Data Mania continues to dominate conversations and legislation.
The Arizona State Senate just voted to replace worthless school grades with “dashboards.”
”Senate Bill 1411 unanimously passed the Arizona Senate on Tuesday. It creates a dashboard that shows — instead of a single grade for a school — a series of grades that represent academics, progress towards college and career readiness for high schools, and English language learner assessments.”
And the Great Data God smiles.
At least they didn’t expand vouchers again in their search for pointless levers to compel improvement.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
better a dashboard than a single grade
Purpose?
California has created a dashboard, and billionaire funded DPE groups are whining about it. The dashboard makes it more difficult to put test scores up on a pedestal as the measure of a school’s value. Ideally, there would be no websites that claim to rate schools at all, but with the ESSA, it’s lamentably mandatory. With the mandate, at least the dashboard takes some focus off testing. I fear that if Charter lover Marshall Tuck becomes the California superintendent, he will bring us back to single digit, test-based ratings.
“With the mandate, at least the dashboard takes some focus off testing.” – Where, in California? What about CAASPP and NWEA?
I disagree. A single letter grade is patently absurd and all but the heaviest kool-aid drinkers can tell it’s nonsense. A “dashboard” purports to be “state of the art” and “comprehensive” and other ooh-la-la descriptions that can fool people into thinking it’s really saying something. Better to have the obvious farce.
Letter grades on a report card don’t reveal what a child did to earn the grade.
That’s why public schools have parent-teacher conference nights so parents can visit their child’s teacher and find out the details behind each letter grade.
Report cards also often come with comments for each class and/or from each teacher that might reveal more details explaining why a letter grade was earned. Like a child that earned a “D” because he/she was “not doing homework” or an “F” grade because the child wasn’t doing much of anything and was “talking too much” instead of focusing on what it takes to learn. For those students who earn “F” grades, most teachers are required to contact that child’s parents or guardians and attempt to get them to show up for conferences to talk about what can be done to change the situation from failure to success.
A report card that goes home is basically a summary. Parents that want to know more must make appointments to sit down with their child’s teachers and/or show up for parent-teacher conference nights that happen two or more times in one school year.
The paperwork for teachers is overwhelming and adds hours of work to prove the teacher is doing what they are required to do when contacting the parents or guardians of children that “earn” poor grades.
Letter grades for kids are just as much of a farce as letter grades for schools. I’ll let Alfie Kohn explain why: https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/case-grades/
Letter grades for students are not a farce when the parents are involved. Those simple letter grades are designed to alert parents when they need to be involved.
An involved parent that sees a poor letter grade, gets on the phone ASAP and contacts the teacher.
If the parents aren’t involved, then it doesn’t matter what teachers do. Nothing, even letter grades, or stupid dashboards full of details, are going to change a parent or guardian that is not involved.
For instance, years ago when our daughter was 7, she came home with a B grade on a test. My wife immediately called the school and asked for a conference. The teacher was still there and they had the conference that day. That was the last B grade Lauryann ever earned. From that day forward she earned straight, A’s all the way through high school to avoid having her mother show up at school soon after school was out to talk to one of her teachers.
Lauryann graduated from high school and was accepted to Stanford where she graduated in 2014.
The real farce, or tragedy, is when parents are not involved an do nothing even with a report card shows up with nothing but “F” grades.
Those grades result in a GPA.
How does a GPA work?
In the same way that your professors and instructors give you a grade to evaluate your progress or success in their course, your Grade Point Average is similarly a score used to evaluate your success during the entirety of your degree programme. It’s an average number that shows what you typically scored in your classes throughout the semester, term, and year. Your GPA can go up and down throughout your time at the university, and will change according to how much you improve your overall grades (or, in some cases, how much you fell behind).
Those letter grades are not a FARCE!
More: https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/degrading-de-grading/
Read the Kohn articles. Letter grades decrease motivation for actual learning. Kids go for whatever it takes to get the A or the B and not a smidgeon more. Grades teach kids that “learning” is about extrinsic rewards and judgment, not their own intrinsic motivation to explore and discover.
