An opinion by Steve Rees, president of SchoolWise Press
At the annual conference hosted by the National Center for Education, it was stated that learning is the outcome for attendees. This is only possible because state agency leaders are ready to swap stories about their efforts to gather evidence about how schools are doing, make sense of that evidence, and promote meaningful use of it all. Dialogue, debate and discussion abound. Disagreements are aired with respect and civility. Presenters are as ready to share failures as successes, all in the cause of collective learning.
But again, this year I was astonished at the backwardness of California. Most states have been bringing value out of their student longitudinal data systems for a decade or more. Florida got theirs going more than 30 years ago. California hasn’t really started. Let me present the evidence.
