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A while back, in The Best Resources Showing Why We Need To Be “Data-Informed” & Not “Data-Driven,” I shared this link and commentary:

Does Studying Student Data Really Raise Test Scores? is from Ed Week. It reviews research that suggests teachers analyzing student data tends to not result in student improvement, primarily because it doesn’t result in teachers changing instructional practices. It reminds of one day when I was interpreting in conversation between a colleague and a parent and her child. My colleague was saying the child could come in for tutoring after-school anytime, and the student interjected, “But he just tells me the same way he did it in class and I don’t understand!”

Recently, another article highlights an interview with the author of that piece, Harvard researcher Heather Hill.

In Should You Cancel Teacher Data Team Meetings? You Might Be Surprised, she shares some ideas and thoughts not present in the original column, and they’re pretty interesting.

By the way, Professor Hill also wrote a follow-up post to that original post offering ideas of what teachers could do instead of focusing on data. You might want to check out Teacher PD Gets a Bad Rap. But Two Approaches Do Work.

You can find related resources at The Best Resources On Professional Development For Teachers — Help Me Find More.