Tag: Data
Share This Page:
Planning Paralysis and Building for Flux
Discover why rigid strategic roadmaps are a liability in 2026. Learn how to use AI agents and “Velocity” to build marketing systems designed for flux and rapid pivots. Planning Paralysis vs. Building for Flux.
AI Decision Errors: The New Navigator’s Mindset
Small business owners should replace rigid business plans with a flexible compass for navigating the ever-changing market. Relying on average, public AI data leads to mediocre results. Instead, they should use unique, first-party data to accurately calibrate their direction, ensuring tailored strategies that reflect their specific business needs and market nuances.
Rethinking Success: Alternative Metrics for Measuring Achievement
As I navigated through the dense fog of the Gulf of Maine this summer, sailing from Boston to Maine, I found myself enveloped in a surreal bubble. The wall of fog surrounding me created an intimate, isolated space, prompting introspection. I began contemplating success, ambition, and happiness. In that eerie silence, I realized that traditional…
Literacy Program Macro Red Flag
You don’t need test scores to evaluate the effectiveness of your k-12 literacy programs. Simply look at your middle schools. Do they need to double block ELAR? That’s all you need to know that your k-5 program is in need of help…regardless of how in love the director is with the model. It doesn’t matter…
Look Past the Data
Sometimes looking at data is the wrong path to finding a solution. Sometimes you must look past the data to envision a new reality. Case in point: I know December is a slow revenue month for me. If I looked at the data it would be discouraging. It would say, “You’re not doing well!” Instead…
Results and Decisions
School A: We bought xyz math program, and our scores went up 18% compared to last year! School B: We also bought xyz math program, but our scores went down 2% compared to last. These same two scenarios can be said if you replace xyz math program with anything… PLC norms SMART goals Collaboration time…
Example of a Data Dashboard
I speak often of smart data, AB testing, and data dashboards. Here’s one example from a school I work with. You’ll notice the data is neither test scores nor passing rates. Rather, it is: Specific to what the student has mastered.Prescriptive to what the student is ready to learn. In last week’s post, What If Schools, I hinted…
Trusting Guts and Instincts
I was climbing yesterday on a small mountain at about 9000 ft elevation. We made it to a peaceful lake and reflected on climbers who are more technical than us – climbers that trust their guts and instincts. Take Alex Honnold. You may have seen the recent documentary about him climbing without ropes, hanging from…
Improve, Not Prove
There’s a secret to continuous innovation cycles. Instead of seeking to prove, seek to improve. It’s a tempting trap to seek data that proves what you’re doing is working. Fishing for the positives usually leads to fundamental attribution error. It reinforces the status quo. Instead, seek to improve. It only takes a small increment. Two…
When You Know The Impact…
You might just try a little harder. In 2007, researchers published a study of the work patterns of hotel maids. They were interested in seeing the amount of exercise involved in their jobs. When asked, “Do you exercise?” most maids responded, “No.” Hotel maids do not typically consider their job to be a form of…
When Others Count You Out
In my current research of over 40 school districts in Texas, an amazing outlier has surfaced. Here are the stats for this outlier district: 98.1% Attendance Rate 33% of Students Master State Test vs. 20% in the State 86% of Students Pass State Test vs. 75% in the State Okay, so it’s a high…
Spreadsheet for AB Testing
It’s really about one thing: using assessment as a tool for learning…but not merely a tool for student learning. It’s about using an assessment as a tool for teacher learning. It’s feedforward, not just feedback. It gives the teacher specific data on the next steps forward. That’s why AB Testing is among the most effective…
If Data Were the Solution…
The use of data as a tool and approach to solving educational problems has taken center stage over the past 15 years. Rightfully so. Technology has increased to the point where data is readily available and easy to process. However, if data were the solution… PISA wouldn’t show flat lines for the United States over the…
Misleading Data
Using student assessment data to determine instructional impact is one of the most common leadership practices of this decade. So let’s start the week off with a few data points: The average passing rate for Ms. Jones’ class is 5 points higher than Ms. Lopez’s! Ms. Jones’ class scored higher than Ms. Lopez’s class on four common…
Unidimensional & Sensitive
Apparently, this is the week of big words (see this week’s posts Multifinality and Equifinality) and of big stars featuring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in this week’s podcast. But there’s a good reason for the big words – they hold meanings that can shape how you lead your people and culture and how you increase your impact…
Multigate Screeners
In yesterday’s episode (Season 2, Episode 3) of the Mafost Mashup, two reading systems were offered to ensure your school’s reading instruction is ready for the next shift. One of those systems was Multigate Screeners. This post will focus in on multigate screeners for reading. What is a Multigate Screener? RTI starts with a universal…
What is Lead Data?
Lead data are the front-end metrics that cue you about the long-term learning trends in your school. Ideally, lead data is sensitive, meaning it moves quickly in response to inputs (more on sensitive data here). Why Lead Data? Lead data is critical for measuring your impact on learning. You can’t measure impact with annual passing…
Start Split Testing Now!
Your data will never be the same. No more guessing. No more misjudgments. No more competitive culture that undermines the collaborative culture you’re trying to build. Split testing is: Isolating classroom variables that impact student learning. Comparing a teacher to herself. Cyclical. A continuous process of reflection and growth. Also known as A/B testing. Based…
The Instructional Plan
Undoubtedly your scores are in (or coming soon). What now? A PowerPoint? Large paper printouts of data? Maybe you will work on an instructional plan for your campus – a real actionable plan, not a paperweight/dust collector. What is the Instructional Plan? This is a summer draft to plan the priorities for instructional focus in…
A Restaurateur with Bad Data
The restaurateur was a good chef in her time, but now she devotes her attention to the books and marketing of the business. And the restaurants are doing well. However, the other day she walked the kitchen of one of her bistros and stopped at the rotisserie oven. Then she observed the chicken cooking at…
Impact, Not Just Performance
Passing rates will not and can not tell you your impact on learning. There’s simply more to it than that, and impact may just be the most impact factor educators can measure. What is Impact on Learning? Your impact is the combined effects and correlations of your efforts and work. Your impact are the combined…
If You Sort, There Will Always Be A Bottom
[pullquote align=”normal”]If you sort them, there will always be a bottom. What good does that serve? [/pullquote] “Those students are in the 50th percentile. What real school will accept them? They can go to local community college.” I’ll confess. I overheard this statement while sipping coffee today at Starbucks. Jack Welch made a specific type…
Let’s Talk About These Scores (Not Humans)
Scores are great because they summarize performance and help us make inferences about learning. Are scores the same as learning? Are scores the same as learning results? Read this conversation between two professionals Educator A and Educator B to see what I mean: A: Let’s sit and talk about your scores. B: Okay, what do you think? A: Well,…