Demonizing Data: When Numbers Perpetuate The Narrative. Provocations V2
This piece is from our Provocations Magazine, V2: Beyond the Two-Dimensional Student: Humanizing Data in Education. If you’re tired of the same recycled edu-content and ready for ideas that actually challenge the system, this is for you. Provocations is an exclusive benefit for our paid subscribers—join the educators who refuse to tinker at the edges.
You’ve likely heard the phrase numbers don’t lie. But have you considered whether numbers inherently tell the truth? Or better yet, whether they provide a complete, comprehensive picture?
Data is often seen as neutral and unbiased. It’s viewed as inherently factual. But even numbers and data can be expressed in ways that push a narrative, whether by way of what the data is focused on, how it is presented, or a combination of both.
In From Childhood to Adolescence, Dr. Maria Montessori outlines an educational syllabus for adolescents. In Appendix B, she refers to “education in relation to psychic development,” stating that, “The ‘formative’ education that will construct firm foundations for the character consists of three subjects: moral education, mathematics, and languages.” Language and math are both symbol systems that allow us to interpret, understand, and communicate our experiences. It is easy to see why Dr. Montessori put them into the same category. But we must take note of the third piece of psychic development: moral education. Morality is not only included, but named first, because Dr. Montessori realized that we can choose how to use math and language to convey a multitude of messages. These opportunities to share information and experiences call on our moral compass to ensure that we are starting with meaningful questions and being honest with ourselves and others about the answers to those questions.
Having access to data is an integral part of any good decision-making. It is how we quantify things, how we measure growth, change, and even “success.” But when was the last time you stopped to ask whether the data you were reviewing was moral? When you see charts, graphs, and numbers, do you question what story that data is telling and who is telling it? Do you remember that data can be both quantitative and qualitative? Data can provide the answer to many questions, but we must remember to think critically about the value of the questions we are asking.
In education, most data comes in the form of grades, whether from numerical scores on standardized tests or a letter used to rank a student’s performance over the course of a school year. And we have become so accustomed to this practice that we only look to the numbers to measure outcomes and have forgotten to consider what question this data is supposed to answer.
We treat test scores and class grades as though they are answering the question, “How are students performing in school?” But the truth of the matter is that these data points are actually answering very different questions. Standardized test scores don’t measure students’ academic performance; they measure students’ ability to answer a specific set of questions at a specific moment in time in a specific setting. Letter grades don’t measure or adequately convey students’ acquisition of knowledge; they express - often subjectively - students’ compliance in meeting teachers’ expectations of work completion.