From Dartboards to Dashboards: The Imperative of using Data to Improve Student Achievement

Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise: Video Recording from 11/3/2011 event featuring Aimee Guidera, "From Dartboards to Dashboards: The Imperative of using Data to Improve Student Achievement"

"From Dartboards to Dashboards: The Imperative of using Data to Improve Student Achievement"

Aimee Guidera, Director of the National Data Quality Campaign, delivered the second annual Lee Gurel '48 Lecture in Education, "From Dartboards to Dashboards: The Imperative of Using Data to Improve Student Outcomes." Aimee Rogstad Guidera is the Founding Executive Director of the Data Quality Campaign. She manages a growing partnership among national organizations collaborating to improve the quality, accessibility and use of education data to improve student achievement. Working with 10 Founding Partners, Aimee launched the DQC in 2005 with the goal of every state having a robust longitudinal data system in place by 2009. The Campaign is now in the midst of its second phase focusing on State Actions to ensure effective data use. Aimee joined the National Center for Educational Accountability as Director of the Washington, DC office in 2003. During her eight previous years in various roles at the National Alliance of Business, Aimee supported the corporate community's efforts to increase achievement at all levels of learning. As NAB Vice President of Programs, she managed the Business Coalition Network, comprised of over 1,000 business led coalitions focused on improving education in communities across the country. Prior to joining the Alliance, Aimee focused on school readiness, academic standards, education goals and accountability systems while in the Center for Best Practices at the National Governors Association. She taught for the Japanese Ministry of Education in five Hiroshima high schools where she interviewed educators and studied the Japanese education system immediately after receiving her AB from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public & International Affairs. Aimee also holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Perceived Pathways of Success

Researchers throughout the years have been challenged to go beyond aspects such as environment and socioeconomic status in the search for school-level characteristics that make a difference in student achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that play a role in how students develop their personal source of motivation, and consequently, how it pushes them to succeed academically. Through interviews with student volunteers, undergraduates and graduates were asked about their personal journey to defining academic success for themselves, and how their cultural background and values have both affected this pathway to such a development. How they narrated where their motivation to succeed comes from was the root of the study, as this would help determine the structures of life-course movement through a grade-oriented schooling throughout high school and now in college. Data derived from the interviews revealed several different trajectories of such academic development, which was a result of such a wide range of participants, in terms of their own backgrounds and cultural and family histories.

Swiss residents' speciality choices--impact of gender, personality traits, career motivation and life goals

BACKGROUND: The medical specialties chosen by doctors for their careers play an important part in the development of health-care services. This study aimed to investigate the influence of gender, personality traits, career motivation and life goal aspirations on the choice of medical specialty. METHODS: As part of a prospective cohort study of Swiss medical school graduates on career development, 522 fourth-year residents were asked in what specialty they wanted to qualify. They also assessed their career motivation and life goal aspirations. Data concerning personality traits such as sense of coherence, self-esteem, and gender role orientation were collected at the first assessment, four years earlier, in their final year of medical school. Data analyses were conducted by univariate and multivariate analyses of variance and covariance. RESULTS: In their fourth year of residency 439 (84.1%) participants had made their specialty choice. Of these, 45 (8.6%) subjects aspired to primary care, 126 (24.1%) to internal medicine, 68 (13.0%) to surgical specialties, 31 (5.9%) to gynaecology & obstetrics (G&O), 40 (7.7%) to anaesthesiology/intensive care, 44 (8.4%) to paediatrics, 25 (4.8%) to psychiatry and 60 (11.5%) to other specialties. Female residents tended to choose G&O, paediatrics, and anaesthesiology, males more often surgical specialties; the other specialties did not show gender-relevant differences of frequency distribution. Gender had the strongest significant influence on specialty choice, followed by career motivation, personality traits, and life goals. Multivariate analyses of covariance indicated that career motivation and life goals mediated the influence of personality on career choice. Personality traits were no longer significant after controlling for career motivation and life goals as covariates. The effect of gender remained significant after controlling for personality traits, career motivation and life goals. CONCLUSION: Gender had the greatest impact on specialty and career choice, but there were also two other relevant influencing factors, namely career motivation and life goals. Senior physicians mentoring junior physicians should pay special attention to these aspects. Motivational guidance throughout medical training should not only focus on the professional career but also consider the personal life goals of those being mentored.

