When Data Use Raises Equity and Ethical Dilemmas in Schools

• In Event: Data Ethics in Education: The Importance, Issues, and Use Cases

Abstract

The use of data in schools is intended to lead to more fair, evidence-based decision making that supports the education of all learners (Lai & Schildkamp, 2013). However, even when equity is ostensibly a goal of system and school reform efforts, it can go unacknowledged in data use practices (Braaten et al., 2017; Gannon-Slater et al., 2017). Using a frame of equity is important in data use, as otherwise data can be used to limit rather than expand opportunities for students (e.g., Bertrand & Marsh, 2015; Author, 2018). Data-informed decision making can also raise ethical issues, particularly with respect to the education of students who have historically been disenfranchised, but this has been understudied. In this paper, we draw on qualitative data gathered in schools engaged in an instructional improvement in order to examine situations in which data use, equity, and ethics intersect.
While the data use literature does not explore this intersection, we found the work of other authors (e.g., Chabon and Morris, 2004; Flores & Gunzenhauser, 2016; Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2001) helpful in creating a framework of guiding questions that can be applied to dilemmas educators encounter in the use of data:

In this paper, we apply this framework to examining two scenarios derived from a study of middle schools under pressure to improve student achievement in mathematics. We draw on extensive qualitative data gathered in four U.S. urban middle schools that were part of a math instructional improvement project focused on supporting teachers in using data to inform instruction geared around students’ needs. Data for this study were collected from 2015-19. We conducted 165 interviews with math teachers, school administrators, and the math instructional coach, who were interviewed annually. We also conducted 235 hours of observations of a total of 200 teacher collaboration meetings and workshops. We used MAXQDA, a qualitative coding software tool, to facilitate the coding of the data.
We found that on a regular basis, educators were faced with challenging decisions that have varied consequences for administrators, teachers, and students. While one might expect that when using data to inform decisions, choices would be more clear, in fact there were a host of ethical and equity concerns that arose. In some schools, educators were faced with an ethical dilemma related to benchmark assessments. This largely stemmed from needing to produce data for the district while at the same time recognizing the student and teacher burdens of over-testing. In a second scenario, data were used for class placement decisions, raising a host of equity and ethical concerns regarding a lack of student access to rigorous math classes. When applying the framework, the ethical and equity implications, including whose voices held power, became apparent. More broadly, the framework we propose could prompt educator reflection regarding decision making with data, or more generally. Researchers who have studied data use may also find the framework useful in interrogated their own data with an ethical lens.

Authors

• Amanda L. Datnow, University of California - San Diego

• Marie Lockton, University of California - San Diego

• Hayley Ryan Weddle, University of Pittsburgh