Some states making better use of data to improve education
WASHINGTON – Former Gov. Phil Bredesen sat down with other education leaders Wednesday to discuss the importance of using data to improve national educational standards.
At the roundtable hosted by Data Quality Campaign, Bredesen shared the stage with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holiday and CEO of StudentsFirst, Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of the D.C. school system.
The discussion coincided with the release of a DQC report, “Data for Action 2011: Empower With Data,” which graded all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico on effective data use.
Known as an advocate for using data to promote educational reform, Bredesen stuck with his guns and said educators can only “manage what you measure.”
He also said data remains useless unless it results in action and a change in educational standards. He admitted that applying and responding to data is the hard part. And as he repeatedly praised improvements made in data collection, he added “we are just taking the very first steps.”
Other panel members agreed.
“We can’t take our eyes off the prize, you know, what is the most important thing?” Rhee said. Passing the laws is only the beginning. Rhee created an evaluation system in D.C. that resulted in many ineffective teachers being let go.
To succeed, Bredesen and the others said improving how teachers and parents respond to data collection is vital. Many teachers are afraid of the data because it is “seen primarily through the lens of ‘it’s about evaluating teachers,’” he said.
They see it as primarily punitive. But in reality, data are not compiled to fire teachers but to improve educational experiences for students, teachers and families. The process of gathering data needs to be made less threatening to teachers, he said.
Duncan said that the goal of data collection is not about the data itself, but about the ability it has to empower those in education.
Holiday suggested that starting small – such as focusing on attendance – may be a good way to calm nerves.
Another problem associated with the constant collection and publication of educational data is over-obsessing, Bredesen said.
“When people talk about making this data available to everybody, I suppose there are some parents that are going to call up their kid’s class performance every evening on their iPhone, but most are not,” he said.
“There’s a long history of people getting overly fascinated with the technological aspect of things,” Bredesen said. “Be careful you don’t get blinded by that stuff and stay focused on what your really have to do when you’re trying to accomplish your goals.”
The report suggests that states use data to make sure all children have effective teachers, that all schools have many effective teachers and that the education system prepares children for college or careers. It lists 10 ways to use data. Tennessee is using all 10, according to the report.
As governor, Bredesen actively promoted what has now become known as the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education – a research partnership between the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
He also pushed Tennessee lawmakers to enact a series of laws dealing with K-12 education, which put the state on track to win more than $501 million in the federal government’s Race to the Top 2010 competition.
Reach reporter Elijah Herington at heringtone@shns.com or 202-326-9865. SHFWire stories are free to any news organization that gives the reporter a byline and credits the SHFWire.
