Blog2023-03-03T07:34:49-08:00

As school board trustees make sense of test results, supes have an opportunity to build a common view

California’s CAASPP test results were released statewide on October 18. All over the state, many of  the 4,500-plus school board trustees are sitting down with their trusted sources at their side, trying to make sense of it all. Some will rely on reporters' interpretations. Others will ask their superintendent for guidance. Fewer still will request a board study session. Isn't [...]

By |November 14th, 2023|Categories: accountability, assessment, communication, district management, governance|

Why the popularity of “Street Data” worries me

I am troubled by signs of growing opposition to testing. One indicator is the popularity of the book by Shane Safir and Jamila Dugan, Street Data (Corwin, 2021). The book has been ranked on Amazon as either the #1 or #2 seller in the category of education administration for months. In Amazon’s larger category of education books, at the end [...]

By |October 19th, 2023|Categories: assessment, book review, critics of testing, professional development|

One reason we misunderstand progress of emerging bilingual students

Educators almost everywhere rely on classifying and sorting their students. If a child is seven years old, she’s a second-grader. If a child’s parents earn less than 1.8 times the federal poverty standard, that student gets reduced price meals. If a student’s parents speak Spanish or Tagalog at home, and the student scores below a threshold score on the English [...]

By |September 12th, 2023|Categories: communication, English learners|

The “do-or-die” renewal moment for charter schools requires better evidence

I’m back from the desert of Palm Springs, where I had the pleasure in mid-June to address the annual conference of the California Charter Authorizing Professionals (CCAP), and listen to the authorizers discuss their work. Many see themselves as school improvement leaders, who are really in the continuous improvement business. Like doctors, they aim to help their schools to prosper. [...]

By |August 3rd, 2023|Categories: accountability, conference, dashboard, mismeasurement|

Data about California schools’ vital signs have been vanishing. Why?

Today we know less about California schools than we knew ten years ago. The list of data missing in action includes data about courses taught, class sizes, teachers and administrators, student-counselor ratios, librarians and the college-going rate of high school graduates. As a result, Californians are no longer able to answer questions like these: What is the ratio of students-per-counselor [...]

By |May 19th, 2023|Categories: accountability, data governance, legal, Policy|

The reading debate is an opportunity for education to become a modern profession

The errors of the medical profession became visible only when evidence of harm from cigarettes was accepted and interpreted correctly. In John Hattie’s book, Visible Learning, he asks whether teaching “… can shift from an immature to a mature profession …” He comes to this stunning question after looking at the practice of medicine in the 1890s, and [...]

By |April 5th, 2023|Categories: analysts versus practitioners, reading|

When K-12 leaders make mistakes, who takes note?

[This first appeared in Andy Rotherham's blog, "EduWonk" on February 15, 2023.] I’ll confess, mistakes, errors and miscalculations fascinate me. I find they hold rich opportunities to learn. The errors made by district and site leaders, their origins and the learning lessons they offer became the heart of a book I wrote during the pandemic, together with my friend Jill [...]

By |February 23rd, 2023|Categories: dashboard, district management, planning|

See where students struggle (or succeed) with reading

You are looking at a map of the reading gap. These red and blue counties estimate elementary students’ reading skills. Why is weaker reading so prevalent in some states, and stronger reading in others? Why does weaker reading (red) dominate in California, Arizona and New Mexico? Why is Indiana solidly blue (stronger reading)? Why is Texas a mix of red [...]

By |January 20th, 2023|Categories: gap analysis, geospatial analysis, reading|

How sound is your evidence of reading? The case for multiple measures.

You think your 1st or 2nd or 3rd graders are learning to read. But how do you know that's true? More to the point, how confident are you that the test evidence you're using is sound, and how certain are you that your interpretation of that evidence is correct? Well, if you are relying on one test alone, you are [...]

By |January 6th, 2023|Categories: analytic methods, data viz, mismeasurement, reading|

When reporters misrepresent NAEP test results, misunderstandings spread far and wide

The New York Times assigned reporter Sarah Mervosh to make sense of the 2022 results of the Nation’s Report Card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Her headline (which may have been written by the copy desk) twisted results into a New York sized pretzel: “The Pandemic Erased Two Decades of Progress in Reading and Math.” What the pandemic [...]

