- For Teacher College Press Technology, Education–Connections (TEC) Series
The Educational Data Movement: Crossing Boundaries in Search of Student Success
Educators are engulfed in a data movement pressing them to manage their social and human work using business concepts and tools. Initially, the movement appeared as another face of high-stakes testing and the product of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). However, it is emerging as a new area of educational practice that crosses organizational boundaries of leadership, policy, technology, curriculum, assessment, and teaching. As new forms of information develop, the movement raises unique questions about evidence and systemic design. To date, the literature in this area has fallen into one of two categories: 1) optimistic prescriptions for district/school performance or 2) compendia of research exploring the different locations in the rapidly changing educational data landscape in search of unifying frameworks. This book provides a needed sociotechnical and historical account. It unpacks business technology trends and explores challenges with applying these tools into the socially complex field of education, arguing:
- The educational data movement is irreversible and cumulative. As with other technological revolutions, this one is moving only forward. It has the potential to reshape professions. For better or worse, it is building upon the infrastructures NCLB left behind.
- Information tools operate at both individual and organizational levels. Policy makers have largely focused on individual student and teacher productivity. However, history shows organizational flexibility/responsiveness could be important outcomes.
- Educational data has unique challenges stemming from its socio-cognitive origin. At the same time, even imperfect data can be useful for understanding educational complexity, supporting collaboration, and enabling new designs for teaching.
- The educational data movement is still young. New social and technical catalysts present policymakers and practitioners design challenges for transparency/local flexibility.
The intended audience is broad, including education scholars, practitioners, informed readers, and those new to education interested in how it is changing or can change. This book discusses many current topics including value added modeling for teacher evaluation, big data and analytics, longitudinal data systems, open educational resources, and new designs for teaching. It discusses the role leading foundations with ties to business have had in making education a more informational and evidence-based practice.
Chapters:
1. Education Enters the Information Management Era
2. Organizational Information Technology: Business to Education
3. Building National and State Data Infrastructures
4. Districts, Data Warehouses, and Teacher Evaluation Systems
5. Data in Schools: Broadening of Instructional Responsibility
6. The ‘Technical Core’ of Classrooms and Teachers
7. Educational Data Challenges: Quality, Consistency, & Validity
8. Seven Social and Technical Forces For Change
9. Towards an Integrated Design Science
