Test scores come too late in the year to adjust what's happening in the classroom.
They're not coordinated with truancy or transfer data that affect achievement. Nor are they broken down to check the results of school improvement plans or specific efforts, say, to raise math scores of Latino girls, increase parent involvement or improve school safety. The Portfolio's computer software combines test scores and other data and monitors each child individually. Such information, Baker argues, can help educators zero in on problems. Right now, you do a school improvement plan, then you get some disembodied data that may or may not be related to what you're trying to do.