Data for Duncan

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/education/02educ.html

Arne Duncan has said that to qualify for a second round of educational stimulus funding, schools are going to have to submit data on performance, teacher assessment, and data on student success in terms of graduation and college.

Yall are expecting a rant from me, right?

Well, actually I think this is a good thing. Of course we should be tracking and monitoring the performance of our schools and the success of our students. The thing to be worried about is what data is collecting and how is it being used. If data on struggling schools is used to shut them down, shuttle their students to privates, and take their funding away, that is B.A.D., BAD. But there is no reason why the government should throw away taxpayer's money without seeing any critical reflection on the part of administrators, politicians, and stakeholders on the ground.