She's one of a new breed of educators who believe that looking at the numbers will reveal secrets about a school's strengths and weaknesses. Numbers, she says, can provide insight about where to focus energies to beef up weak areas.
Numbers also can highlight successes that educators can study to improve other areas.
As principal of Prairie Park Elementary School in Lawrence, Kansas, Weseman is also required to study the data as she develops her school's annual improvement plans and to prepare a school profile that quantifies the achievements in her school. You try to show with numbers that something's happening with kids,'' says Weseman. Central office staff have looked at test scores and other data for years. But principals and teachers often didn't bother to give the test results more than a cursory glance. For years, nobody expected them to do more than that.