Thread: DataWorks

My district is also going to this company, and I have heard ssome frightening things from people that worked with them to allign our textbooks this summer. Your right about it being obvious type of stuff that any group of teachers should be able to do. They seem to view fun activities (drawing or coloring, skits, etc) as non-value added activities. I think it takes the idea of teaching to the test to the nth degree. Has anybody else had experience with them?

Thanks for your input, Doug. We'll see how this goes as we head into the new school year. As test scores have been released all over the country, NCLB is suddenly coming under fire. I've seen several editorials from different states dealing with it. I'll be optimistic and hope that the data will be relegated back to it's appropriate place; as a tool rather than a weapon. What will DataWorks do then?

"DataWorks is not about people. It is about numbers and statistics.

Methinks DataWorks is being badly misquoted. No company would ever make such a statement in those words.

Why not approach teacher training with a positive attitude? Surely DataWorks must feauture some training that you can employ in your classroom. I know of some teachers who feel that DataWorks training transformed their careers for the better. Maybe the same can happen to you if you give it a chance.

My district is also going to this company, and I have heard ssome frightening things from people that worked with them to allign our textbooks this summer.

You know what is frightening to me? Seeing my daughter coming home from middle school with third-grade level assignments. THAT Is frightening. And who is to blame for that? The parents? The principal? DataWorks?

Teachers are giving out students substandard assignments. Kindly tell me what negative experience a person can have with curriculum calibration that can possibly compare.

As test scores have been released all over the country, NCLB is suddenly coming under fire.

So we should only embrace those tests for which our students succeed?

I've seen several editorials from different states dealing with it. I'll be optimistic and hope that the data will be relegated back to it's appropriate place; as a tool rather than a weapon.

Sorry, but "pray that the problem goes away" is not a reasonable strategy for overcoming adversity. What kind of reform is that?

Besides, the tests are not going anywhere. What politician is going to come out and say "Because our students are not doing well on the tests, we need to lower the standards"? Not gonna happen. And if you look at the projected AYP requirements, the standards actually stiffen over the next ten years, not relax.

Solution: We need to rethink what we teach and how we teach it. I know of no other solution.

:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Methinks DataWorks is being badly misquoted. No company would ever make such a statement in those words.

Why not approach teacher training with a positive attitude? Surely DataWorks must feauture some training that you can employ in your classroom. I know of some teachers who feel that DataWorks training transformed their careers for the better. Maybe the same can happen to you if you give it a chance.

It wasn't a quote. It was the impression the teachers attending the "training" walked away with.

I do approach teacher training with a positive attitude; I've done a great deal of training in my time, and been a trainer a few times myself.

I support teacher training chosen by teachers based on their own professional needs or goals. I do not support mandated training based on political agendas.

My career is doing as well as it can be working in a system/climate I don't believe in. Somehow, I'm still being invited to mentor others, even though I don't support current ed policies or procedures. Parents are still bringing me their kids. Principals are still asking me to work for them.

Teachers are giving out students substandard assignments. Kindly tell me what negative experience a person can have with curriculum calibration that can possibly compare.

Not all teachers are giving "substandard" assignments. If I'm going to "calibrate curriculum," I'm going to use a reliable and valid tool. I don't consider the data used by Data Works to be reliable or valid. Therefore, I don't need their help.

One of the hats that I wear is that of curriculum design. One of the areas I've spent my "teacher training" hours on over the course of the years is assessment. I feel pretty competent at what I do without them, thanks.

So we should only embrace those tests for which our students succeed?

No, we should only embrace those assessments that are reliable, valid, and used to inform instruction. We should not embrace statistically corrupt testing programs designed as part of an overall political agenda that has not, does not, and won't help advance actual student learning.

Sorry, but "pray that the problem goes away" is not a reasonable strategy for overcoming adversity. What kind of reform is that?

Besides, the tests are not going anywhere. What politician is going to come out and say "Because our students are not doing well on the tests, we need to lower the standards"? Not gonna happen. And if you look at the projected AYP requirements, the standards actually stiffen over the next ten years, not relax.

I don't advocate praying for the problem to go away, thanks. I've spent several years now looking at the laws mandating high-stakes testing, and I'm more than aware of what the future holds under the current legislation. What politician is going to "lower standards?" I don't know. I do know that politicians have been playing with the formulas used to arrive at APIs and AYPs. I do know that many politicians are talking about making small changes in the law that will affect AYP requirements.

