I don't have time to process this idea right now. But I was in a department chair meeting today where the chairs (and, by proxy, their teams of teachers) were given the task of collecting, compiling, and sharing data about how students are doing (academically) at our school.
It's not the fun, all-smiles stuff that all my favorite educational leaders are posting about on Twitter, but it's really important, right?
It was a really hard conversation, full of starts and stops. Confrontations (presented gently). Pushback. Fears names. Assurances made. Trust leaned upon. Missteps and course corrections. Really important work that we can't shy away from.
But I came away wondering how to package it better. How to make the case clearly. And I kept coming back to the pieces of data we're asking them to collect.
We were focused (with good reason) on how the data could INFORM. But how can we use the data to inspire? Do we need OTHER data? Do we need DIFFERENT data? Do we need MORE data? And (I think this is really it), do we need to SEE the data differently?
Is that a shift of perspective for administration? For teachers? For students? I think the answer is yes to all of these. But what does that look like? I don't know tonight. And I probably won't know alone. I will seek help from those around me. Because (as Mr. Coleman always likes to remind us) "together we're smarter than a supercomputer!"
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