Data-Driven Decisions
Helen Raham, Winter 2003
Assessment is often negatively viewed as a process for sorting winners
and losers. Assessment literacy, on the other hand, gives educators and policy
makers the tools to make every school a winner by using the results to positively
influence future outcomes.
While the measurement of learning is still an imperfect process, there
is ample evidence that it is essential to improvement. Assessment feedback spurs changes
in practice and reveals where additional support is needed to close achievement gaps.
This issue of Education Analyst explores the increasing
sophistication in the use of large-scale assessment results, the data collection systems
required to support them, some early applications of the technology, and professional
development initiatives to equip Canadian educators with the skills to make data-driven
decisions.
Experts believe that thoughtful analysis of the patterns embedded in
performance data improves school management and productivity. For this reason, effective
organizations have moved beyond mere collection and reporting of data, to encourage its
use for program and instructional level decisions.
It is no longer enough to report raw scores. What counts is what is
done with this information to increase achievement in schools all along the continuum. The
need for reliable multi-faceted information, valid interpretations, and wise use of
results has implications at every level of the system.
Performance data are most powerful when used to show the rate of
progress over time of student cohorts, controlling for variables such as prior learning
and student backgrounds. Reporting information in this way allows us to examine more
accurately what schools contribute to the educational progress of their students. In any
given achievement band, it can distinguish among rapidly improving, under-performing,
static, and declining schools. The ability to employ such statistical technology promises
to revolutionize education by creating a foundation for sound instructional decisions in
each circumstance.
In this environment, educators need to overcome their fear of data and
be equipped to use it constructively. Assessment literacy is the rising tide that lifts
all boats – ensuring no child is left behind.
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