A Chart is Worth a Thousand Words

Kudos to Mike Juhas, Superintendent of Catholic Schools of Pensacola, Florida, who may have shown us the best possible way to present our test scores to our communities.

He tracked the Iowa test scores of the current 8th graders of his diocese from when they were first graders all the way through to 8th grade, comparing their “grade equivalencies” to the national averages each year (see his chart below). As they matriculate through, his students beat the national averages by wider and wider margins.

In this one easy to understand graph, Mike makes a compelling case for the academic “value proposition” of the schools in his diocese. Brilliant!

So now I am scrambling to put together similar charts for our previous 8th grade classes at Prince of Peace. I’m pleased to find out that the Iowa test folks give us the tools to do this without a lot of expertise required.

It’s my sense that we don’t do this kind of thing enough for our schools. People have neither the expertise or patience to dig through data, but they will stop to look at a chart.

Let’s give ‘em charts, then!