Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Missouri Education Watchdog: "Um...no...data isn't all that important." - Bill Gates

Missouri Education Watchdog: "Um...no...data isn't all that important." - Bill Gates:

"Um...no...data isn't all that important." - Bill Gates

Don't worry. Every decision will be data driven.

We've heard that a million times lately. It is meant to reassure us. But we are finding more and more of this data, that somebody just HAD to collect, that is not seeing the light of day and that should concern us.

Forbes just reported that Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been delaying the release of the final results of the Congressionally-mandated evaluation of the federal Head Start program, which impacts millions of American children. The study of 5,000 preschoolers was completed in 2008, but the final results have been delayed for four years. Why so long HHS? Could it be the "data" showed this?
"The study found that, compared to their control group peers, Head Start failed to boost students’ cognitive abilities across 41 measures. Moreover, first grade