GPA. Class rank. SATs. iReady testing. Standardized exam scores.
We’re not students. We’re dots on a scatter plot shown in a Powerpoint presentation about student performance trends. Schools claim students are their top priority, but what really seems to matter are the stats we generate.
Of course, testing and accountability have their place. Schools need methods to track learning and progress. However, somewhere along the way, the system begins to see the students as data over learners.
From kindergarten onward, we’re tracked by reading levels, math scores and behavior points. By high school, it’s AP scores, college acceptances and the academic intensity of our schedules. If your numbers aren’t good enough, you aren’t good enough.
We are conditioned to prioritize test prep over creativity, grades over growth and rigor over rest. Even so, humans were not meant to operate so robotically.
It’s indisputable that data is needed for improving education. Issues cannot be improved upon unless there’s a way to measure learning. Data is also needed to figure out which schools need funding, which teachers are effective and which students are falling behind.
Sure, these metrics can be helpful. However, oftentimes, such numbers are used less for improving schools and more for ranking them. Data becomes less about helping and more about comparing, pitting students, districts and schools against each other.
The constant measuring is not a form of motivation. It’s a vehicle for demoralizing and discouraging many, especially those who already feel behind.
If schools truly want to support students, the solution lies in gathering more meaningful data. Instead of prioritizing what’s easy to measure, we should value what truly matters, like students learning to think critically, build empathy and grow as individuals. These things may be harder to quantify, but they define true success both in and out of school.
We need a louder student voice in evaluating schools. Reduce the emphasis on rankings and focus on relationships. Students need to be treated like people with talents, struggles and potentials that can’t always be summed up in a number.
The more schools focus on metrics, the more they lose sight of the people that the metrics represent.
It’s time for education systems to be reminded that we’re individuals exploring our identities, not just data points.
