How Learner Data Varies
How Learner Data Varies
What stays the same and what changes
- Some data is common to most children across a country, rural or urban.
- Other facts vary from one school to another, and from one group to another within a school.
Drawing results
- General scientific studies give information about an age group.
- These must be supplemented by studies of particular children in a particular school.
Three layers of need
- Needs common to most children nationally.
- Needs common to almost all children in a given school.
- Needs common to certain groups within the school, but not the majority.
Once a developer starts collecting data on learners, a question arises: how far does the data travel? Does what is true of these learners hold for all children, or only for this school? The answer is that learner data comes in layers, and a developer has to know which layer they are looking at.
What stays the same and what changes
Some data will be common to most children, whether they live in one part of a country or another, in a rural or an urban area. These shared facts reflect the things nearly all children of an age have in common.
Other facts vary considerably from one school to another, and even from one group within a school to another. Health habits and knowledge, skills in reading, writing, and mathematics, knowledge of social and civic affairs, and attitudes toward social institutions all differ a great deal depending on the particular school and group.
So a developer cannot assume that a finding from one place holds everywhere. Some of what they learn is widely shared; some is local to the school in front of them.
Some data is common to most children; other facts vary by school and group
Broad facts shared by an age group stay common. Reading skills, health habits, civic knowledge, and attitudes vary considerably from one school, and even one group, to another.
Drawing results from two levels of study
This variation has a practical consequence for how a developer gathers data. It is possible to draw some information about children of a given age group from general scientific studies, the broad research on how children of that age tend to be. But that is not enough on its own. It is necessary to supplement those general results with studies of the particular children within a particular school, recognising the varied composition of the student body in any typical school.
Only by combining the two can a developer sort needs into three layers:
- Some needs are common to most children across the country.
- Other needs are common to almost all children in the given school.
- Still other needs are common to certain groups within the school, but not to the majority of children there.
This layering matters when setting objectives. A need shared by all children nationally may already be well understood; a need specific to one group within a school might be missed entirely without a local study. Knowing the layer tells a developer how widely an objective should apply.
| Layer | Whose need it is |
|---|---|
| 1 | Most children across the country |
| 2 | Almost all children in this school |
| 3 | Certain groups within this school |
General scientific studies of the age group, plus studies of the particular school
General studies show what is typical for an age; local studies show what is true of these learners. Combining them sorts needs into national, school-wide, and group-specific layers.
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