Hey Educational Reformers: Data This!

Aug 25

jonpeltoEducation Reform, Malloy, Standardized Testing, Stefan Pryor , , , 15 Comments

Diane Ravitch hits the bull’s eye, yet again, with her blog post today entitled, The Damage Done by Data-Driven Evaluation.

The subject; how professional conversations in our schools have changed.

As she notes, “They no longer discuss instructional improvements in their staff meetings; they no longer review opportunities for professional development related to classroom practice. They talk data. They hear from data experts. They strategize about how to get the numbers up. They drill down into the data. They focus on the kids who are a 2 on the state tests and ignore the 1s and the 3s and 4s. Data drive their conversation, their practice, their life. Data determine whether they will have a job next year. Data determine whether their school will live or die.”

Here in Connecticut, policymakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties, have been pushing the data-agenda forward.

When Connecticut’s Governor, Dannel Malloy, introduced his “education reform” package last February it included a proposal for a new standardized test for all 11th graders in Connecticut.

Halfway through the legislative session, Malloy uttered his now famous line; I don’t mind teaching to the test, as long as the test scores go up.

When the Connecticut General Assembly finished up with Malloy’s “reform” package, the concept of a new 11th grade test was replaced with standardized tests for kindergartners, first graders and second graders.

Building on the absurdity and stupidity of the “No Child Left Unbothered” Act and the “Race to the Top” programs, Connecticut has gone that extra mile, adding new standardized testing in the grades the federal government managed to skip over.

In the name of improving educational achievement, Connecticut’s students will now spend valuable “hands on instructional time” practicing and taking standardized tests in kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade and tenth grade.  Even before Malloy comes back with a new eleventh grade test, if you add in the PSATs and SATs, Connecticut’s policymakers are coming close to being able to say that in Connecticut, at least, no child, in any school, in any grade, will escape the “benefit” of filing in bubbles.

When the political candidates come seeking your vote this year, ask them… “Seriously, is their goal to waste hundreds of millions in scarce public resources while making the private testing companies rich… or are they just out to destroy any opportunity for our children to have a well-rounded education.

Then vote accordingly.

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  • Castles Burning

    Yes, school has opened and I (who doesn’t speak “data”) have to translate my goals for the year into measurable and verifiable by numbers objectives so that I can prove whether I reached them or not, which will of course mean how good of a teacher I am. There used to be a focus on the humanities but we seem to be losing (have lost?) that in favor of numbers. Numbers say so little about people. Such a reliance on tests is only enervating a system that needs just the opposite if it is to work and students are to play/work at learning. It is making education more of a farce and educators take education very seriously. Although, I do see new teachers who talk and think in this language as for them it is the “norm.” When I hear an English colleague proclaim that differentiation was her “specialty,” I knew that the discipline had undergone a very deep sea change. It is too sad . . . a true travesty . . .

    • Cookie

      The problem with data is that it can be easily manipulated by those whose ethical standards are both questionable and overpower their need to push their agenda..

      • Magister

        I think that’s called Campbell’s Law.

      • Linda174

        Ironic the ones with the questionable ethical standards are the ones who are in charge of the reforms here in CT…we are well aware from past posts and research by Jon of the Vallas and Adamowski tricks and deception…more to be made public soon.

    • Linda174

      We should all wear this shield to protect us during pointless meetings:

      http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/ahlness/5516514694/

  • guest

    Data is also useful because it looks managerial and measurable, two qualities touted by corporate types. Schools are not corporations, and children cannot be quality-controlled. I am getting weary of all this data, especially when it ignores the truth behind “reforms” such as Adamowski’s in Hartford, where he falsified graduation rates and such.
    True educators speak differently, as Ravitch notes. Or see this for a Connecticut perspective http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Wendy-Lecker-White-House-changes-course-on-3813593.php

  • JM

    Not sure if anyone has posted this ever. It’s actually a good metaphor (if that’s what it is).

    http://rcsnmi.blogspot.com/2012/08/paul-vallas-fearful-wizard.html

    • msavage

      I like that. We can only hope that one day, soon, the true Wizard will be revealed.

    • Sue

      I love his blog! Tried to leave a comment but couldn’t past that moat of “type these totally unreadable symbols to prove you exist” thingie.

      • Castles Burning

        I have had trouble with this feature as well. He is a very thoughtful and articulate person and this description of Vallas is dead on.

    • guest

      Great blog, thank you.

  • Guest

    We will spend two days before school going over the new common core standards that will be drilling this year. Two days.

    • jonpelto

      Two days for the “biggest” curriculum change in decades…. Hooray for America!

      Sent from my BlackBerry please excuss typos

  • Pingback: Connecticut Adds New Tests for Kindergarten, 1 and 2 Grades « Diane Ravitch's blog

  • EdLeadershipcrisis

    This is one of the more dangerous entries you’ve had Jon. The issue isn’t that educators ought not to be using data often and strategically, the problem is knowing what data to examine and how to turn that into better classroom, school house, district and statewide performance of the people we pay to improve schools. Any data team that is spinning their wheels looking at “golden band” students, those just below any given magic threshold, ought to be fired, along with the administrators of the school. The data are hugely important in determining priorities for modifying instruction, altering time structures, targeting PD, budgeting and other important functions that ANY well-run organization uses data to drive. Just because student learning isn’t like making a widget DOESN’T get the system off the hook to be accountable to appropriate uses of data for both support and accountability. Just what is your alternative? Yes, measures need to be valid to be useful, but using a range of data points from classroom assessments to district benchmark assessments to standardized assessments must be used in unison do drive the adult actions in schools. If you want to write a blog about the poor validity of certain data (like holding out special needs students in Hartford a few years ago, some charter schools not having heterogeneous populations to compare to city students, etc.) then I’ll cheer you on, but the problem isn’t over-emphasis on data, it is how it is used by people who don’t know how to use data strategically toward overall educational improvement.