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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

An Urban Teacher's Education: On Data, Part Six: Data-Driven Disruption

An Urban Teacher's Education: On Data, Part Six: Data-Driven Disruption

On Data, Part Six: Data-Driven Disruption

Over the past six days, I've aired my thoughts on data use in public schools. I hope I've made it clear that I think quality data deserves strong consideration when schools make decisions about instruction. I hope I've also been clear, however, that data-informed decisions are far superior to data-driven decisions, particularly when we've clearly overshot creating quality data in the name of promoting its use no holds barred. Today, in my final post in this series, I will explore the reasons behind the cheating scandals we've recently seen in school districts across the country and draw two last comparisons between Wall Street and public education.

When you read about the pitfalls of standardized testing today, it's difficult to avoid coming across reference toCampbell's law; it's been popping up everywhere over the past few years.