In the article, “School Improvement—Data-Driven Decision Making,” the article explains how the Cedar Rapids, Iowa school district is utilizing data in making instructional decisions. The article not only explains how data-driven decision-making was useful for their schools, but they also include on their site very helpful examples of tools anyone else can use if they are interested in implementing data driven decision-making in their school system.
I agree with the points in this article and I really couldn’t see how anyone could disagree.The authors didn’t make any points without including supporting evidence made in a logical, non-emotional way. The “Data-Driven Decision Making Supporting Resources” available in this article were invaluable to anyone who was interested in this area or even if they were not. One could tell by all of the information that was presented to the reader that this research and article was the result of a cumulative effort by many individuals, groups, organizations, etc.The article was written and researched so well that the reader could understand the whole foundation and formula of this data-driven decision making areas just by reading this one single article.
I felt after reading this that it had at the very least touched on most areas of this field and/or presented to the reader where they could go for information they might not have presented.In the eScholar article “Data-Driven Decision Making and Student Achievement,” this article defined to the reader what exactly data-driven decision making in schools was as well as providing good basic and general information as an introduction to this area of data-driven decision making in schools. I felt this article would be a good article for those who have not yet decided to use this method but were simply at this point and were now only seeking general information. The article not only presents reasons some schools use the data-driven method but also includes why some schools do not.The authors of the article seem to empathize with the reader in regards to understanding why many would be inclined to fear an “information-overload” type of situation. However, at the same time, continuing to hold your hand and simply walk you through the facts while reassuring the reader this is a positive direction for any schools to at the very least contemplate.
I support the information in this article, all of the points made in the article and how it was presented.Better yet, I support that this article wasn’t written in such a way to support or attack it but to present points on this. It’s like, here’s the information, you decide yourself what to do with it. Because the information had valid professional points, I will say I support the material in the article.
Having read the article “School Improvement—Data-Driven Decision Making” prior to reading this article, I wasn’t nearly as impressed by the research or hard work that went into this research as much as the earlier article and yet it definitely had its own strengths.Unfortunately, not near as many readers would invest their time into reading all of the sub-fields, Powerpoint presentations or even open the files that went with the former article I wrote about. It would be easy for anyone to read and decipher the information in this article and thus possibly opening more doors for those readers to be interested enough to invest the time into reading the above article.This article is a good article for the information it intends to introduce and for the audience it purposely is directed towards. I personally feel that audience would be those either in the consideration phase of the data-driven process, general readers, or those still skeptical of this area. For this audience, it provides enough information for their purpose.
The article, “Data-Driven Decision Making and School Report Cards” presented the data-driven decision making in a specific area of using this method in reporting grades.I felt this article could interest general readers, educators just getting into the area of data-driven decision-making and perhaps haven’t yet used it for the purpose of reporting grades. I felt this was a quality, non-biased article on this area because upon finishing the article, I would not be able to state that the article was for or against this but merely an informational/educational piece on this area. Also, the article made it easy for the reader who would like to find more information on this area to do so by including live links to other sites.
The information used in supporting the data-driven decision making was that these reports could be used for “support for public education, a vital tool for school improvement, and a source of data and information for advocacy” (NEA, 2008). The reasons some may not support it included, “critics of school report cards respond that: test scores are overemphasized, schools do not fit a one-size fits all model, school comparisons are unfair, and schools with low performance are negatively impacted” (NEA, 2008).Again in this article, because it was presented in a non-biased way informing the reader of possible reactions to those on either side of using data-driven decision making for report cards, I support this article. Because I am an open-minded person I appreciate it when other individuals, educators, writers, etc.
communicate with me as such. I don’t need to be told how I should feel on any issue, however being informed why some may feel either way is to me an acceptable and professional means of communication in any format so I do support this article.I was pleasantly surprised by how much information is available on the Internet in regards to data-driven decision making for the schools. I actually had a somewhat difficult time to decide which article I would research for this purpose. I didn’t even find an article that I read that didn’t at least present some good points.
I think it is a good thing that most of the articles I saw had a definite type of target audience. In doing this, I feel those associated with giving us this information are much more likely to find more of us to be their audience.
