We have several "data retreats" at my school the next couple of days. Each grade level will attend a retreat for a half-day each, using the time to look at fall benchmark assessment scores. As I sit at my kitchen table on the eve of this event, surrounded by piles of said scores, I do what I usually do prior to these kinds of events - I wonder.
What do all these numbers really mean? And in the long run, what good are these numbers going to do for us as teachers and, ultimately, for the students? Are we going to sit down tomorrow, see a negative anomaly in our first grade scores, and completely revamp the way we teach our Kindergartners so we never have another such occurrence? Not likely. We gather scores and we look at scores and we compare scores and we see patterns and identify trends and brainstorm ideas and what major changes do we make? Very few. Sorry, this is turning into a rant I've already made.
So here's what I wonder: What if instead of "data retreats" we held "student retreats"? We use a half-day to sit and talk with each student, one-on-one, for 5-10 minutes each. Not a lot of time, I know, but it's a start. Talk about the student's likes and dislikes and hopes and fears and dreams and wishes. 'Cause that's what we teach - students, not numbers. Underneath or behind or attached to all of those numbers are stories the numbers can't tell us.....but the students can. Without the stories the numbers are less significant. Consider this example taken from a different, but every bit as important, realm than school....
Brian Dozier of the Minnesota Twins accumulated some of the best offensive numbers any player in Twins history has ever had. In addition, the total homers (42), runs scored (104), and RBI (99) he amassed this summer rank among the best by any second baseman ever, for any team in either league. His numbers are impressive, but the stories behind the numbers make them more so. For instance, he played on a horrible team, the worst Twins team ever (according to the numbers); the ability to perform at such a high level when surrounded by ineptitude makes his accomplishments seem incredible. His totals for the season look great...but consider that he spent the first two months of the year looking completely lost at home plate and again, his numbers look even better. You look at 99 RBI and think "Geez, he was one away from 100." He actually had that one - he hit a home run on August 10 in a game that was rained out; when the game became unofficial because it was less than five innings, Dozier lost what would have been his 43rd homer and RBI #100. His numbers look the way they look; the stories give them meaning.
Back to school and our data. We look at papers full of numbers that follow kids' names. We see special symbols that tell us how much risk a student is at. We get means and medians. What we don't get is each student's story, the information that can't be numbered but could hold the meaning to the number. Did that high-risk-for-failure student have a bed to sleep in the night before his test? How many of our high-risk students can't see or hear within normal ranges? Does the high achiever in math even like math? Maybe that Kindergarten student who didn't know a single letter sound has never owned a book, or even held a book, prior to life as a student.
Numbers can't tell us the information we really need to know. They are a snapshot in time, a tiny piece of the whole that is a student. Without a story the numbers are nothing, really. When I see a 6!! behind Student A's name what have I really learned about Student A? I know her number is well below the number that a student her age is supposed to have on that test. I know nothing about her. I have to teach her. I have to understand her. Yet tomorrow her teacher will spend three hours away from her looking at that number and making judgements about who she is and what she knows. As spoken at the best teacher training I've ever been to - "Judgement Trumps Truth".
Using student achievement data is necessary for making decisions about what and how to teach. Using the data without knowing the truth that formed that data seems partial, like putting together the border of a puzzle and leaving the middle empty. We need to hear each student's story - recognize each student's truth - and complete the puzzle by teaching the student instead of the number.
Amen there friend. This is the exact reason why the old No Child Left Behind was a complete failure the second after George HW Bush signed it into law years ago. Politicians and many education-haters JUST look at NUMBERS- nothing else, not demographics, teachers, parents- just student name's and their numbers. And then they have the ignorance to say that EVERY student should have the SAME numbers- like they are all being raised in the SAME exact home as one another. And then when their grandiose ideas fail- they blame teachers, unions, schools, administrators- but NEVER parents, NEVER homelives- like it doesn't matter. The truth is, the moment a child is born, part of their "number" is created- and after every event in their life, that "number" can change dramatically higher or lower. There was once a time in education where those stories were searched out for students, but then educations "know it alls" wrote books like "The Art and Science of Teaching"- but it should have been just the "Science" of teaching- because their is really no art- trying the figure out students and their skills sets and stories- it's just Science-numbers- like schools are just another biology or chemistry lab with perfectly predictable results. Anyone who works with kids knows there is no such thing as perfect or predictable- but then NO human truly possesses those things anyway. It was fun joining in your rant!
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