Most of the students where I taught for thirty years didn’t do whatever it took to earn an A or B. If they were Chinese, the odds were they would do whatever it took, but there were no Chinese at the schools where I taught, because most Chinese look for the highest ranked schools first, and then buy a house.
Kind of like: Pick your poison, eh!
Will Arizona make data dashboards for every child public?
If not, then what about the risk of a school’s data dashboard file being hacked and then some of the students discover their embarrassing data has been released to the public by some troll and/or bully like Trump?
Or what happens when one of those trolls, hacks into a child’s data dashboard and changes all the data to look better or look worse?
How much will Arizona’s schools make when they sell that data to the private sector or will they just give all that detailed info away?
We don’t get a single grade, we get info on participation and other factors on an ongoing basis. Parents do need to be involved enough to sign up and then access the info, which teachers also try to communicate to them if there’s a problem. Data dashboards assume that the data is accurate, relevant and valid, a big ask for an algorithm.
Oh, like all of the Big Tech fantasies and mandates, those making the decisions simply cannot fathom that fully 20% (AND MORE WHEN POVERTY HITS HARD) of student families do not have reliable access to the INTERNET. (Additionally, those making decisions that all of this “data” will be endlessly entered on a daily basis by teachers have no idea that these same teachers are being given less and less chance to have the physical time demanded for the fantasy of an endless data entry.)
New York City has data dashboards for every school online on the public site – they are very detailed, for example, click to view for my school (https://tools.nycenet.edu/dashboard/#dbn=22K425&report_type=HS&view=City), they are NOT used for any formal school assessment, although principals are very aware and under constant pressure to address deficiencies …
They’re copying California’s dashboard. It’s a farce here. K-8 schools are judged on suspensions, absenteeism, ELA scores and math scores. That’s it. So we’re rewarded for test prep and loose discipline. How is this good for kids?
“Data Dashboard” vs A-F grading for a SCHOOL may be an improvement (from rock-bottom). It could even be just a tech updating/ assembly of the info categories parents & taxpayers have traditionally looked at to get a sense of how their local hisch is doing [grad stats, attendance stats, ave scores on SAT’s & hisch exit exams, GPA stats etc]. If used that way, that could be just, well, practical. And I would want to see fewer – and different – categories used at midsch & elem levels. But I am skeptical. The value depends on the agenda set at fed/ state/ upper admin levels, which determines the info categories, how data is collected & for what purpose. Just about every similar scheme we have seen has been in response to wrong-headed agendas.
Can’t help suspecting that “Data Dashboard” is just another data-crunching platform approach that is already sneaking into student grading. Just yesterday a Mom was complaining to me about the system being used in her 9th-gr son’s French II class (I tutor them in conversational French). Homework assnts – complex video/Q&A exercises – are done & graded on computer, along w/tests, quizzes et al – all the data goes into grading for the class. The one they showed me was an excellent tool for learning to comprehend rapidly-spoken French if used well. But hi-level difficulty w/too many Q’s to take your time & learn from it… Nevertheless it’s scored & goes into the grading mix as if a test. So… he & his friends have a private chat group, & parcel out the Q’s team-style. Maybe each learns a little. As usual w/these methods, the grade is prioritized over learning. A system like that undermines the value of GPA.
I think the deformers want us to bicker and fight with each other. Dump is a master at this game. He’s done this game his entire life. And now he gets to “dump” himself on every single one of us.
I smell another set up. I hope I am wrong. Only time will tell.
Data dashboards are a gimmick in my opinion. Just another game invented to put $$$ in someone’s pocket.
In CA dashboards made its’ sickening debut last year when Michael Kirst, former employee of K-12,Inc. and current Pres. of the CA School board, decided to add yet another layer of ‘let’s play we care about education’.
CA can’t seem to find one legislator who cares about education. Lobbyists are too busy taking these guys out to dinner to sell their new goods.
Then Gov. Brown writes the check for the nonsense.
Then school districts cry out for more funding, when it’s being wasted on Data Dashboards!
“Data dashboard”…? Reminds me of my car. Every car I buy gets more frickin’ complicated to drive. The dashboard on my 2017 Toyota has so many lights and buttons and possible adjustments, I still don’t know what the hell is going on. And, I actually made an effort to read the manual.
