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McConnell

AR2

2/12/2016

The article Making Sense of Data-Driven Decision Making in Education


addresses what from my perspective is a contentious subject in education,
particularly P-12 education student assessment as it applies to measuring
instruction effectiveness. While assessment initiatives and requirements
such as the No Child Left Behind Act are certainly not without controversy,
they have also added new opportunities for data management, assessment
and analysis. With these new opportunities come, of course, educational
technology implementation and support. The web article Making Sense of
Data-Driven Decision Making in Education offers four case studies that reflect
the results of data analysis of student assessment. This decision making, or
DDDM as it is referred to in academia, seems to be prevalent to the point in
education that the question is not whether or not to adhere to it, but rather
how best to interpret it. Through an impressive amount of research and
presentation one facet this article makes clear is that for the myriad of
administrators and teachers who trust this methodology it seems useless
without accurate, comprehensive, thorough data management and
interpretation. For those of us focusing on educational technology as
administrators, designers or instructors, learning more about how expansive
data management initiatives such as these meld with applications we are
learning and using every day can be highly beneficial. This is my first
exposure to utilizing educational technology outside of the classroom or
conference room and its uses here are extremely intriguing.
The second article, Data-driven Decision Making Can Improve Student
Learning, makes a more pointed case that data-driven decisions are in fact
not only shaping current P-12 policy and instructional decisions, and have
been for a while, but also are supported by a wide array of case studies and
research. While some public school teachers may argue that standardized
testing and assessment may not be specific or developed enough for the
unique needs of their classroom or school system, this article appropriately
addresses that objection with well-curated data. Most telling for me was the
quote In fact, research has shown that if curricula and instruction plans at
all levels county, district, classroom, and individual students are based on
information gathered from assessments, the probability that students will
attain desired learning outcomes increases (Kerns, 2013). Simply put this
excerpt and the data that accompanies it make a clear case that contrary to
some teacher concerns the use of decision-making in school systems based
on data interpretation of assessment is sound and leads to increased results
that can be measured. The article goes on to further quell instructor
uneasiness and pique my curiosity by describing just how effective datadriven decision making can be expressly catered and refined for a specific

McConnell

AR2

2/12/2016

school system, grade, curriculum or classroom. It seems that any Datadriven decision making is useless or at best flawed when it is not supported
by the best collection, management and analysis tools and applications
guided by trained, forward-thinking designers and administrators.

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