The Answer Sheet: data


Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/26/2011

Things I’m sick of hearing
By Valerie Strauss
It’s time for school reformers to find new ways to attack their critics. It’s getting tiring hearing the same old refrains, which go something like this.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/26/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Achievement gap, Achievement gap, Achievement gap, Achievement gap, Achievement gap | Tags:  charter schools, data-driven reform, michelle rhee, president obama, school reform, standardized tests, teachers unions

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011

A principal on standardized vs. teacher-written tests
By Valerie Strauss
Educator George Wood urges Congress not to rely on standardized tests to measure achievement. If you don't think that "data-driven decision-making" is really test-driven decision making, consider this: Ohio’s school report cards consist of 26 “data” points, and 24 of them—92%--are test scores.

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 01/06/2011 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood, George Wood | Tags:  arne duncan, disaggregated data, education secretary duncan, elementary and secondary school act, esea, esea reauthoraization, george word, nclb, new congress, new york performance assessment consortium, no child left behind, reauthorization of no child left behind, standardized tests

Posted at 11:55 AM ET, 11/13/2010

Teacher: Data, my new dirty word
By Valerie Strauss
A teacher explains how an obsession with data has led to the redefinition of teaching and learning: "Teaching itself has become redefined as generating, collecting, and using data, and learning has become redefined as the curve connecting data points. This is a fundamental shift in how educators think, talk, and go about educating our children. Unfortunately, it is not a shift that serves anyone but the data-collectors very well."

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:55 AM ET, 11/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  data, education, educational data, mad math minutes, mad minutes, nclb, no child left behind, school reform, schools, teachers, teaching and learning, test data

Posted at 11:46 AM ET, 09/02/2010

How much power should we give to ed data?
By Valerie Strauss
A veteran teacher writes about what gets left out in today's education world where reformers are obsessed with "data" and test scores.

By Valerie Strauss  |  11:46 AM ET, 09/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  evaluating teachers, how to evaluate teachers, power of data, teacher assessment, value added, value added and teachers

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 08/13/2010

Data, testing, accountability: The wrong words for reform
By Valerie Strauss
Language matters, and Sam Chaltain writes that we need to find new words to more accurately describe the changes we seek for children. Enough with data, testing and accountability.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 08/13/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  accountability and data, hamlet, sam chaltain, school climate, school reform

Posted at 04:29 PM ET, 07/14/2010

A weird accountability system in Texas
By Valerie Strauss
In the category of “data will set your school system free, unless, of course, the data In the In the category of “data will set your school system free, unless, of course, the data doesn’t doesn’t tell the literal truth, ” we have the Texas Projection Measure. It’s a tool that awards schools credit for students who have actually failed state-mandated tests but who are expected to pass sometime in the future

By Valerie Strauss  |  04:29 PM ET, 07/14/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Research, Research | Tags:  accountability measures and school, data driven reform, gerald bracey, texas accountability measures, texas education agency, texas projection measure

Posted at 12:07 PM ET, 05/28/2010

1 in 6 U.S. students in high-poverty schools
By Valerie Strauss
A government analysis of U.S. schools shows that one in six public school students attend high poverty schools and that the percentage of high-poverty schools has significantly increased over the past decade. There's a lot more data too.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:07 PM ET, 05/28/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Equity, Equity | Tags:  2010 condition of education, analysis on high-poverty schools, condition of education, data on schools, equity, high-poverty schools, percentage of high-poverty schools, school

Posted at 12:00 PM ET, 05/24/2010

Data shows kids shouldn't multitask -- Willingham
By Valerie Strauss
Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham looks at the data about whether kids really can effectively multi-task in the way many of them think they can.

By Valerie Strauss  |  12:00 PM ET, 05/24/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  can kids multitask?, daniel willingham, data on multitasking, multitasking and kids, research on multitasking