all about the data

Data provides the fuel to drive the current educational reform movement. Perhaps that is what distinguishes this era from reforms in the past. Sure we could lament the imposition of standardized testing. For me, despite misgivings about the quality of some tests, I am in many ways pleased by the attention to evidence. Rather than argue via emotional appeals or political exhortations, discussions and decisions are grounded in numbers. This trend has even caught the attention of columnists:

"This is the age of research, so there’s data to back this up."
~ David Brooks, NY Times, March 29, 2009, The Sandra Bullock Trade

The Sandra Bullock comment was in reference to happiness indices and whether she is foolishly trading fame for contentedness. What fascinates me is the notion that it doesn't seem wacky to measure happiness. Or trust. And to then use those measures to inform decisions. A local study documented the positive associations between reciprocity among neighbors and a family's sense of food security. To me, this is serious stuff and informed and advanced by data.

Within his comments about reforming schools, one panelist at Yale's Education Leadership Conference, an entrepreneur, offered that schools spend $25 billion on the Four Ts: textbooks, tutoring, testing and technology. Until that moment, I had envisioned technology as an instructional resource: computers, simulation software, smart boards, etc. (but no longer overhead projectors). But what I have just begun to realize is that technology includes data gathering and analysis. More data, more interpreting, more "drilling down" and more graphical displays. That's what happens in the business world as comparisons are made between stores along with within store comparisons made about years, quarters, and days. And adjustments are influenced by the interpretations of data.

Meanwhile, the educational purists lament the loss of innocence, as if the shift to empiricism will be the ruin of our schools. From where I sit, it appears too many schools are in ruins. We are not sure what should be done. I hope we can begin the conversation by agreeing that something ought to be done. While the use of data might not be the solution, I believe the thoughtful and deliberate use is imperative if we hope to make progress.

leadership as dance

As I continue to puzzle over social entrepreneurship, it becomes apparent that business is at the center and "social" is a slight modifier. In my search, I discovered that PBS has materials in this realm. Within their Resources section, all of the research organizations based in universities are housed within Bizness Schools: Harvard, Duke, Columbia & Stanford. All wonderful places but also not where one would expect a strong advocacy and social consciousness to pervade and inform the work. I'm not yet ready to abandon social entrepreneurship just yet, but I need to develop some financial savvy first.

One should recall that much of this thinking (by me) was prompted by the Yale SOM Education Leadership Conference on Friday, March 25. What I have discovered is an interesting conceptualization of leadership. In this scenario, it isn't so much the first individual who starts something new but the first and second people who follow. Metaphorically speaking, a good leader is the first guy to start dancing. You don't have to be especially good at dancing (done!). But you must be easy to follow. There are risks involved with attempting to lead as well as risks in deciding to be the first few who elect to follow. This might sound very familiar. Seeing it represented as a dance at Sasquatch, complete with leadership narrative, really drives this home. Perhaps millions of dollars are required to be a social entrepreneur. But good timing and a sense for what the people can do is all it takes to lead.

the party goes on without us

On Friday I drove to New Haven to attend an Education Leadership Conference. My motivation was to learn more about leadership given my recent research in schools as well as my ongoing puzzles about leadership within my work life. It only dawned on me slowly that this was not an ordinary education conference. Somehow I didn’t catch that our host, the Yale SOM Education Club, had deep roots in the business world. In fact, MBAs are offered in the School of Management and there is little cause to wonder why they don’t call themselves a School of Business given the associated acronym.

Many big names were in attendance including key people from several activist reform organizations: Achievement First and Teach for America. Also, several government folks including a guy who was on the Obama transition team for education along with local superintendents. If Lara Smetana had not gotten off the wait-list at the last minute, I believe I would have been the only university educator in the crowd. Everyone else was very energetic and it appeared that many were selling (e.g., promoting their little projects) while others were trying to buy (i.e., recruiting soon-to-graduate Yalies for their companies). Nevertheless, the discussions were about reducing achievement gaps, elevating school success, improving equitable access, and other educational movements I have come to admire.

I attended a panel about “creating a financially-sustainable education venture” because I was curious how to think about tapping into a revenue stream to keep things like Crossroads going. But the session was much more than that. The guys were all heavy hitters who fund social entrepreneurs and I was struck by their attention to returns on investment. This sometimes occurs through revenue streams (e.g., fees for service) whereas many philanthropists and investors are interested in impacts resulting from their money. It reminded me that any source of support is contingent upon results and while I cannot imagine making money for somebody else, I recognized the importance of thinking about our work beyond the delight brought about by an annual gathering.

Independent of one’s regard for those who seek to make money from education, I came to recognize that many of the biggest initiatives in contemporary education reform are fueled by substantial revenue streams. Alternatively, district and state leaders are being propelled and compelled to produce results on standardized assessments. Less than a month ago, a superintendent in Rhode Island announced that an entire high school’s staff would be dismissed at the year’s end. She was supported by the state commissioner of education and even Arne Duncan applauded the move. Truly, the school had been doing very badly by its students for many years which makes it difficult to dispute. And yet, this all adds to my feeling that educational reform is charging forward and we in the academy are being left behind. I didn’t know how funny that last bit was until I typed it.

There were hundreds of people at the sold-out Yale meeting who are moving ahead with great purpose and energy to change schools. They speak about charter schools. They mention “proof points” as indicators about how to proceed. They rely upon metrics to shape decisions. In many ways, they are doing what educators have always said needed to be done. But they do not feel the need to check in with us in the academy (Panelist: “All they give us R when we need R&D!”). Then again, I am not sure who I would recommend they quick in with given how little we appear to know about effective teaching and how slowly we have gone about our work. I remain very conflicted because I've seen the lack of action by most of our peers as despicable. And yet all this interest in schools by business types makes me uneasy. Action vs. inaction vs. reaction.