Report urges that federal funds for class-size reduction should instead go to train teachers in data analysis.
The New America Foundation, a non-partisan think tank in Washington headed by Anne-Marie Slaughter, is calling for more federal funds and school time for teachers to use student data to change how they teach. The report, “Promoting Data in the Classroom,” written by Clare McCann and Jennifer Cohen Kabaker, was published on June 4, 2013.
There’s a ton of education data out there now. Every state in the nation now maintains a longitudinal data system that tracks each student’s test scores year after year. (That’s thanks to more than $620 million in federal funds for setting up state data systems since 2005, plus additional Race-to-the-Top grants). But McCann and Kabaker make the argument that, for the most part, they’re not being used by teachers to figure out how to teach their students better.
McCann and Kabaker describe recent efforts in Oregon and Delaware to get teachers to actually use the data. In both cases, it was time consuming. One Oregon school district got the school board to approve a later start time to the school day so that teachers could pore over data in the morning. Other schools set aside regular blocks of time during the school day for teachers and administrators to meet. Delaware hired professional data coaches from Wireless Generation, a private company now owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp. The idea was to examine the data and plan instructional changes, such as when to use whole group versus small group or individual instruction. Or the teachers could identify which students need additional help. Some teachers were resentful that it was taking away from conventional lesson planning. Many teachers struggled to find the required
There’s a ton of education data out there now. Every state in the nation now maintains a longitudinal data system that tracks each student’s test scores year after year. (That’s thanks to more than $620 million in federal funds for setting up state data systems since 2005, plus additional Race-to-the-Top grants). But McCann and Kabaker make the argument that, for the most part, they’re not being used by teachers to figure out how to teach their students better.
McCann and Kabaker describe recent efforts in Oregon and Delaware to get teachers to actually use the data. In both cases, it was time consuming. One Oregon school district got the school board to approve a later start time to the school day so that teachers could pore over data in the morning. Other schools set aside regular blocks of time during the school day for teachers and administrators to meet. Delaware hired professional data coaches from Wireless Generation, a private company now owned by Rupert Murdoch’s Newscorp. The idea was to examine the data and plan instructional changes, such as when to use whole group versus small group or individual instruction. Or the teachers could identify which students need additional help. Some teachers were resentful that it was taking away from conventional lesson planning. Many teachers struggled to find the required
