This study examined the effect of data-driven decision-making in school leadership on student academic achievement, retention, and engagement in the 21st century. It addresses two research questions: how do data-driven decision-making practices compare to traditional decision-making practices in improving academic achievement, student retention, and engagement, and what are the effective strategies for implementing these practices in educational settings? Our study contributes to the understanding of how data-driven school leadership practices can support effective decision-making and improve student outcomes in the current educational landscape, including remote learning, increasing diversity in student populations, and changing societal expectations. A comprehensive search of electronic databases identified relevant studies from 2010 to 2022. The inclusion criteria involved school leaders as the main participants, empirical research designs, published in peer-reviewed open-access journals, and conducted in any country. The meta-analysis calculated the total effect size and looked at the variation in effect sizes between trials using a random-effects model. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. The results suggest that data-driven decision-making supports effective decision-making and improves student outcomes. This review contributes to the growing importance of data-driven school leadership practices in the 21st century.
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