As I look toward the new year, I find myself thinking differently about data than I did earlier in my career. When I was a school leader, data helped us answer clear, practical questions. Where were students struggling, and what adjustments did teachers need to make in instruction, pacing, or pedagogy? We used data to inform decisions, communicate clearly with families, and ensure our systems aligned in service of student learning. Later, as my roles expanded to leading leaders and making system-level decisions, data took on a different weight. It informed how we allocated resources, supported leaders, and built coherence across schools and teams. The stakes were higher, timelines were longer, and the cost of choosing the wrong indicators was far greater. As a nonprofit leader, data again played a critical role. We relied on it to determine which services