Instructional decisions and problem solving used to be done without the use of data. Now we have tons of data. This article explains what we can and cannot do with data. As connected with our text; data can help us identify problems and then find solutions. It can also tell us if there is a problem in the first place.
Data can drive decision making but it can also be used to justify poor decisions. Just because we have data doesn’t mean we don’t have to make good and thoughtful decisions.
Hess was meeting with groups of superintendents that were ready to make data-driven decisions. Their data showed that higher income schools were getting the most effective teachers and therefore getting the best results. These superintendents immediately began the plan to move these more effective teachers to the lower-performing schools. These superintendents had good intentions but Hess asked some hard questions. Although the data shows that the higher-performing schools had the best teachers, you still have a plethora of questions that you need to ask before you consider decisions made based on that data. Two questions asked were; “Can we be confident that teachers who are effective in their current classrooms would be equally effective elsewhere? What effect would shifting teachers to different schools have on the likelihood that teachers would remain in the district?” If a teacher is good somewhere, we might not want to change that. If the risk of moving a teacher is losing a teacher, is that worth it?
What decisions can be made from the data available? As a leader, you cannot create problems that don’t exist. You cannot suggest solutions without considering some of the other questions that a topic might uncover.
Hess says that using test scores alone to make management decisions is bad practice. He compares it to a CEO using the daily stock price to run a company. It’s just a snapshot and not an indicator to make important decisions on.
The moral of the article is that data is a great thing, it helps us make decisions in the most scientific way possible but it cannot answer all questions. For that, we still need to ask the hard questions.
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excellent summary Jason! Your posts, your blog and your quality content have MADEMYDAY again! I have confidence that if we can get our class to follow a similar path of assimilating the amalgamation of data, research and study that we might succeed to make this a course worth remembering!
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This reminds me of The Principal Story when the new Superintendent asked Kerry to move to the middle schoolbecasue she had done such a great job turning the school around. Faced with the decision to move schools, she quit! And she became a consultant, (it's always about the money).Hopefully she has that district as a client.
ReplyDeleteWe find that we're using data to group students for reading interventions. Most times that's great, but there are still times when that gut feeling about a student comes into play. What about the student who doesn't tell well? Does that mean they don't know the material, or that they need intervention? Meeting as a team to analyze data is a good way to sort out what each child needs, but we also need to really know our students and sometimes we don't see the true picture by merely looking at the data.
ReplyDeleteI heartily agree with the fact that data is merely a snapshot in a student's day/year. We DO still need to use our expertise as teachers to make educational decisions for our students.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Karen's comment about what if a student doesn't test well and we often make decisions solely based on that test or a combination of tests. Or on the other end, I have a student who tests really high, but just isn't getting it. But because he scored so high, he doesn't get the interventions that he needs. In addition to the test results, we also have to rely on outside factors such as classroom performance, parent concerns, etc.
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