Data and Good Judgment Make Good Bedfellows

 

Data has its place in schools and should be welcomed, but it should not be allowed to supersede good judgment.

Data has become the cornerstone for making major decisions in schools which was a welcomed change from the days when it was ignored or marginalized to afterthoughts. Yet, times are changing, and it appears schools have developed an over-dependence on data-driven outcomes. Educators have become so inclined to rely on the data that they forgot to ask the common sense questions that data cannot answer.

Hess (2008) has enumerated 3 ways that data is misused:

1)  Using Data in Half-Baked Ways: School officials are over eager to make data-driven based decisions to the exclusion of asking everyday common-sense questions before acting.

2)  Translating Research Simplistically: The data collected needs to be translated or disaster will soon follow.  Data is no replacement for thinking.

3)  Giving Short Shrift to Management Data: The short version here is that schools have been so preoccupied with student achievement data that they have neglected to pay attention to “improving the performance of schools and school systems…such as operations, hiring, and financial practices.”

Keep good judgment when viewing data

Educators need to ask questions before implementing data findings. Questions could include:

 

ü  What are the supposed benefits of this program or reform?

ü  What are the costs?

ü  Are the promised results replicable?

ü  What factors might confuse projections?

The bottom line is that data must never be a substitute for common sense decision-making.

Still, despite all the progress in data collection and assessment, many schools still do not have the information that they need. While assessments are valuable data sources, schools have a tendency to put all their energies into available data, all too often neglecting to focus on the data required to make a sound decision. 

All too often schools are blinded by the data in front of them, to the exclusion of looking for additional data that they need to give a more complete representation of what is happening.

It is vital to identify weaknesses or limitations, and what areas the data can improve efficiency. Research has its place, but research should know its place. Educators should not expect research to do the heavy lifting for them. If they do, the research will not fulfill the intended purpose.

 Data can justify decisions, but this does not mean that the best course of action has been followed.

Hess (2008) insists that “as leaders are revered only for their success at consensus building and gathering stakeholder input, moving from the rhetorical embrace of data to truly data-driven decision making will remain an elusive goal in many communities.”

The point? Research and data can be very beneficial; conversely, it can cause much damage when asked to go beyond what it was intended to do. Schools need to be alerted to the risks of misunderstanding what data can and cannot do.

Research and data are indispensable tools, but that is all they are - tools must not replace the good judgment of those who would avail themselves of it. 

Works Cited

Hess, Frederick M. The New Stupid. Educational Leadership, v66 n4 p12-17 Dec 2008-Jan 2009