Photo by flickr user Katie Hargrave One of the many surprising outcomes of the November 8 elections was how wrong the polls were. The commonly used statistical models and sampling techniques were well wide of the final counts. This was a serious blow to quantitative methods for political research, and has caused strategists to rethink campaign
Across the globe, teachers are being asked to use data to guide their instructional decision making. The belief is that by using data, teachers can better differentiate instruction according to students’ needs. But how exactly are decisions about differentiated instruction made? And to what extent does the use of data lead to grouping of students
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has triggered increased attention to the uses of performance data related to student test scores, graduation rates, and other indicators of school and teacher quality. As the misuse of data emerging, we as future researchers should always be skeptical with the policy reports and related studies before