Okay, I sound like an old fogey. I am an old fogey. But I think what is also going on here is the ILLUSION OF CHOICE. As a culture we seem to have become obsessed with the idea of having LOTS of information and choices. Though in reality what normal human being has the time in his or her day to really think about these possible options? We are being SWAMPED with data and possible decisions. Some of this stuff, of course, is extremely important and truly useful. Much of what we are facing, though, is just plain crap. It’s a distraction.
(To wit: consider politics, the daily poopstorm of absurd nonsense that is being foisted on our nation. “Stormy Daniels”, “Jared Kushner”, “Anthony Scaramucci”, “Mike Pence” and on and on and on. What have these IDIOTS really contributed to human civilization? And, why are their names cluttering vital neurons in my mind??? “Do I believe Sarah Huckabee Sanders”? What??? I can’t believe I have to waste valuable seconds of my life on this planet considering the latest nonsense that someone like Sanders is spewing when there are so many talented, wise, loving people who should be getting my attention.)
So, yeah, I’m driving down the road and I have this dashboard in my car with all this data on it. Meanwhile I can’t focus on DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD. I accidentally brush the touchscreen on the radio and suddenly NPR becomes a Bible thumping radio preacher. What the hell? Exactly!
So, is it all too much for the human brain? Well, here’s the latest “solution”. Voila,the self-driving car.
Can’t learn? Can’t think? What’s up next? The “self-learning school”?
Something VERY odd is going on here, folks. And, I’m sure some of you who read this blog could do a much better job than I am describing it in words.
John O,
AGREED.
You are SPOT ON, John.
“I can’t believe I have to waste valuable seconds of my life on this planet considering the latest nonsense that someone like. . . ”
The one good thing to remember John is that the human brain is an excellent forgetting mechanism/device. We don’t remember the vast majority of sensations that we take in in a given day.
Data dashboards the bastard stepchild of data driven dialogue and your new vehicle (glad I have an older 07 plain basic truck with roll up windows, etc. . . ) are just fodder for forgetting. Learn the basics and forget about the rest. Hmmmm isn’t that in essence the real nature of the schooling process??
If I could buy a 2005 Corolla (new and somehow left in storage) I wouldn’t hesitate. Except for some of the improved safety features on the new car (which are worthwhile), the older model worked just fine. And, yes, you’re right, forgetting certainly comes in handy sometimes.
JOHN O,
Like you, I am surrounded by gizmos with functions that I do not understand, don’t want, don’t use but must pay for. One times I can’t figure our how to turn on the TV because the universal remote has too many options. I long for the days of “on-off.”
“….but must pay for.” Exactly. And the Great Data God smiles.
“Data Dashboards”— like letter grades for schools— are based on the premise that parent-consumers are able to make an informed choice about where to send their child. “Grading schools” is an essential element of the privatization movement. Giving these kinds of “Consumer Reports” analyses reinforces the notion that schools are a product that can be selected like breakfast cereal or automobile and not an essential public good that should be readily available AND equitably provided for all children. By “giving parents the information they need to make an informed choice” these “tools” are insidiously driving home the point that the marketplace is the ultimate solution to inequity.
And did you notice this: “Quezada (the AZ legislator who introduced the bill) did try to get the Senate to adopt an amendment adding financial information, especially for charter schools, to the dashboard. That proposal failed on a voice vote.” So much for transparency!
Well to keep things equal, every Charter and Private school using taxpayer $$ should have a dashboard as well. We need to find out who owns the company supplying the stats.
The AZ Senate refused to require financial accountability by charters
The AZ Senate is destroying AZ from the inside out.
The “dashboard” looks like a very appealing administrative metaphor. It makes administrators feel like they’re in control and “driving the car.”
Education relies on building relationships and on long term vision. Kind of hard to measure relationships. And if you don’t know where you want to go, what good is the “dashboard”? Administrators so often show such short term commitment, always looking for their next job every few years. Rare to see a superintendent or even principal who sticks around as long as it takes for a student to get from kindergarten to graduating from high school.
Pretty soon you will need an “error code reader” like mechanics have for cars to plug into kids’ heads to tell you what is wrong with them.