Toward a Conceptual Framework for the Organizational Functions of Practical Measurement

• In Event: Advancing Continuous Improvement in Theory and Practice

Abstract

A growing number of educational improvement efforts are incorporating the development of practical measures of learning into their work. In this paper we extend previous work on practical measurement by focusing our attention on the organizational dynamics of measurement practice. In addition to their role in providing windows to certain kinds of information, measures also function as both carriers and drivers of new and existing assumptions, categories and values. We present the outlines of a conceptual framework of practical measurement situated within processes of organizational persistence and change, and illustrate key facets of the framework with examples drawn from a DBIR project focused on co-developing practical measures of teacher learning in a large, urban district.

Authors

• Eleanor Anderson, University of Pittsburgh
  Presenting Author

• Jennifer Richards, Northwestern University
  Presenting Author