Complexities of Measuring Effectiveness | Connected Principals:
Show Them Your Lighter Side
By Doug Hasler I was glancing through my Twitter feed this morning (yes, I am still around just not as loud) and a title caught my eye. “Principals are People 2” by Tony Sinanis. His words soon had me reflecting about the evolution of my leadership style. At the start of my career I was very much the serious, cool demeanored, maybe even cold and stiff administrator. Always solumn, never off guar
2 by Dave Meister / 36min
Complexities of Measuring Effectiveness
“What are the real 3rd grade guarantee numbers?”
“Why do the Ohio Department of Education and the district report different percentages? Are you trying to hide something?”
These are all quotes that have been directed in my direction –either in person or on social media –from community members about the reporting of 3rd grade reading assessments. These questions provide a great opportunity for conversations –meaningful, honest communications about accountability.
We need to talk about the multiple pathways to meet the requirements; one media outlet may report only OAA results while another takes into account alternative pathways to meet state requirements. As we look at raw data – data just released within the week – in our district we are looking at individual students. We have transient students that may, or may not, still reside in our district. We have ELL and special needs data to check and cross-check. Our students aren’t simply numbers; our data represents your children. While expedience is great for a story . . . we’re not in this business for the story. We are in the business of preparing students for success; this is complicated stuff. It can’t be summarized in a story, sound bite, or single post.
We all seek an easy to understand table, chart, or graph to show our school district’s performance. The media wants an info-graphic to show on the screen or post in the story. We want it to be simple, easy to understand, and straightforward.
Here is the problem . . . education is complex, challenging to measure, and impossible to show with a single measure. Each child in our care, every single student in our classrooms, is a unique person with different strengths, needs, and passions. Socioeconomic challenges, such as poverty, can greatly impact education – we partner, support, and engage our families to maximize educational opportunities. There is no single test to measure every student; there is no single instructional Complexities of Measuring Effectiveness | Connected Principals:
