I have to echo the thoughts already posted by Corey. I too enjoyed Chris’s presentation last class but find the backchanneling very productive as well. I think the highlight of Chris’s presentation was when he was talking about data driven decision making and how having poor data results in poor decision making. Currently in Saskatchewan AFLis playing a major role in how school divisions are planning for the future. I wonder how many people either at the provincial level or division level have given any major thought to the process that is being used to gather data. I would hope that preplanning was a major component.
I also liked his comment about society getting away from being number comfortable. Maybe its the math bias in me but Chris’s comment that society is becoming less numeric and being put at risk by not being able to interpret data well is very relevant. How easy has it become for those not so honest individuals to use a little data to back up their con and easily convince many that their position is true and just? Very. I’ll be using this argument in the future for sure. Thanks Chris.
I agree with your thoughts as well Dean, I agree that the AFL is very huge within Sk. and impacts the future planning process. An interesting observation that I had not really thought about much, that being poor results = poor decision making! It is certainly sad to see what is occurring in the US with “no child left behind” policy. All in the name of numbers. I really don’t need any data to help my students in our school, I have 190 kids to track and I know there learning needs and supports very well.