Response to Data Article

I was intrigued by this article, because so much of it rings true. There is such an overwhelming amount of data to be analyzed in a school setting: standardized test scores, research paper grades, etc. When I really take a look at an assignment's average, I hate to admit, but the class average is actually quite low. What am I doing wrong here for the class to get such a low grade on a vocab test? The grading program used at our school is actually ideal for this kind of analysis, but again, I hate to admit, that the time given to this analysis is not easy to find, nor is it particularly mandated. For years, I taught the SRA course, the course that seniors who fail the HSPA, are required to take. I always remember hounding the director of guidance for the results of the October HSPA and then giving a quick read through those results just to see if my kids passed. For years, this constituted my data analysis.

Morrison says, "The problem is that we frame data as an entity teachers need to meet and engage with, rather than as information that rises organically out of teachers' work with learners". She is absolutely correct...how many times do we go over this kind of analysis with our kids? I post grades every week, so the onus is on the kids to review their grade, but at least once a marking period, I take the students aside to really review where they are at as far as grades go...This does help in the grade breakdown, but I feel that I do a better job of it when I look at their writing.

One technique I picked up a few years ago to help kids with their writing is to have them complete a "Sentence Opener Sheet". This is a handout where students take one of their essays and analyze it. On this sheet are three columns: one for the first four words of every sentence, one for the amount of words in that sentence, and one for whatever skill I'm working on at that time...verbs or adjectives, let's say. Once completed, this forces kids to analyze how each sentence they write in a particular essay begins, and how many words they use in each sentence. Then I can take those results and graph them so they see the frequency of each. If their graph is up and down, they've done a good job of varying their sentences and openers. If their graph is flatline, they need to work on that. As I was reading this article, I kept coming back to that exercise in class.

To get back to Morrison's article, I think her concept of the data notebook is well-meaning and probably effective, but I'm not convinced it can work without careful collaboration with all the stakeholders there...the students, and even the parents. She even hints at the collaboration between teachers and teachers, as well as teachers and administrators. I think this was the key item for success in this endeavor.