Mark Gardner

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September 9, 2014 at 5:00 AM

What does data-driven mean? Maybe not what you think

Posted by Linda Shaw

Mark Gardner

A few weeks back, we asked you to tell us what education jargon frustrates, exasperates or confuses you — and we got a long list, everything from alignment to value-added.

Then we asked some of our state’s most talented educators — ones who have earned the prestigious National Board Certification — to come up with some plain-spoken definitions.

Today, we feature responses from one of them: Mark Gardner, a high school English teacher from the Camas School District in southwest Washington and a blogger for Stories from School, a project of the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession, a nonprofit dedicated to building a strong teaching force in Washington state.

Comments | More in News | Topics: Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession, jargon, Mark Gardner

Stories in the series

In school discipline, intervention may work better than punishment

Published January 2015

When tackling the topic of student discipline, some of the country’s toughest schools have done a turnaround. Instead of focusing on rules broken, they now ask kids to confront themselves. The result? Fewer suspensions and new perspective on the point of school itself. Read the story →

Suspending kids doesn’t fix bad behavior; what schools are trying instead

Published December 2014

It stands to reason: Kick troubled students out of school and they often come back even worse. The Kent School District is trying to tackle this national problem by overhauling the way it handles discipline. But its answers spark even more questions. Read the story →

UW gives future engineers a ‘redshirt season’

Published November 2014

In an idea borrowed from college athletics, the University of Washington boosts promising engineering students — many of them women and minorities — with an extra year of academic work. Read the story →

Does class size matter? Research reveals surprises

Published October 2014

The most obvious reason for why smaller classes work — that teachers give students better, more-tailored instruction — probably isn’t the reason why achievement goes up, studies have found. Read the story →

UW research on brain activity delivers lessons on how kids learn

Published September 2014

Scientists at the UW are figuring out what happens as children learn — and how to assist those who struggle. Their discoveries are already helping parents and schools. Read the story →

Local proposals’ goals to improve learning, young lives of children

Published September 2014

Boosting the quality of preschool in Seattle could help children, and the city as a whole. A number of studies, including one from the ’60s, establish that potential. But there is no guarantee of success. Read the story →

Free pre-K: Strong early gains, but long-term questions

Published September 2014

Universal, free preschool in Tulsa, Okla., has produced results attracting national attention, and could be a blueprint for Seattle. But after 16 years the long-term outcomes raise almost as many questions as they answer. Read the story →

Seattle’s special-ed mess: Who’s in charge of what?

Published August 2014

Communication failures both within Seattle Public Schools and with parents of children with disabilities continue to undermine the district’s efforts to fix longstanding problems in special education. Read the story →

A new tradition for Garfield High? Seattle school wants hazing to be history

Published August 2014

After a notorious hazing incident last fall, parents and students at Garfield High School are tackling a school-culture problem that’s widespread here, and across the nation. Read the story →

Math concepts + teamwork = big gains at struggling Renton school

Published July 2014

Math achievement is rising fast at Lakeridge Elementary School, where teachers build students’ understanding of concepts as well as their skills. Read the story →

Focus on science, tech pays off in soaring graduation rate

Published June 2014

A supercharged tech curriculum has helped transform Toppenish High, among the state’s poorest schools, from a dropout factory into a case study for success. Read the story →

Fewer dropouts, more degrees: How Walla Walla does it

Published May 2014

A new focus on individualized advice and counseling, boosted by software tools, is helping hundreds more students earn degrees and certificates each year at Walla Walla Community College. Read the story →

High poverty, high test scores: Auburn school is a shouting success

Published April 2014

Auburn’s Gildo Rey Elementary shows one way to achieve high test scores with teaching that’s direct, consistent — and fast. Read the story →

Outside guidance helps students get into college

Published April 2014

The path to college often leaves disadvantaged students behind. Two unusual nonprofits, one based in Seattle, have helped vault thousands of low-income students onto university campuses. Read the story →

Less lecturing, more doing: New approach for A.P. classes

Published March 2014

In an attempt to add depth to the curriculum in America's most popular advanced high-school courses, some local teachers threw out most of their lectures and replaced them with a series of projects. Results so far are encouraging. Read the story →

Mentors have message for kids: Go to college

Published February 2014

Western Washington University college students are working as mentors, tutors and role models for thousands of K-12 students in and around Bellingham. The goal: convince them that college should be part of their educational trajectory. Read the story →

Dropouts flooding Kent's second-chance school

Published January 2014

Kent educators combed through transcripts and discovered 2,600 young people in their district without any kind of diploma or credential. Enter iGrad, a program linking dropouts with college, that has been flooded with kids who want a second chance. Read the story →

Lessons for locals on power of parents in schools

Published December 2013

A community group in northwest Chicago has turned hundreds of hesitant parents into capable classroom helpers, role models and leaders by tapping into strengths many don't realize they have. Read the story →

Local schools focus on attendance, see scores climb

Published November 2013

Missing just a few days of class in sixth grade can predict whether you'll graduate from high school. That research powers a national anti-dropout effort that's making a difference at Seattle's Aki Kurose and Denny International middle schools. Read the story →

Teachers fuel turnaround at White Center elementary

Published October 2013

For years, students at White Center Heights Elementary logged some of the lowest test scores in King County. Then teachers tried something new, and the numbers soared by double-digits after just one year. So what happened, and could it be replicated elsewhere? Read the story →

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About the authors

John Higgins is one of Education Lab's reporters. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2012 to 2013.

Katherine Long has been a reporter for The Seattle Times since 1990, focusing for the past three years on higher ed, with stories that have ranged from the complexities of prepaid tuition programs to nontraditional ways to earn a degree.

Claudia Rowe joined The Seattle Times’ reporting staff in 2013. She has written about education for The New York Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, among other publications.

Leah Todd is an education reporter at The Times. She previously covered education for the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming.

Mike Siegel has been a news photographer at the Seattle Times since 1987. His photography was used in a series titled "Methadone and the Politics of Pain," which won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012 for investigative reporting.

Linda Shaw is The Times’ education editor. Previously, she covered public education as a reporter at The Seattle Times for more than two decades. Her coverage has won numerous national and local awards and honors.

Caitlin Moran is community engagement editor for Education Lab. She came to The Times from Patch, where she spent three years managing hyperlocal news websites on the Eastside.

Read extended bios.

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Topic: Mark Gardner

What does data-driven mean? Maybe not what you think

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