Data Analysis and School Improvement
A course with data anywhere in the title is daunting. While I have taken statistics, and loved it, it was close to 9 years ago, I remember very little. And everyone knows, the dreaded "D" word in education is data. Data instills fear in many because it has come to represent more work and criticisms about how we aren't doing our jobs correctly. I like to think of it as that proverbial dirt that we would rather keep under the rug than actually take care of. It takes a lot of thinking, decision making, and perseverance to make sure that the job is done correctly. I learned a lot from the course, as expected. And, I hope that I have the opportunity to try out some new skills that I have learned in my school.
When the course first got underway my feelings about data were pretty standard. I remember even thinking, "What am I even reading?!" It was hard. The tone and pace of both text books was fantastic, I loved them, but I struggled with understanding how all of the concepts and pieces fit into my small international school. The tasks seemed daunting, and the amount of sheer infrastructure that my school is lacking loomed over me like a seemingly insurmountable mountain to climb. Obviously, the mountain was climbed. Slowly. Painfully. And, with much effort. And then there came the, "Ah ha" moment. |
It's fair to say my mind was blown about midway through the course. We read an article that challenged the traditional assumptions we (read I and just about everyone else in education) hold to be true about grades. In fact, my school had just recovered from an all out "discussion" session in which everyone expressed fear and apprehension over changing our grading system. Members of the staff were distraught over being told we couldn't give students zeros, "We aren't just teaching them content, we are also teaching them how to be productive members of society!" we didn't quite reach a conclusion. I, among others, were on the fence. After reading the article for this course on grades and the non-traditional ways they can be used effectively, I am quite interested in learning more. While this may seem like a small thing to walk away with from just a large and comprehensive course, I think it was a turning point for me in the semester. From this brain expanding moment, my interest in data and the improvement of my school was taken to another level. |
Long story short, I got my hands dirty. Looked at data for my school, although we seem to be lacking quite a bit in the data collection process, and I developed some solid foundational knowledge of how to properly go about improving a school. It was an intense course, but none of the work was impossible. However, this is one instance in which I found myself thinking, "I wish I wasn't taking this course online." I think I could have gotten a lot more out of the course if I had more time to interact with the professor in person, I had conversations with peers in person rather than in a discussion forum, and I had more one on one instruction about the various concepts. Bottom line, I learned. I learned a lot. But I can't shake the feeling that I could have learned a lot more.