How Data Could be Used to Influence Change in K-12 Education

After exploring data-driven decision-making literature, I have re-examined Dave Cormier’s blog post Our Schools aren’t broken, they are hard. When I read through the article, I challenged myself to look at it through the perspectives of roles and how data could influence change through each of the various roles.

Teacher – How can data support change for teachers when creating digital citizenship for k-12 students? How can data around safety and security influence a teacher’s decision to use the technology in their classroom to support students’ management and wellness? Calvert (2015) claimed that “Data scientists do not have all the domain expertise managers have, and analytics is no substitute for understanding the business” (para. 13). Similarly, teachers can provide insights on the data type that would be beneficial/useful to apply change within the classroom. Teachers can provide a different perspective from their role in the classroom. Superintendents can then use the data to influence how the safety of their students could be ensured when expanding and building digital citizenship, as well as make informed decisions based on the data available to ensure student wellness.

Teachers also have a unique perspective that is vital in data collection. Through his research, Calvert (2015) showed that having the data is not enough. We must bring in knowledge, “In addition to making sure that data are generated with analytics in mind, managers should use their knowledge of the business to account for strange results” (para. 13). Teachers know their students best and how they learn. Teachers can analyze the data and possibly explain the abnormalities in the data. For example, suppose a student is excelling in an area of tech well beyond their years. In that case, a teacher may connect that to the students’ home life and have a dad who is a technology developer who is very involved with his kids.

Students – How will students’ identity and safety be protected during data collection? What role do students have in influencing how the data is used? In K-12 education, students’ wellbeing and learning should be the driving force in change. How can educators and influencing parties ensure that the data being shared and collected is in the best interest of students? There comes the same dilemma of the good outweighing the consequences. What happens if data collection takes away from one student’s learning but benefits a later learning group? Who decides if that is okay? Is there a role for past data collected on student learning influencing how teachers approach new data collection with current students?

Administrators/District Superintendents- Both Cormier and Calvert recognize the importance of understanding why you are doing something before doing it. In his blog post, Cormier (2017) stated, “Don’t tear down a fence unless you know why it was put there in the first place”. Calvert (2015) also highlights the importance of understanding why data is being collected, suggesting that understanding this is the key to successful data-driven change. He claimed “being able to separate good data from bad, and knowing where precisely analytics can add value” (para. 1) is vital to implementing successful data-driven change. Administrators and people of power at the district level can see that organization and analyze where change is needed, therefore using that information to inform data collection at all levels. Administrators and district personnel could also use the collected data to help get staff on board with change if the data support changes they want to make.

Each role perspective can utilize data collection to support learning and the wellbeing of the students.

Reference 

Calvert, D. (2015, May 1). A leader’s Guide to Data Analytics. Kellogg Insight. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/a-leaders-guide-to-data-analytics/

Cormier, D. (2017, December 8). Our schools aren’t broken, they’re hard. [Blog]. Dave Cormier.http://davecormier.com/edblog/2017/12/08/our-schools-arent-broken-theyre-hard/