Gary Ackerman @garyackerman@qoto.org

I’ve been explaining the mathematics of test accuracy, false negatives, and false positives frequently.

The choice to not adapt rarely ends well for individuals or organization or societies.

Data is useless without critical review of its collection and interpretation of the meaning.

Physics envy is a real thing amongst the “data driven crowd.” Too bad they misunderstand the reductionist nature of the science used to understand the physical world and the difficulties of applying it to learning and human activity in the real world.

Are there things we can only know tacitly? I’m more and more convinced the answer is “yes.”

If your teaching suggests (even implicitly) that knowledge is stable, you are misleading your students.

Which comes first? Your assessment of quality or the marks you make in the rubric? #teachertwitter #teaching #education

“High quality work may have emergent qualities not contained in our rubrics.” Yeah, this may just be right. #highered #highschool #teachertwitter #teaching

Trying to “hit the teachers’ expectations,” even if they are reasonable and defined and measurable seems a weak proxy for understanding.

A blog post introducing IT networks for educators:
https://hackscience.education/2025/09/06/an-introduction-to-it-networks/

Variation, ambiguity, and “it depends” are all realities of problems that need solution... including problems in classrooms we seek to solve through standardization.

If the purpose of your teaching strategy is to standardize practice/ outcomes/ assessments
then you are missing the most important aspect of why we teach.

If you stop understanding an idea at the “bullet point” level of detail, esp. when dealing with teaching and learning, you will misapply it in the classroom.

By recognizing tame approaches applied to wicked problems, educators can take steps to minimize potential adverse effects of such solutions. #CriticalThinking

A blog post, now with audio, looking at an approach to solving wicked problems:
https://hackscience.net/2018/01/02/transparent-taming-of-wicked-problems/

By recognizing tame approaches applied to wicked problems, educators can take steps to minimize potential adverse effects of such solutions. #CriticalThinking

A strategy to tackle wicked problems: treat them as if they are tame, but do so transparently. Leaders must ensure everyone understands this produces ephemeral solutions.

Tame problems are definable, understandable, and consensual, meaning their causes and effects are clear, solutions are known, and agreement on the need for a solution exists. Wicked problems, conversely, lack these characteristics, with their evaluation depending heavily on perspective.

A blog post, now with audio, focusing in beta-testing, intended for school leaders to understand this aspect of deploying effective technology solutions.
https://hackscience.education/2018/07/25/edtech-for-edleaders-beta-testing/

Let’s update our understanding of schools: We need to put learning first and data second.