Data Driven Decisions

After I posted a comment today, I thought about some of the things my district is up to. We're really looking at the idea of data driving decisions. This makes sense, but when someone makes up their mind, the data can be misleading. Currently the high school is looking at crating a 9th grade academy to help students transition from the middle school. One of the main purposes is to decrease the number of tardies. Tardies are a big problem. Data has been linked to make the statement that tardies equal low grades. The validity of the statement is unscientific. The results are not accurate for several reasons. It's sort of like trying to find out what percentage of citizens in a given city have aids. If you stand in front of an aids clinic and ask how many people have the disease, your results will definitely be skewed and inaccurate. The idea that creating a 9th grade wing to decrease tardies goes against our findings in the middle school.
At each faculty meeting, our principal provides each teacher with the data on referrals to the office and the consequences doled out. Inevitably tardies to class tops the list. Even though we have each grade in their own wings, with each student required to walk an average of less than 70 feet in the three minutes between classes. It's not a problem with time, it's a problem with decisions. Some students are late to classes each day even though they walk only 10 feet from one room to another. They choose to go out of their way to visit friends. Yet someone in our administration deems it necessary to create this academy, failing to see that the data implies that this will not be the answer. Even though teachers were asked for input, the decision was made long before. Any comment or advice against the decision fell on deaf ears. The most remarkable thing to me was the answer to a question. One teacher asked if the academy would removed if it failed to make the desired improvements...the answer..."It's here to stay." Sooooo, in other words someone wants it and it really doesn't matter if improvements are made or if the data shows it's a poor choice.
As far as a correlation between tardies and grades...it only makes sense that the kids making the better decisions would have better grades. Those who don't care enough to get where they're going when they should get there are more likely to not care about their grades.
We've had our top two, long term top brass retire in the last couple of years. The direction of our new heads is a bit scary. It seems that dictation will be the method of interaction with the lowly peons doing the grunt work of educating while under the guise that the peon's ideas would even be considered. While this mess doesn't directly effect me at the middle school level, it does demonstrate that the open, available lines of communication may not be what they used to be. It's almost like someone is trying to create something that they'll be remembered for, or leaving a mark. We've lost a few people recently and several others are looking to get out. I may be losing the reasons why I fought so hard to get in...maybe I'll have to change my profile to reflect the new establishment. It's not as cooperative and pleasant as it was just a short time ago.