This concept paper aims to discuss the challenges and issues faced by principals and the school in carrying out school improvement plan involving the use of data in decision making. School improvement planning is one of the strategies in continuous quality improvements practice in schools. The findings from previous studies showed that there are challenges in terms of satisfactory behavior of the principal in planning as well as challenges in managing a lot of data. In addition, the principal also found that there was no clear guide in carrying out the school improvement plans. The findings from this concept paper have implications for the national education policy through the implementation of the Malaysian Education Development Plan. In implementing the school improvement, the commitment of principals, school staffs and the top administrations are needed to ensure effective and quality results.