What might have begun as criticism turned out to be a tribute and a recommendation to keep up the good work. The story of the two elementary schools fits the latter category because it is a discovery process without any clear, predetermined direction to follow. Logic is the most important attribute of exploration. Buying a home also is an example of an exploration inquiry. The case discussed in a moment demonstrates the disaggregation and longitudinal drill-down processes.
Statistical power is the second guide for the drill-down process.
Then we reached a much deeper understanding of the issue when we looked at the data more deeply using more powerful statistics. Ending the drill-down process and analysis process is a judgment call informed by our helicopter view and the importance of the issue. A colleague recently wanted to know the impact of instructional time spent in a special reading program on achievement at the elementary level. The first step was breaking the problem down into its component parts. Looking at simple averages, there was an overall 6.8 point gain from fall to spring.