Oct 24, 2008 (08:10 PM EDT) Can Data Mining Save America's
Schools? Read the Original Article at InformationWeek During the
2007-2008 school year, students in New York City weren't the
only ones getting report cards. So did the city's 1,500 public
schools. New York City's Department of Education, responsible
for 1.1 million children, began issuing annual "progress
reports" to each of its schools last fall, with grades ranging
from A to F. Principals of the top 20% of schools received
bonuses from $7,000 to $25,000. Teachers at schools with high
poverty rates qualify for a bonus program. And over time,
schools receiving D's or F's face possible changes in
leadership, restructuring, and even closure. Yet grading schools
is kid's stuff compared with what a growing number of school
districts around the United States think they can do with data
mining and data analysis. Combining standardized test scores,
attendance, grades, and other data sources, districts are trying
to spot weaknesses and strengths of not just