Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

Here’s another verbatim excerpt from yesterday’s Politico feed:

The Education Department’s Office of Educational Technology and the nonprofit Data Quality Campaign are teaming up for a “challenge” centered on designing new state report cards under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

— The new law “requires states and school districts to make more than 2,000 data points about their public school systems available to families in a concise, understandable and uniform format,”the agency’s ed tech office writes in a blog post. “A key challenge is ensuring these digital report cards are user-friendly, engaging, and incorporate best practices for data visualization and human-centered design — a new approach for many states.”

— The Education Department and DQC are calling on experts to “design tools, templates, and other innovative solutions that will support states in tackling the ESSA data reporting requirements.” The challenge will be Nov. 8-9. More details.

I went to the link at the end of the post and offered my two cents:

My prediction: the report cards will show that districts serving children raised in affluent families with well educated parents will “outperform” districts that have large numbers of children raised in poverty.

My deep concern: the issuance of these report cards will reinforce the notion that public schools are a commodity that compete in an unregulated market. NCLB launched us on that path… RTTT reinforced that idea… and Betsy DeVos has put it on steroids.

We don’t need better, easier to read report cards: we need more equitable funding and a means of engaging all parents— especially single parents who are working multiple jobs.