In the introduction to the book Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil, O’Neil shares a story about fifth-grade teacher Sarah Wysocki. Wysocki had excellent reviews from administrators and her student’s parents, yet her IMPACT evaluation score was terrible causing her to be fired. The data from the IMPACT evaluation ranked teachers on how well they taught math and language through an algorithm.
Using the DIKW model it goes as follows:
DATA: Her IMPACT score was bad
INFORMATION: She is not efficient at teaching math and language
KNOWLEDGE: She is not a good teacher
WISDOM: She should be fired
The major issue with this is that there is no account for how well she actually is teaching her students. The IMPACT evaluations bases all of its scoring on how well her students are testing and what is to say that teachers from the previous year had inflated the grades in order to protect themselves. In addition, there is so much more that goes into being a good teacher rather than just how a student scores.
If a student is going through emotional duress during the year, would it not be more beneficial to have a teach who supports them at school rather than one who focuses on the test scores? For this reason, the IMPACT testing outcome is incorrect as it neglects to show other factors that go into a good teacher and fires the ones that are helping rather than the teachers that focus on test scores rather than supporting and educating students.
In the sixth chapter of the book “Ineligible to Serve,” O’Neil tackles the issue of WMD’s used for employers and hiring, specifically Kronos. In the case of Kyle Behm, a young man suffering from bipolar disorder at Vanderbilt University, Behm struggled to find work when returning to his education after a year and a half of treatment. His SAT scores had been nearly perfect and he attended an incredibly prestigious school, yet he was still being blocked from finding part-time minimum-wage jobs. This is due to the personality tests that many organizations use through Kronos in order to determine whether they should hire someone or not.
These “Five Factor Model” tests included questions to grade on traits such as “extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to ideas” (106). The issue with this is that it discriminates against people who suffer from mental disabilities, but are still capable of working.
The DIKW model for these tests goes as follows:
DATA: Candidate answers yes to the question “Sometimes, I need a push to get started on my work”
INFORMATION: The candidate needs someone to tell them to work
KNOWLEDGE: The candidate is lazy
WISDOM: The candidate should not be hired
There are many issues with this model as the question is too ambiguous to be able to determine whether a person should be hired. For someone struggling with mental illness, it can take them a push to even get out of bed in the morning, but they still push themselves to do it it does not imply that they are lazy.