A teacher pushes back on "Data or it didn't happen," the phrase printed on mugs and t-shirts. The slogan pressures educators to record every classroom behavior, but collecting data on everything is unrealistic and ignoring unrecorded behaviors creates its own problems. Teachers need systems to track what matters, not to document everything.
You know what phrase I hate? Data or it didn't happen. Have you seen that phrase before on coffee mugs, on t-shirts? And we're all like, oh, we all love data, it's great. Well, there's a little more to that. I think that puts unnecessary pressure on teachers. Trying to take data on everything is not realistic, and ignoring behaviors that are happening because we're not able to take data then is not a good fit either. Do we need systems to maintain and look at behaviors and academics? Absolutely. But we cannot take data on everything. Instead, we need to prioritize. This week's podcast is all about why I hate this phrase, so I'd love to hear what you think.
