When Eva Moskowitz chaired the Education Committee of the New York City Council, she demanded to know why Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein didn’t do a better job improving public education. Rochester Schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard, then a regional superintendent in the NYC schools, remembers his own time on the Moskowitz hot seat. A New York Magazine profile describes her as having “grilled and filleted” administrators in a series of 100 hearings in 2002.
Jul
7
Moving “Data-driven” from Catch Phrase to Concrete
“Data-driven decision making” is about as buzz-wordy as buzzwords come. Districts and schools have been awash in data ever since NCLB, but it’s hard for outsiders to get why actually using this data is not yet part of the culture of school districts. Several reasons: Our “product” is children, who seem to defy measurement. From a teacher’s perspective, the measures we do have typically come once a year, after the year is over—and so are divorced from any adjustment I could make to my behavior. Data has been presented as a tool for accountability (think hammer), rather than performance improvement (think flashlight). To change this culture, educators need to see concrete examples of how using data helps kids and teachers be more successful.
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Kirstin Pryor is a proud parent of Maya (8) and Mason (4) at Franklin Montessori, where she serves on School-Based Planning Team. Before returning to Rochester three years ago, she spent 9 years as a middle school teacher, union member and literacy coach in Baltimore City Public Schools. She and her husband are both graduates of Wilson Magnet.
Kent Gardner is an economist. Two children having left the nest (after graduating from Irondequoit High School), he & wife Jill have only the puppy, Reilly, to raise.
Erika Rosenberg expects to send new daughter Nina and her big brother Nate to East Irondequoit schools. A reporter before joining CGR, Erika walked the D&C’s education beat for 5 years.