death by data

Ed said the other day that here in Irvington we are going to experience death by data.

He was right.

KDerosa predicted as much lo these many months ago. Or perhaps it was Steve H, or Doug Sundseth, or basically anyone who's ever read Kitchen Table Math.


[pause]


Ah.

It was Steve H, Smartest Tractor, and Stephanie O.

hmm.....I'm tilting slightly in the guys-do-stats-ish direction here in vague recollection-land.

oh well

Round up the usual suspects, and keep scrolling.



Let's review.

1. Irvington Union Free School District has a strategic plan.

2. The strategic plan has 5 goals.

3. Data warehousing, differentiated instruction, and portfolio assessment are goal #2.

4. A couple of weeks ago, at the School Board meeting, I got a look at data warehousing in action.


pop quiz

Can a 61% drop in scores of 4 between grades 4 and 8 in a class of 158 children be explained by 18 kids with scores of <4 moving into the district and a roughly similar number of students with indeterminate scores moving out?

Answer: no.



moving right along

So today I receive word via edline that the Irvington Middle School Site Committee plans a Parent Information Night.

To prepare for Parent Information Night the committee has posted a survey at SurveyMonkey.

I had the same first thought about a Site Committee survey that I did about data warehousing —

Oh, good!

We'll learn something!

The administration will find out how what parents want!

Things will improve!

Then I took the survey.






There are 10 questions in all.

1. Would you like to attend an information night about New York State Assessments in the middle school?

2. How interested are you in obtaining information about stress and anxiety strategies for your middle school child?

3. How interested are you in obtaining information about the Grade 6 New York Math Assessment

4. How interested are you in obtaining information about the grade 7 New York Math Assessment?

5. How interested are you in obtaining information about the grade 8 New York Math Assessment?

6. How interested are you in obtaining information about the grade 8 Social Studies State Assessment

7. How interested are you in obtaining information about the grade 8 Science State Assessment?

8. How interested are you in obtaining information about the grade 6 ELA State Assessment?

9. How interested are you in obtaining information about the grade 7 ELA State Assessment?

10. How interested are you in obtaining information about the grade 8 ELA State Assessment?



Nope.

Nothing problematic about the item construction here.



So naturally, after taking the survey myself (you may be able to view my responses here), I felt compelled to sit down and write a memo to the Site Committee explaining why, for Item #2, How interested are you in obtaining information about stress and anxiety strategies for your middle school child? I selected:

Wild horses could not drag me to a Parent Information Night at which I could obtain stress and anxiety strategies for my middle school child.