Keeping the (School) Data Straight
I guess you could say, I have something of a love-hate-”just deal with it” relationship with data.
Being a humanities sort of person with an inclination to poetry, I’m not overly drawn to calling on the “hard data” of statistics, numbers, and the like.
Being my son’s mother, I’ve learned, there’s comfort, and a need, for columns of numbers and for graphs plotting all of it. Charlie’s language being minimal, all the records of how he’s done on learning this or that skill (and we have binders and boxes stashed away, with the current “Charlie box” behind my worktable overflowing with reports from the school, the neurologist, the eye doctor……) provide essential information about his learning, and about his struggles to learn.
The U.S. Department of Education requires states to collect and report data on students with disabilities. Some states have complained that time and funds are diverted from educating students with disabilities in the name of collecting the data. The November 14th EdWeek reports that the federal government does not agree about this:
Collecting the information does not “in any way negatively impact outcomes for students with disabilities,” the department said in a “comments and analysis” document released after a different round of public comments that was held last year.
In addition, the department said it does not plan to trim down any requirements.
“We believe, in order for the … process to demonstrate its full impact, it is important to maintain consistency and will, with some minor adjustments, retain the original indicators,” wrote federal education officials.
One case cited by EdWeek stands out: The US department had suggested dropping the requirement that states track suspensions and expulsions of students with disabilities by race and ethnicity:
“We received many compelling comments from disability rights and advocacy groups expressing significant concerns about the elimination” of that particular indicator, the department said in its statement. It has been reworded in a way that should eliminate the concerns, the department said.
Directors of special education in public school districts are quoted as raising concerns about the requirement to collect data. Some districts note that they have had to make a decision between hiring someone who will actually teach the children and someone who can collect the data and crunch the numbers.
Agreed—but “teaching” and “data” need not be seen as at odd with each other. There’s a time to drop the data-madness and just focus on, yes, teaching and learning. But precisely because Charlie can’t tell us much—about why he might have gotten upset seemingly out of the blue at school— the data paint in more of the picture about what’s going on with him and his learning and what might need to be changed.
And if anyone ever feels a need to fudge any numbers—take a bite of this first.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, data, disabilities blog, disability, Education, Health, Numbers, school districts, Statistics, us governmentRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Education, Legislation, Psychiatry, Statistics
4 opinions for Keeping the (School) Data Straight
Mrs. C
Nov 18, 2008 at 7:48 am
I think it’s one thing to collect stuff on kids whose parents WANT their children in public school. This whole “Child Find” thing, taking censuses of children with disabilities whether the parents WANT it or not… is Hitleresque. I do NOT (not not not… maybe I wasn’t clear enough? NOT ever) want my homeschooled kids on any disability lists the school puts together for the government.
It’s none of their dang business anyway if my kid isn’t in school. Those people scare me.
I really do imagine, if someone like Hitler did come to power, how convenient these lists would be. Just saying.
joycemocha
Nov 18, 2008 at 11:09 am
There’s data and then there’s data. Just since I’ve started sped teaching, my paperwork requirements have gone up–and it’s not been data that has necessarily been beneficial to the process of actually providing service to the students. In the case of some eligibilities, in fact (primarily kids with learning disabilities), the new Federal regulations promoting certain methodologies are finding kids who need services not eligible. The frustrating thing is that it is not the borderline kids (the ones who are just barely affected by a disability) who are necessarily affected, but the kids who are low to begin with and could benefit from accommodations and support. So what are we supposed to do with these kids? Let them fail? They certainly aren’t going to make it in a regular classroom without sped support–but the new methodologies make it even more difficult to do something for them.
Regan
Nov 18, 2008 at 2:31 pm
As noted, it depends on what the data is used, and intended to be used for…ideally to significantly improve individual and group outcomes and determine effective practice.
In my view, data that is not analyzed and applied to behavioral, systematic or organizational improvement is retrospective reporting, and in worst case of just collecting, equivalent to stamp collecting.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 19, 2008 at 1:39 am
The analysis is the thing?—-and knowing how to analyze, interpret, understand, apply.
Number-crunching is just and only that, yes.
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