Study: Many classes too data-heavy, at cost of instruction

Information’s great. But what about insight?

A fresh University of Kansas study contends state educators put too much emphasis on data and too little on the savvy and experience of teachers.

Data-driven decision have been the go to buzzwords at Kansas schools for years. The concept presses schools to rely on test scores when plotting the interventions needed — think an extra 30 minutes in a student’s schedule to home in on a math lesson — for plotting a path to student success.

The researchers argue that test scores are the only thing all schools use, ignoring the instincts of teachers and unique situations of each student. Instead of being data-driven, they’re data-dependent.

The study suggests calls for a smarter balance between the first-hand insight of teachers and numbers drawn from test scores and other measures.

“We are losing teachers’ ability to use far more information about what they know makes for a good education for different types of kids because we’re just reducing the kids down to a number,” said Rebecca Jacobsen, an associate professor of education policy at Michigan State University.

Switch To Data

Using test scores to evaluate students has been a near constant in education. But what that testing looked like was often different from classroom to classroom. The 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act began dramatically emphasized tests that are comparable across schools and the country.

That — combined with new technology — led to a rapid expansion of data on students.

“There’s a lot of power in that capacity,” said Jason Grissom, who studies education policy at Vanderbilt University.

In 2007, Kanas began piloting a data-heavy approach called Multi-Tiered System of Supports, or MTSS. It’s been used to devise improvement plans for struggling students.

Since that launch 12 years ago, it’s gradually expanded across the state. MTSS is more a framework than a program — educators continually test students and adjust plans accordingly.

In 2013, Garden City Public Schools was receiving state training on implementing MTSS. KU researchers documented the shift in a newly released study that found teachers’ knowhow was “continually marginalized.”