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Monday, October 4, 2010

The Data War in Local Schools - voiceofsandiego.org: Education

The Data War in Local Schools - voiceofsandiego.org: Education

The Data War in Local Schools

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  • Sam Hodgson

    Third grade biliteracy teacher Liza Ybarra goes over student data at Edison Elementary School.

Sam HodgsonEdison Elementary School Principal Tavga Bustani talks with a group of teachers about student testing data.

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The Issue

The idea is simple and potent: Measure how much each child improves over time, instead of simply how high they score on tests. It could revolutionize how schools are evaluated but is deeply controversial.

The Promise

Since some students come into school far ahead of others, focusing on growth could be a fairer way of studying whether schools are actually helping students.

The Debate

One camp of education reformers wants to include the data in evaluating teacher performance, though researchers warn it is full of statistical noise.

The Common Ground

While the debate over teacher evaluation is fierce, some San Diego Unified schools are already using similar data to measure growth – they just aren’t using it to judge teachers.

Posted: Sunday, October 3, 2010 3:57 pm | Updated: 6:02 am, Mon Oct 4, 2010.

Posted on October 3, 2010

You might call this the war room of Edison Elementary. Third grade teachers huddle around the table, flipping through binders of student statistics and old tests marked in red pen. The walls are papered with a dizzying array of numbers from different tests, highlighted by grade level. The teachers sip water, snack on bagels and try to figure it out: How many kids will it take to beat No Child Left Behind?

The federal government demands that more and more kids at Edison score "proficient" on state tests every year. It sounds good to politicians and the press, but the teachers know it isn't that simple.

The problem: The tests don't track how much each child improves. Instead, they measure how each group of children scores compared to the last group. So Edison is actually trying to get a

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