And I do know many groups, and some politicians, working to change the current testing status quo. The most recent I read about this morning involves the state of Idaho, who has introduced a bill on the state Senate floor calling The No Child Left Behind Act an unfounded federal mandate that violates the U.S. Constitution as a "defacto takeover of Idaho public education."

If passed, the bill demands both the U.S. Congress and Idaho's U.S. congressmen to change the No Child Left Behind Act by exempting states with no cities that have populations of 1 million people.

This site has traditionally not been a place for political debate, but for teachers to share and discuss issues of interest, or of concern, to our daily practice, and to support each other. I'm going to leave it that way.

Returning to the actual topic I started this thread to discuss, I can happily report that I have not heard Data Works mentioned since the staff meeting I posted this thread about almost 2 years ago. No one else was sent to training, and nothing ever resulted from it. Which confirms, for me, my suspicion that it was an exercise in wasting time and money to document "improvements" for the testing police, rather than something that was seriously considered as a valid "training."

Or, it could just be that the budget implosion has left the district with no funding to follow through with any implementation.

It wasn't a quote. It was the impression the teachers attending the "training" walked away with.

Sorry, I misread the post.

Not all teachers are giving "substandard" assignments. If I'm going to "calibrate curriculum," I'm going to use a reliable and valid tool. I don't consider the data used by Data Works to be reliable or valid.

Reliable and valid tool? Such as?

DataWorks uses the California Content Standards. What is your approach? What is your method for crafting a proper curriculum?

Before you negate the results of a study, you need to point out where they are wrong. What does DataWorks specifically do that is incorrect?

Suppose I assign my students to read Tolstoy's War and Peace and ask them to describe the plot and characters. What grade level would you place that assignment?

One of the hats that I wear is that of curriculum design. One of the areas I've spent my "teacher training" hours on over the course of the years is assessment. I feel pretty competent at what I do without them, thanks. No, we should only embrace those assessments that are reliable, valid, and used to inform instruction.

One of the things I have discovered about teaching is that we cannot assess ourselves. I thought I was a damn good teacher, but I now know that many of my teaching practices were ineffective. So exactly how do you measure your own skill as a curriculum designer? What tests do you perform to measure the outcome? How do you determine what skills are needed at the next level?

We should not embrace statistically corrupt testing programs designed as part of an overall political agenda that has not, does not, and won't help advance actual student learning.

Testing does not advance student learning, only teaching does. But we need to know what to teach. And I like content standards because it provides us a foundation for what ninth graders need to know to succeed at the next level. If you don't like the standards, why not point out something in the standards that you think is unimportant for students to learn.

And I do know many groups, and some politicians, working to change the current testing status quo. The most recent I read about this morning involves the state of Idaho, who has introduced a bill on the state Senate floor calling The No Child Left Behind Act an unfounded federal mandate that violates the U.S. Constitution as a "defacto takeover of Idaho public education."

Even if the NCLB is overturned in every state, the content standards are still going to be there. And schools will always be measured by their students' performance on standards-based content. The content standards are not negotiable at the school level. Any school reform that ignores that basic reality is doomed.

Returning to the actual topic I started this thread to discuss, I can happily report that I have not heard Data Works mentioned since the staff meeting I posted this thread about almost 2 years ago. No one else was sent to training, and nothing ever resulted from it. Which confirms, for me, my suspicion that it was an exercise in wasting time and money to document "improvements" for the testing police, rather than something that was seriously considered as a valid "training."

How is your school doing academically? Are your students performing proficiently? If not, why did they end up performing low in the first place? And what is your school doing to improve the quality of learning that takes place inside your classrooms?

If you decide to eject DataWorks' training (which is your right as a school -- DataWorks is not the only company around), what exactly are you going to do instead? I think it is time for specifics.

BTW, I didn't realize this was such an old post, so I am willing to drop the issue.

My school is currently going through the dataworks process. We are having a terrible time. It has increased many conflicts between the staff and the admin. Furthermore, when the horrible woman from the DW company came for another training the other day, she proceeded to insult us, in a very tactful way I might add, five separate times during her extremely poor and ineffective presentation.

I was wondering if you had a similar problem going through the so called 'trainings' that haven't seemed to train us in anything.

Thankyou,
josH

My district is paying Data Works almost $500,000 for virtually nothing. For the last two years their training has been word-for-word the same. Now they are taking us out of our classes for more "training." We all feel that is a waste of time. I'm an eigth-grade Algebra teacher. At a Data Works training, I asked how they expected me to teach algebra to students who couldn't multiply or divide. The response was, "It's not your job to teach the students basic skills. If they don't have the skills, then give them calculators." I replied that that was a great idea, except that the students can't use calculators, either.