CURMUDGUCATION: The Trouble With Data

CURMUDGUCATION: The Trouble With Data

The Trouble With Data

Yesterday the Atlantic published an exceptionally helpful piece in the Science section by Robinson Meyer and Alexis C. Madrigal that offers some excellent explanation of why the nation has dropped the data ball for this pandemic. It's a good read from that perspective. But for education folks, there's more.

In the body of the article, Meyer and Madrigal share some observations about data, and the problems with data-driven anything; these points are important, and should be emblazoned on the office door of every data-driven follow-the-science policy maker and administrator in the country.

1. All data are created; data never simply exist.

Before March 2020, the country had no shortage of pandemic-preparation plans. Many stressed the importance of data-driven decision making. Yet these plans largely assumed that detailed and reliable data would simply … exist. They were less concerned with how those data would actually be made.

Here come the data

Data have to come from somewhere. They have to be created, and then they have to be interpreted. Anyone who assumes that the data are good simply because they exist--well, that's a terrible assumption. Every step pf the data-creation chain, from the testing instrument, to scoring, to score conversion, to interpretation of the score--all of that should be questioned and examined and then questioned again.

But in our high stakes testing era, that has not happened (nor is it happening now). When the state says, "22% of your students are below basic in reading non-fiction," that's not a figure that descended from heaven in a burning memo. It's a number that was created, and everyone ought to be asking how it was created. Starting with a CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: The Trouble With Data

Using Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms to Guide Education Choice - Network For Public Education

Using Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms to Guide Education Choice - Network For Public Education

Using Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms to Guide Education Choice

The writing team at Accountabaloney has kept a watchful eye on Florida’s ongoing shenanigans, and their newest post is alarming. Florida’s legislature is considering SB48, a bill that would turn all of Florida’s voucher programs into Education Savings Accounts. ESAs are like super-vouchers, a grant of taxpayer money from the state that parents can spend on whatever education expenses they choose–not just private school tuition, but anything education-related.

The money is handled by a non-profit organization. In Florida’s case that’s Step Up For Students, and one of the mysteries of this kind of transition is how such a group would manage thousands of families choosing from thousands of education-flavored vendors. The answer, as reported on the blog, is scary:

In a recent podcast, Doug Tuthill outlined how Step Up for Students has created an e-commerce platform, that will collect data from its voucher recipients and use Artificial Intelligence and algorithms to guide them towards the “best educational options” for their children. Apparently, those “best educational options” will never be district managed public schools.

Algorithm-selected education. Massive data mining. All handled by non-transparent software. Turns out school choice is actually algorithm’s choice.

Follow this link to the full story.

Using Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms to Guide Education Choice - Network For Public Education