By |September 7th, 2022|Categories: communication, district management, mismeasurement, News|Tags: , , |

The hazards of labeling, or what the 2×4 can teach us about our words

How quickly our words get away from us. We sometimes sow the seeds of misunderstandings when we use words that don’t really mean what we think they mean. In a field as jargon-filled as education, perhaps we should slow down and choose our words more carefully. Consider the term “2x4.” This is a familiar phrase to carpenters. It describes the [...]

By |September 1st, 2022|Categories: communication, English learners, mismeasurement|

Now published … “Mismeasuring Schools’ Vital Signs”

What did I do with my pandemic time? I called my friend, veteran school board trustee Jill Wynns, and asked her if she'd like to join me and write a book about the 101 ways that schools' vital signs are mismeasured and misunderstood. The two of us have spent a total of over 50 years in the school world. So [...]

By |July 21st, 2022|Categories: News|

Half of lagging readers suffer from dyslexia, and the other half from dysteachia

Lagging readers are visible in every school and district. But how many of your second- or third-grade students are lagging one year or more? If your answer is about 20 to 30 out of every 100 third-graders are behind grade level by a year or more, I would not be surprised. But would you be surprised to discover that half [...]

By |April 28th, 2022|Categories: dyslexia, legal, legislation, reading, research|

Why would any scholar oppose interim assessments?

Times are strange. Scholars in this post-enlightenment era are supposed to favor reason and champion scientific inquiry. Evidence is the raw material for science. One would hope that reasoned arguments also rest on evidence. That's what tests produce. They make student learning visible. So why would any scholar oppose tests, particularly the interim assessments designed to measure the progress of [...]

By |March 16th, 2022|Categories: assessment, research|

Combining multiple measures of reading so teachers refer the right kids to Tier 2

I’m eager to share a story of our use of two different measures of emerging readers’ skills to gauge whether teachers are referring the right kids to Tier 2 reading support. But not before I blow off some steam. I’m just tired of hearing the mantra of “multiple measures.” It usually is chanted as an admonishment, at times with a [...]

By |September 17th, 2021|Categories: analysts versus practitioners, analytic methods, assessment, reading|

Dyslexia screening is a litmus test of a district’s commitment to teaching all students to read

What is the implied promise in the contract between school districts and the parents who bring them their children to educate? The first promise is that their children will learn how to read. In some districts, that may come to pass. But in too many districts, only 6 or 7 or 8 out of every 10 students learns to read. [...]

By |August 28th, 2021|Categories: dyslexia, legislation, reading|

School and district plans require a long view of the progress of learning

While California district planning teams sweat the last weeks of LCAP work, many are missing recent measures of learning. Without the CAASPP, districts that lack solid interim assessment results may feel adrift, lost at sea. But the missing test results provides the ideal incentive to get some perspective, and take the long view on how your district has been doing. [...]

By |June 8th, 2021|Categories: analytic methods, assessment, LCAP, planning|

Are too many ed researchers talking mainly to each other?

At this year’s annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference, education scholars presented 2,188 papers, symposia and roundtables–all of it online, of course. I was happy to “attend” without the cost of travel. But I was especially eager to scout new findings on two topics–dyslexia and identification of English learners–relevant to districts in California my firm serves as analytic partner [...]

By |May 12th, 2021|Categories: conference, research|

How far from the evidence should you stand in order to make sense of it?

If analysis is what you’re doing, you face some of the same decisions as when you view a work of art. How close to a painting should you stand? If you’re looking at a sculpture, from what vantage points should you look? If you stand too close, what you see may form a pattern. The pattern may look pleasing. It may [...]

By |March 30th, 2021|Categories: analytic methods, applied analytics|

Napa CoE is taking new steps to help its districts build better LCAPs

Supt. Barbara Nemko has taken steps to help Napa County districts plan smarter. Barbara Nemko, Napa CoE’s superintendent, wants districts’ plans to get smarter, and she’s ready to shoulder more responsibility for making that happen. Already she's invested in better evidence for planning, and in analytic support and coaching for her LCAP chief. And she's welcomed district leaders [...]

By |February 19th, 2021|Categories: LCAP, legislation, planning|