she’s an educational data expert. With 10+ years of experience from all angles of the classroom, Jessica’s a former data coach, instructional coach, certified math teacher, and holds a Master of Education in learning and technology. Proudly data-informed and people-driven, she believes that data can tell great student success stories, if we let it guide, not decide, how to lead education forward.

Jessica currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she can often be found excitedly exploring spreadsheets, brain studies, Brené Brown books, and puzzles. And when she’s not partnering with schools, she’s caring for her darling daughter, Emmy, or one of her 50 houseplants.

You can connect with Jessican on her website at: https://www.data-informedimpact.com/

Learn about her Data Culture Framework here: https://www.data-informedimpact.com/3-domains-of-dii

Learn about her Re-Teaching Cycle Template and other Templates here: https://www.data-informedimpact.com/templates

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/informedimpact/

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.