- diagnostic
- formative
- summative
As such, education is becoming more data focused than ever. Everyone I speak with has their own, usually strong, opinion on whether or not this is a path that they want to head down. However, I would argue that there is one thing that most of us can agree on: the results collected do not always translate into a teaching response in the classroom. There are a variety of reasons for this lack of connection -- over-packed curriculum, lack of time, worn out teachers, a misunderstanding of correlation vs. causation, political initiatives with a separate focus -- the list could go on and on.
The following cartoon illustrates this disconnect beautifully -- we spend so much time and energy focusing on how best to collect data that we often forget the most important component is the follow up.
Courtesy of:
Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons
So the question of the decade remains what do you do with the data? Is it even wise to state that a change in teaching technique might have a direct impact on results or are we simply faced with too many other variable factors (maturity of the students, parental support, funding for education, socioeconomic status, values in the community, etc.)?
What is your school/school division doing with the results teachers collect? Is the data really analyzed to pinpoint specific areas of strengths and weaknesses or do you even believe in 'measuring' achievement? This is a hot topic for debate in the education world right now and I'd love to hear your viewpoints!
What is your school/school division doing with the results teachers collect? Is the data really analyzed to pinpoint specific areas of strengths and weaknesses or do you even believe in 'measuring' achievement? This is a hot topic for debate in the education world right now and I'd love to hear your viewpoints!
Vanessa
P.S. Thanks again to the great people at Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons for giving me permission to use this excellent cartoon on my blog!
Posts
Our school has went the way of a Curriculum/Data Specialist (my current position) as a lot of other schools have done. This is my first year doing this and my purpose is to gather data, pinpoint student needs, collaborate with the teachers on the best ways to meet those needs, and provide ongoing teacher PD. This has been, by far, the most challenging year of my teaching career. Teachers do not welcome someone else looking so carefully at their data and they certainly don't want someone telling them what to do with those students. I have been treading very lightly all year and trying to feel my way through this tough position.
ReplyDeleteI can totally see how challenging your role must be! I think that teachers often personalize their work, which makes it harder to take a step back and look at results without an emotional tie-in.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the main things that we need to look at is why are we collecting the data? What information are we hoping to get from the data? We give a test at the school where I am, and I can't for the life of me figure out why they have chosen to give this test? What are they hoping to learn from the data? Right now what we are learning is that we don't teach to the test. So, is it even a good test? Is it worth our students taking? What exactly is the point?
ReplyDelete