The Most Appealing Ideas Expressed by the Authors
Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching – the title of this book produces an impression of it being a very technical and overwhelmingly numeric piece of literature that would not be easy to comprehend for an average reader. However, in reality, it is not so, and the book is extremely interesting and well-written. The most appealing idea of the authors who worked on it is the mere approach used for the exploration of the correlation between the assessment results and the potential opportunities to change, as well as the existing challenges.
In particular, the authors came up with a unique method that allows a deeper and more detailed analysis of the test and evaluation results in different schools that enables the researchers to see the strengths and weaknesses of the instruction design. In that way, the book is not only a thorough explanation and a presentation of the new approach but also a very distinct and valuable demonstration of the effect the technique could produce when applied on a broader scale, including a larger number of schools.
Differently put, the core idea behind the book is quite common to the modern field of education; it emphasizes the need for collaboration between educational institution for the purpose of setting new and standardized norms for the formulation of instruction in order to increase the effectiveness of education and benefit the learners, as well as the teachers.
The Implications of the Ideas in the Book for Me as an Educator
I must admit that this book has significantly altered my perspective of my own professional performance, as well as that of my colleagues. Moreover, it provided me with new insights on how the assessment results I obtain during my own evaluation practices and tests can be connected to what I had done right or wrong in the past teaching sessions.
Apart from a personal type of impact, the book left me inspired to work for the achievement of change on a higher level, recommend the book to the professional I know, share what I have learned, discuss it with other educators and seek collaborative action aimed at the improvement of the instruction standards locally – in my educational facility, as well as on an interstate level.
The authors of this book made sure to specify that the research they had created and the goal they pursued with it required the participation of a large number of professionals in order to enable the participation of the government and educational organization for the purpose of enforcement of change at a national level. In that way, for me as an educator, this book carries significant implications related to self-reflection, self-improvement, and a search to collaborate with the other professionals for the purpose of collecting more data that I could use for my practice. Moreover, the book equipped me with the kind of knowledge that I have never could systematize on my own in order to create a solid ground for analysis of my performance. I am glad that this book was encountered by me in my professional life because it certainly provides a powerful body of material encouraging change and a broader perspective.
The Ideas That I Challenge
In previous sections, I noted that the authors of the book under review presented their unique and very valuable research accompanying it with a core message that the collaboration between educators is an essential aspect of their professional practice that drives forward positive change and helps transform the modern education in order to make it more beneficial for the learners.
However, regardless of the use of collaboration between educators and its numerous positive effects, there exists a set of barriers preventing professionals from seeking cooperative projects. As an educator, I am aware that individualism is one of the most significant features typical of how teachers perform in different educational facilities. Also, I partly understand why collaboration can be difficult or even unwanted for some of us. That is why I would like to challenge the authors’ idea about the need for collaboration for the purpose of creating a standardized set of rules and criteria guiding instruction design.
I believe that a similar but smaller version of their research could be conducted locally in separate schools or even by groups of teachers in order to improve their personal styles, professional philosophies, and approaches. For the individualistic practitioners, there could be a way to compare the findings of the authors to their patterns and notice certain mistakes or the potential for future improvement.
However, of course, I am certain that the more people are involved in work on this transformation – the better results are possible. At the same time, I think that individualistic practices and teachers should not be discouraged or criticized as long as they are willing to work on self-improvement.