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Monday, May 20, 2013

Will the Data Warehouse Become Every Student and Teacher's "Permanent Record"? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Will the Data Warehouse Become Every Student and Teacher's "Permanent Record"? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:


Will the Data Warehouse Become Every Student and Teacher's "Permanent Record"?

When I was in junior high many years ago, I recall teachers warning students that if they did not shape up, their crimes would go into their "permanent record." At the time I really did not know what that meant. It conjured up images of some moment in the future when an earthly version of Saint Peter might unroll some lengthy scroll of misdeeds, for which we would be held to account. The reality turned out to be much more mundane, as I discovered a few years ago in a musty school district warehouse, where I saw box after box, and file cabinet after file cabinet of dusty "cume folders." These manila folders, some thin and some thick, are the actual "permanent records" our teachers warned us about. They hold report cards, suspensions, and other details of our school career. Once a student has graduated, these papers gather dust for a few years, and then are shredded. So much for permanence.
But that may change in the brave new world being built by the data hungry technocrats driving education reform.
inBloom, the non-profit started with a hundred million dollar investment from the Gates Foundation, is planning to