After a crazy fall traveling all over the state of Ohio presenting on data-driven decision making, what are the lessons I learned that can help my fellow educators?
On data....
- Data can be fun, yes fun, if you have the necessary skills to read and analyze it, the courage to self-reflect, and a culture that supports risk-taking and open dialogue.
- As a whole, educators are gearing up and ready for more sophisticated analysis of data. They are demanding more and understanding why they need it. This is a good thing. Now can the districts and states keep up with this demand by providing high quality tools and data sets?
- Asking why five times when examining data really works!
- There is universal recognition that when you go deep with data (look for root cause) it is messy and almost always results in the need to "dig up" more data.
- Analyzing data takes time.
