MISi Review

Link to MISi Site:
http://www.misi.com/content.aspx?area=datamine&section=overview


Gathering data on student achievement is extremely important to help students have a successful educational experience. By narrowing down areas where students struggle, we are able to pinpoint the skills and standards schools need to remediate. Another powerful result of this type of data analysis is the ability to look at teaching methods and curricular strengths and weaknesses. All teachers and curriculum have weak areas. By looking at specific scores in all the tested areas, teachers can pinpoint weaknesses and work on improving curriculum and instruction strategies. They can adjust how they deliver instruction, looking at various best practice activities that can offer better educational experiences for their students. At the same time, areas where teachers excel can also be highlighted, and these used as solutions to other teachers’ weak areas, allowing faculty to work together to strengthen their instruction and improve the entire educational process.
Often, teachers look at information like this and feel as though it is a personal attack on their teaching abilities. They find it hard to accept the fact they are not as effective as they would like to be. With specific information, teachers would be able to not only look at the bad, or weak areas, but also what they do good, or the areas their students do well in. This type of balance would make the tough job of passing AYP a little bit easier, as it offers not just failures, but also success, for both teacher sand students.
I feel that one of the most beneficial aspects of the MISi system is the ability line up test scores and grades and offer standards-based report cards. Since the passage of NCLB, I do not feel that schools have done a good job of communicating expectations to parents. With the current testing system in place, the grades that children earn in school are not nearly as important as they used to be. Until schools shift to a standards-based system of grading and require all assignments be entirely standards-based, grades should be secondary to the scores on the tests students take. Many parents still think back to their education experiences, where grades mattered the most and if testing was offered, it did not mean much, if anything at all. These parents are concerned with a bad grade, and want it to get better, but do not understand that it is a reflection of standard mastery and as a result, test score. As long as their child gets what they think are acceptable grades, they do not see a problem with low test scores. By using grade alignment and standards-based cards, schools can better communicate the correlation of standard mastery to grades, lesson the emphasis on grades, and place more emphasis on the standard mastery and passing of the mandated standardized tests.
By using data management like this, schools will be able to maximize the learning time they have with students and make the educational experience more thorough and complete. Teachers can focus on what works, eliminate what does not work, and more effectively reach students. School corporations can look at curricular structures in place and make data-driven decisions that will better align what is being taught with what the state is testing. Parents can look at what their children are doing at school and better understand what and why the schools are doing. They can become more active in their child’s education and help their child to have a more successful educational career.