Schools collect more data, but how is it used?
Almost every state collects and stores student data; few make it accessible to parents and teachers
Big Education Ape: Calif. CORE Districts Plot Privatization Measures - On California - Education Week - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/11/calif-core-districts-plot-privatization.html
State leaders are collecting reams of data on students, but they must do more to put that information into the hands of parents and teachers, according to a new report.
Making that information available to school communities consists of more than merely publishing complicated, archaic spreadsheets online, according to the Data Quality Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that advocates for better data use. School leaders must work to provide data in a format that makes it easy to understand and act upon, the group says.
“We think that’s the hardest work left,” said Brennan McMahon Parton, director of policy and advocacy at the Data Quality Campaign. “We know spreadsheets and 30-page PDFs are not the most useful.”
Instead, data visualizations and user-friendly analysis can help the public make sense of complicated information.
The new report, “Time to Act 2017: Put Data in the Hands of People,” catalogs how the evolving use of data has influenced policy and teaching practices over the last 10 years. While data used to be widely connected to test scores and punishment for failing teachers, the report found a change in opinion among educators: just 18 percent now say data is used simply as a way to crack down on so-called failing schools. Today, it’s more common to hear schools talk about using data to create custom-fit lessons for students, or to plan Schools collect more data, but how is it used? - The Hechinger Report:
