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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Dawn of the Dumbest Data…or | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

Dawn of the Dumbest Data…or | Mr. Teachbad's Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement

Dawn of the Dumbest Data…or

Data Driven Dimentia…or

Data: It Keeps Teachers Busy

Take your pick. But these cats at my school really have to be stopped.

As you may suspect, we here at my school are “data-driven”. That’s right. There is no substitute for data. And the best thing about it, from an administrator’s point of view, must be that you don’t have to worry about how long it takes teachers to collect the data or if it is really of any value in the first place. Just collect that data, tell everybody you are collecting it, and that you are using it to make data-driven decisions….for the kids. The rest, my friend, will fall into place. No worries.

Here is an example from my school, which has always been stupid and intermittently enforced. But it has taken on a new dimension to make it an even greater waste of time. I’m not sure if it makes it any more useless. You