Data Informed, Not Data Driven

For the past several years, we’ve been moving toward data-driven decision making in our schools. I’ve been involved in that effort with both our Oregon Data Project and our regional data warehouse. I think data is valuable for teachers and school administrators, but I’ve always stumbled just a little on the modifier driven. My friend and colleague Corin is good at patiently reminding us that each child in our schools is a unique human being, not a data point.

I stumbled upon this great presentation by Adam Mosseri of Facebook. I like both the phrase data informed and Facebook’s skepticism of being “overly data driven.” This is my reminder. Corin will be happy.