Several local blog posts recently have sought to draw conclusions about the Escambia County School District and its schools based upon data from Florida's School Environmental Safety Incident Reporting (SESIR) System.
The data is complex and there are many factors that go into the reporting of incidents to the state via SESIR. It would not be difficult to imagine local bloggers not comprehending this data and therefore misinterpreting it. Data is complex yet some bloggers are not.
Of paramount importance when attempting to draw conclusions about schools and districts is the following statement from SESIR regarding data interpretation. (page 7 from Introduction)
"When examining data contained in the Statewide report, caution should be exercised when comparing school districts. Numerous social and environmental factors, such as the size of the district population, can significantly impact SESIR data between districts. The number of incidents may vary among districts due to differing interpretations of incident definitions, varying levels of consistency with which schools report incidents, and variation in the amount and level of training provided to school personnel who report SESIR incidents. It is not recommended that data from the Statewide report be used to make general comparisons between districts without taking into consideration external factors and variables. "
If one is attempting to demonize schools--at least they ought to get the data right, right?
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6 comments:
Mr. Bergosh
As opposed to leaving it to the
bloggers can you interpret the data for the readers?
There will be a presentation by the experts on this issue from Florida DOE next Thursday, April 14th. These officials will be here to discuss in detail the SESIR data elements, reporting protocols, etc. I won't attempt to disaggregate the data for you--I'll leave that to the experts. To Quote the great Sammy Hagar "I won't even pick up a guitar when Eddie Van Halen is in the room"--translation-- when the experts are present, let the experts handle things. One caution-I would certainly not count local "news bloggers" in the community as the knowledgable subject matter experts on this....they are only right about 40% of the time. So, I strongly encourage you and anyone interested in this topic to attend this meeting--it is open to the public. Meeting begins at 3:00 PM in Room 160 of the Hall Center at 30 E. Texar Drive.
It would be great if you could podcast these meetings for us :) I'd love to make this one but unfortunately wont be able to.
I cautiously accept the data that rick presented, but can agree that unknown factors can probably grossly impact caparison, especially population size.
The data are all well organized and concise. Good job on presentation and data handling.
Choosing the right school for your child begins with exploring all the schools available. With so many choices, it is important to develop a wish list and then start narrowing the field.
Environmental Safety is a very important factor in gaining a plus points in an employer. So taking an ISO Certification will be a great idea to start with.
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