This "Research Roundup" focuses on how schools can benefit when educational leaders use data to challenge their intuition and assumptions in their decision-making. In "Building an Automated Student Record System: A Step-by-Step Guide for Local and State Education Agencies," Barbara S. Clements provides administrators with a quick but comprehensive introduction to the subject, outlining 12 steps, from setting goals to reporting the data. "Data-Driven Decision-Making," by the Education Commission of the States, is an issue brief aimed at helping educators come to grips with the challenges of the new ESEA accountability requirements. "Using Data to Improve Schools," by the American Association of School Administrators, outlines a process whereby good information is used well, leading to smarter decisions, defusing the emotion in controversial issues, and providing fuel for meaningful dialogue within the educational community. Thomas P. Jandris offers principals a primer on making assessment a part of their school's culture in "Data-Based Decision-Making: Essentials for Principals." Edie L. Holcomb argues, in "Getting Excited About Data: How to Combine People, Passion, and Proof," that although data analysis inevitably revolves around numbers, which many people regard as cold, abstract, or even dehumanizing, human hopes, fears, and passions are close beneath the surface. (RT)