Top 10 education data stories of 2013

For my year-end post I’m highlighting my 10 favorite Education By The Numbers stories of the year. Thank you to everyone who has read and commented and made the first few months of this blog an interesting experiment. I look forward to continuing this conversation about education data with you in 2014.

1.  Top US students lag far behind top students around the world in 2012 PISA test results

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/top-us-students-rank-34th-world-math-worse-average-student_747/

When you want to know why so many top PhD programs in the United States are filled with international students, perhaps one answer is that top U.S. students are rather mediocre testers when compared with their international peers.  Not only are top US students ranked poorly, they’re doing worse on tests today than they did a decade ago.

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/top-us-students-perform-worse-bottom-students-improve-international-pisa-math-test_738/

This problem among the nation’s strongest students is confirmed in #8 top story below.

2.  The number of high-poverty schools increases by about 60 percent

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/the-number-of-high-poverty-schools-increases-by-about-60-percent_161/

If you’re concerned about the growing disparity of wealth in the United States and wondering if it’s becoming increasingly difficult to escape poverty, this statistic about highly concentrated poverty in US schools might make you even more depressed.

3.  Can an algorithm ID high-school dropouts in first grade?

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/can-an-algorithm-id-high-school-drop-outs-in-first-grade_386/

4.  California student-teacher ratio highest in the country

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/california-student-teacher-ratio-highest-country_572/

5.  Data analysis discredits widely used TERC math curriculum

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/data-analysis-discredits-widely-used-terc-math-curriculum_535/

6.  Q&A with Knewton’s David Kuntz: ‘Better and faster’ learning than a traditional class?

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/qa-with-knewtons-david-kuntz-better-and-faster-learning-than-a-traditional-class_429/

On using data to tailor instruction to students.

7.  Privacy, big data and education: more about the inBloom databases

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/privacy-big-data-and-education-more-about-the-inbloom-databases_44/

My attempt, early in the inBloom data warehousing controversy, to understand student data privacy and how it could be breeched. Since then, States and districts pull back from InBloom Data warehouse

http://educationbythenumbers.org/content/states-and-districts-pull-back-from-inbloom-data-warehouse_452/