Harvard, Boston Educators Team Up On Test-Data Book

Harvard University’s graduate school of education, in an uncommon collaboration with educators from the Boston school system, has come together to write a book on utilizing data to enhance instruction. The book, entitled "Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning," will be published by the Harvard Education Press in November. All proceeds from the book will be dedicated to the education school’s work with the Boston public schools, which serves a total of 58,300 students. The idea for the book stemmed from a yearlong workshop that aimed to assist teachers and administrators in the district in making more effective use of student test results and other data. Experts believe that this partnership between researchers and educators in writing the book could help bridge the gap that exists between testing and instruction.

Stanley Rabinowitz, the director of assessment and standards development services for WestEd, a federally funded regional educational laboratory in San Francisco, believes that this collaboration can create a balance between the technical limitations of assessments and the specific needs of classroom teachers and administrators. He points out that when researchers write on their own, they often fail to address teachers’ needs, such as how to avoid generalizing student performance too broadly based on a few test items.

In the 2001-02 school year, Harvard economist Richard J. Murnane took a sabbatical from his university teaching position to work with the Boston district. During this time, he helped establish MyBPS, an intranet software that provides principals and teachers with access to state and other testing data for their students and schools, as well as basic analytic tools. To help educators effectively analyze the data to improve instruction, Murnane developed a yearlong workshop that aimed to bridge the gap between academia and practice. Currently, the workshop is led by faculty member Kathryn Parker Boudett and doctoral students Elizabeth City and Liane Moody. It assigns participants to school-based teams that include both Boston educators and Harvard graduate students.

In the 2003-04 school year, Murnane brought together a group of Harvard faculty members, graduate students, and Boston educators who shared a deep interest in making productive use of student assessment results. Their goal was to write a book that would reach a wider audience. The group includes five Boston educators, 10 doctoral students who have experience working in schools, and two other Harvard professors specializing in assessment and statistics. They realized that there was no existing book that fulfilled their vision of teaching educators how to use data, leading them to create their own lessons that aligned with their objectives.

At the beginning of the school year, educators often feel overwhelmed by the multitude of data and struggle with where to start. To address this, the workshop and forthcoming book focus on an "improvement cycle," providing tools for each step along the way. While the process may vary between schools, the cycle assists educators in identifying patterns in data, selecting key issues to investigate, delving deeper into multiple data sources, agreeing on a problem and exploring its causes, examining current classroom practices, developing a plan to change those practices, implementing the plan, and then assessing the results of those actions. To ensure practicality and continuity throughout the book, vignettes based on the authors’ experiences working in real Boston schools are included. Each chapter is typically co-written by a combination of a doctoral student, a Harvard faculty member, and a district principal.

‘Serious Concerns’

Several authors of the book do not necessarily support standardized testing.

Sarah E. Fiarman, who has taught in Cambridge, Mass., elementary schools for nearly eight years, expressed her initial opposition to standardized tests because she believed they did not provide a comprehensive understanding of students. However, she now recognizes that there are ways in which test data can be utilized effectively.

Jennifer Price, a doctoral student who previously worked as an administrator in the Lincoln-Sudbury school district, was not a fan of the state testing program, MCAS. However, her experience has given her a newfound respect for Boston school administrators and a deeper understanding of how assessment information can facilitate positive changes.

Finding the right language to address both the opportunities and challenges of using test data in schools remains a prominent hurdle for the group. According to Mr. Murnane, the group’s greatest challenges lie in the assumption that the tests measure crucial skills for students and that the ultimate goal is to enhance teaching and learning, not just improve scores.

During their April meeting, the group decided to include two additional chapters in the book, focusing on analyzing student work beyond test scores and investigating teachers’ classroom practices. This expansion allows for a more comprehensive exploration of data beyond state annual tests. As the group continues to learn, the book continues to evolve.

Note: The rewritten text aims to improve readability while preserving the original meaning and overall structure.