SPI Blog - In Schools on Schools — In Schools, On Schools

SPI's blog is named to emphasize that our best ideas come from observations in our own schools as well as at high-performing schools across the United States. We are proximate to the work going on in high-poverty schools that get results for students, and we are working to share these bright spots with others. Through generous sharing of best practices, our mission is to increase access to high-quality schools for all students, regardless of zip code.

Posts tagged win-win

Understanding variation: the key to data analysis

The #1 reason why educational leaders misinterpret their data is they don’t take natural variation into account when doing the analysis.

Instead, they make comparisons between a current figure and some previous value.

But, this simple and limited comparison cannot fully capture and convey the behavior of data that occurs across time.

This leads to overreacting, or less frequently, to underreacting to data.

I am going to teach you a method that will allow you to react less and improve more, a win-win for educational leaders with limited time and resources.