Insight from NY Times...
"Some Schools Embrace Demands for Education Data
MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — In this small suburb outside Milwaukee, no one in the Menomonee Falls School District escapes the rigorous demands of data.
"Some Schools Embrace Demands for Education Data
MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — In this small suburb outside Milwaukee, no one in the Menomonee Falls School District escapes the rigorous demands of data.
Custodians monitor dirt under bathroom sinks, while the high school cafeteria supervisor tracks parent and student surveys of lunchroom food preferences. Administrators record monthly tallies of student disciplinary actions, and teachers post scatter plot diagrams of quiz scores on classroom walls. Even kindergartners use brightly colored dots on charts to show how many letters or short words they can recognize.
Data has become a dirty word in some education circles, seen as a proxy for an obsessive focus on tracking standardized test scores. But some school districts, taking a cue from the business world, are fully embracing metrics, recording and analyzing every scrap of information related to school operations. Their goal is to help improve everything from school bus routes and classroom cleanliness to reading comprehension and knowledge of algebraic equations
On a recent morning at Riverside Elementary School, Alyssa Walter, 7, opened her first-grade “data binder,” in which she recorded progress on reading and math tasks throughout the year. On one page, she showed a visitor six colored circles pasted into a drawing of a gumball machine, each dot representing her successful completion of a three-minute addition quiz.
“I like that it makes school more fun, and I like that you get to keep track of goals,” Alyssa said. Even though the quizzes sometimes make her nervous, looking over the collected charts and graphs “makes me feel proud of myself,” she said.
Anything that can be counted or measured will be.
In Jenks, Okla., for example, the school district tracks how often teachers use photocopiers. With a bump in use, curriculum supervisors may offer teachers help finding supplemental class materials or with planning lessons further in advance. After documenting a drop in the size of marching and concert bands, the Arlington Independent School District, near Dallas, suspended instrument rental fees. Band participation at the middle and high schools jumped.
Those who advocate more use of data in the classroom say it can give teachers concrete evidence of what instructional strategies work..."
Data has become a dirty word in some education circles, seen as a proxy for an obsessive focus on tracking standardized test scores. But some school districts, taking a cue from the business world, are fully embracing metrics, recording and analyzing every scrap of information related to school operations. Their goal is to help improve everything from school bus routes and classroom cleanliness to reading comprehension and knowledge of algebraic equations..."
Read the full article at its source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/us/school-districts-embrace-business-model-of-data-collection.html?_r=0
Read the full article at its source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/us/school-districts-embrace-business-model-of-data-collection.html?_r=0
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