Can Data Mining Save Our Schools?

摘要

During the 2007-2008 school year, students in New York City weren't the only ones getting report cards. So did the city's 1,500 public schools. New York City's Department of Education, responsible for 1.1 million children, began issuing annual "progress reports" to each of its schools last fall, with grades ranging from A to F. Principals of the top 20% of schools received bonuses from $7,000 to $25,000. Teachers at schools with high poverty rates qualify for a bonus program. And over time, schools receiving D's or F's face possible changes in leadership, restructuring, and even closure. Yet grading schools is kid's stuff compared with what a growing number of school districts around the United States think they can do with data mining and data analysis. Combining standardized test scores, attendance, grades, and other data sources, districts are trying to spot weaknesses and strengths of not just schools, but groups of kids and even individual students.