AI as Search Engine and Printing Press Aid: Local Education Data Munging
middlesexgazette.orgI spent the past week or so trying to figure out how my local school district and the rest of Vermont had trended over time on academic achievement.
Vermont has a lot of unique circumstances I won't go into here, but there also have been multiple changes in state-wide proficiency exams, and difficult to pull education data in one place.
The annual state report card talked about how schools aren't performing as well as it should, but I haven't seen or found as clear a look as I was able to build from Vermont Agency of Education exam score results + NAEP data + SEDA data. Vermont was truly exceptional in 2013, and now has become barely better than average, all while spending top #3 money per student annually.
Hoping to be able to re-frame local and state conversations around what student outcomes we owe our kids, and focus on that goal while having the budge cut discussions -- because of shrinking demographics, we have to cut costs -- but the data basically screams there is an education governance, administration & policy problem that needs to be fixed, no matter what we're spending.