Understanding "Just Enough" Computer Users: Motivation Style and Proficiency

Among daily computer users who are proficient, some are flexible at accomplishing unfamiliar tasks on their own and others have difficulty. Software designers and evaluators involved with Human Computer Interaction (HCI) should account for any group of proficient daily users that are shown to stumble over unfamiliar tasks. We define "Just Enough" (JE) users as proficient daily computer users with predominantly extrinsic motivation style who know just enough to get what they want or need from the computer. We hypothesize that JE users have difficulty with unfamiliar computer tasks and skill transfer, whereas intrinsically motivated daily users accomplish unfamiliar tasks readily. Intrinsic motivation can be characterized by interest, enjoyment, and choice and extrinsic motivation is externally regulated. In our study we identified users by motivation style and then did ethnographic observations. Our results confirm that JE users do have difficulty accomplishing unfamiliar tasks on their own but had fewer problems with near skill transfer. In contrast, intrinsically motivated users had no trouble with unfamiliar tasks nor with near skill transfer. This supports our assertion that JE users know enough to get routine tasks done and can transfer that knowledge, but become unproductive when faced with unfamiliar tasks. This study combines quantitative and qualitative methods. We identified 66 daily users by motivation style using an inventory adapted from Deci and Ryan (Ryan and Deci 2000) and from Guay, Vallerand, and Blanchard (Guay et al. 2000). We used qualitative ethnographic methods with a think aloud protocol to observe nine extrinsic users and seven intrinsic users. Observation sessions had three customized phases where the researcher directed the participant to: 1) confirm the participant's proficiency; 2) test the participant accomplishing unfamiliar tasks; and 3) test transfer of existing skills to unfamiliar software.

MITEP: REFLECTIVE JOURNEY

This research looks at the use of the Interactive Student Notebook (ISN) in the math classroom and the impact on student achievement as part of the MiTEP program. A reflective critical analysis of the MiTEP program discusses impact on teacher pedagogy, leadership, and connections to people and resources. The purpose of the study stemmed from the lack of student retention, poor organizational skills, and the students’ inability to demonstrate college readiness skills such as how to study, completing homework, and thinking independently. Motivation also stemmed from teacher frustration. The research was conducted at Linden Grove Middle School in Kalamazoo Michigan in a strategic math class. Twenty-two sixth graders, thirty-two seventh graders, and forty eighth graders were part of the study.Students were given the Strategic Math Inventory (SMI) test in week 1 of the class and again at the end of a 12 week marking period. Students participated in an attitude survey to record their feelings about the use of the ISN in the strategic math classroom. The data compared the control group (the previous year’s [2012-2013] growth data) to the experimental group, the current year’s (2013-2014) growth data. Both groups were statistically similar in that the mean average was about a 4th grade level equivalency and the groups had similar numbers of grade level students. The significant findings were in the amount of growth made using the ISN. The control group started with a mean average of 586.6 and ended with a mean average of 697.1, making about one year’s growth from a 4th to a 5th grade level equivalency. The experimental group started with a mean average of 585.2 and ended with a mean average of 744.2, making about two years growth from a 4th to a 6th grade level equivalency. This is double the growth of the control group. The Cohen’s test resulted in a score of 0.311 which describes that the teaching method, the use of the ISN in the math classroom had a medium impact on student growth.

The Getting-Out-of-Bed (GoB) scale: a measure of motivation and life outlook in older adults with cancer

OBJECTIVE: To develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a measure of motivation and life outlook (Getting-Out-of-Bed [GoB]). DESIGN: Secondary analysis of baseline and 6-month data from a longitudinal follow-up study of older breast cancer survivors. PARTICIPANTS: Women (N = 660) diagnosed with primary breast cancer stage I-IIIA disease, age >or=65 years, and permission to contact from an attending physician in four geographic regions in the United States (city-based Los Angeles, California; statewide in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Rhode Island). MEASUREMENT: Data were collected over 6-months of follow-up from consenting patients' medical records and telephone interviews with patients. Data collected included the 4-item GoB, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), breast cancer, sociodemographic, and health-related characteristics. RESULTS: Factor analysis produced, as hypothesized, one principal component with eigen values of 2.74(baseline) and 2.91(6-months) which explained 68.6%(baseline) and 72.7%(6-months) of total variance. In further psychometric analyses, GoB exhibited good construct validity (divergent: low nonstatistically significant correlations with unrelated constructs; convergent: moderate statistically significant correlations with related constructs; discriminant: distinguished high HRQoL groups with a high level of significance), excellent internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.84(baseline), 0.87(6-months)), and produced stable measurements over 6-months. Women with GoB scores >or=50 at baseline were more likely at 6-months to have good HRQoL, good self-perceived health, and report regular exercise, indicating good predictive ability. CONCLUSION: GoB demonstrated overall good psychometric properties in this sample of older breast cancer survivors, suggestive of a promising tool for assessing motivation and life outlook in older adults. Nevertheless, because it was developed and initially evaluated in a select sample, using measures with similar but not exact content overlap further evaluation is needed before it can be recommended for widespread use.