A Reflection On Robert Slavin's Blog

Robert Slavin’s blog about using computer data to do research was quite informative. When I read the title, I assumed that the article was going to be about helping students do effective research in the classroom, but it turned out to be about how the education systems use the data collected by computers to analyze schools and students. I would agree with Slavin’s take on the issue, as the data taken by computers is not always accurate. While some schools may seem as though they are achieving highly and utilizing the technology they have, it could be that only a small percentage of the school is using the computers. This would create a bias in the data. I appreciated all of the method that Slavin recommended for eliminating biases in the research that is done as well.

I found it interesting that the dilemma of students being unable to access technology was not brought up in the article. If schools are being assessed by students and research is being collected about the use of computers, what does this mean for schools who cannot provide computers for every student? What does this mean for students who may have a school-issued laptop, but they do not have access to internet connection outside of the school building? I felt that this should have been addressed in the article, because there are plenty of school districts that lack the funding needed to provide technology to students. Also, if these schools are being left out of the studies, does it not add to the bias to only look at schools that have adequate funding to foot the bill of technology? Overall, I found this article to be quite interesting and informative.