VPerspective
Significant data
Oct 15, 2009 12:13 PM
Over the Labor Day weekend, I was reading an essay by Gore Vidal, discussing Edith Wharton’s views on the later novels of Henry James, as far from the world of ARIS, teacher data reports and quality reviews as I thought I could be when suddenly, dear reader, the phrase “we lack significant data to make a judgment” jumped off the page and jolted me back into the world of education.
The many followers of this column know I have written extensively on the uses and misuses of data. I have never pooh-poohed the importance of student test scores as a measure of teacher effectiveness. I and other informed educators know student test scores can play a role, but you can’t make judgments about effective teaching based on one measure.
It’s infuriating when many from outside our profession talk about the data, then insist we use one inappropriate and unreliable datum to make decisions about hiring, compensation and continued employment. They forget, or never knew, data are plural.
That’s why I was very excited when I heard about the Measures of Effective Teaching Project, a two-year independent research study to examine multiple measures of effective teaching in several cities, including New York. It is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Researchers, rather than ogling spread sheets in data-lined towers or soaking up their own foregone conclusions in ideological think tanks, would look at measuring the effectiveness of teaching based on what happens in classrooms. They would do something with, not to teachers.
One measure that researchers will be evaluating will be teacher knowledge of pedagogical content knowledge. Researchers are now catching up with and trying to quantify what teachers have known for decades — it’s not enough to know your subject. You have to know how to teach it, too.
Last spring I, along with several colleagues from around the country, had the opportunity to measure our pedagogical content knowledge. We used a tool similar to that which teachers in this study will use.
Researchers gave us several examples of 4th-grade student work in math. Not only did we have to spot errors based on our content knowledge, we had to explain how we might adjust and differentiate instruction to fix those errors, how to address those problem areas in future lessons and, as if that weren’t enough, how to immerse students in a deeper understanding of, in this case, mathematical operations. We had to get students to understand why they have to invert the reciprocal when dividing fractions, not just do it. It’s a far cry from test prep. And who said teaching elementary school is easy?
This one example from just one measure that researchers will evaluate generated almost an hour of discussion on measures of effective teaching. Think about the information that a two-year study may provide. The findings may provide fair, accurate and useful indicators that can help us to help our students. I eagerly anticipate their findings. I’m sure they’ll be significant.
Aminda Gentile is the UFT Vice President for Education Issues.
