The fact is that real learning often can’t be quantified,
and a corporate-style preoccupation with “data” turns schooling into
something shallow and lifeless. Ideally, attention to learning signifies an
effort to capture how each student makes sense of the world so we can meet
them where they are. “Teaching,” as Deborah Meier reminded us, “is mostly
listening.” (It’s the learners, she added, who should be doing most of the “telling,”
based on how they grapple with an engaging curriculum.) Imagine how American
classrooms would be turned inside out if we ever really put that wisdom into
action.