This week I realized after meeting with several groups of teachers that my legacy in this school district five, ten, fifteen years down the road will probably be that I was the guy who integrated large amounts of standardized data into the learning experience of adults and students. Reflecting on this concept, it is natural to ask if this is my goal. Personally I have a passion for numbers. I am the guy who knows Ron Cey batted .275 for the Cubs in 1983, the Bears won Superbowl XX 46-10, that I won my heat as a high school sophomore at conference with a 1:14.6 in the 100 breaststroke and my last race in college was a 2:16.8 in the 200 breaststroke. Each time we take a round of standardized tests, I produce spreadsheets that perform over 1,500,000 calculations for the staff. For some that would make their head hurt, for some obscure reason, I think this is a fun activity.
In reality, numbers tell us a lot, but they only show us a small part of the whole picture. Ron Cey may have hit .275 in 1983, but the Cubs finished in 5th place. The Bears won Superbowl XX 46-10 but many of us were surprised New England scored on that defense as neither the New York Giants or Los Angeles Rams had scored on them during the playoffs. In both of my races, I don't remember what heat I was in or how I faired in the overall competition. Numbers provide insight, but they are only one part of the overall picture.
In order to improve those "numbers," we need to look at the learning itself. As a swimmer, I couldn't go into either training or a race and simply say I want to drop 2 seconds today. That's fun to think about but really impossible to do. I would go into the 100 fly and say, I want to breathe every third stroke, I want to dolphin kick 4 times off the wall in the turn. By selecting tangible goals that I could control in the setting, I worked toward the overall goal of improving my swimming achievement and dropping time in the process. The same is true with academic testing. Teachers and students cannot simply say I want to improve my score by so much. Rather by selecting actionable learning experiences such as "I want to develop my understanding and use of figurative language," the client student and leading teacher can cultivate opportunities for manageable growth in the classroom. This in turn, much like the swimming analogy, will result in overall academic gains.
In graduate school, two types of research are studied, quantitative and qualitative. Statistical analysis blended with stories and reflections in the field. As we look at the "data" regarding our classrooms, there is much more to it than the % of students that met or exceeded expectations. There is significantly greater value to be gained from seeing the experiences and hearing the stories of those in the classroom. This week is our second Board of Education Curriculum Workshop. During that time, I will present to the Board six slides of goals and sixteen wonderful graphs. While the data is impressive and it tells a story of fantastic instructional gains, it is only a fraction of the real story. A more complete version of the real story will be shared the hour before, as the Board of Education circulates from group to group meeting with teachers, students, and our coaching team. Seeing first hand some of the products of their learning, hearing stories of successes and challenges in the classroom, and finding out how their decisions as a Board of Education have inspired change in the learning experiences of the adults and students in our district. It will be these moments, qualitative conversations between board members, students, and teachers, that the real data will come out. My numbers in the hour afterwards will simply be frosting on the cake.
No comments:
Post a Comment