Detour into data quirks
I’ve received something from a public agency this afternoon that threw me into a quandary on one of my research projects, but I’m afraid I can’t say anything about it until I give the agency a chance to respond to some questions and, potentially, some analysis. It’s very interesting, and it’s worth keeping track of. […]
Miami school board bans a book on Cuba
It’s now well-known that the Miami-Dade school board banned a series of elementary books because one, “Vamos a Cuba,” presented an uncritical portrait of contemporary Cuba under Castro. This was after a complaint from one parent and two levels of review just on Vamos a Cuba (not the series) before the board discussion this week. […]
In NSA and McGraw-Hill, we face problems of both technology and democracy
An Associated Press story today on using cryptography to allow more data-mining while (at least in theory) protecting privacy has an important point buried deep in the story: many of us just don’t trust the cryptography. Without some external, independent, transparent review of the technology, a good many of us don’t want the NSA or […]
Longitudinal student database glitches
It’s rare when you can combine SAS (stats package) geekery and education policy analysis, so I have to take advantage of this opportunity. This morning, I had a discussion with a staff member of the Florida Department of Education, specifically in its data-warehouse unit. Very kindly, the staff in the data warehouse allow state researchers […]
Standardized testing and accountability have a complicated history
As I’ve caught up on other work tasks, caught a line drive in my leg, and caught up with some reading, I’ve only pecked away at the remaining tasks on chapter 1 (on the political roots of accountability). Well, not really—I’ve received quite a bit of advice on the history of standardized testing and accountability […]