What Gets Measured Gets Done

This chapter considers how schools might start to measure student networks in meaningful ways. The state of students' networks remains largely invisible in the schools today. The vast majority of schools— both public and private— do not map their students' relationships in formal or frequent ways. Student success and school performance began to depend on outcomes, and differences in the outcomes across student demographics. In other words, policymakers and system leaders must figure out ways to capture the depth and breadth of student networks. Social network analysis tools visually map patterns of human connection, and have developed substantially over the last decade or so in applications as diverse as marketing and counterterrorism. An extended learning opportunities (ELO) — albeit a broad concept— tends to refer to a credit-bearing activity that takes place outside a traditional, in-school academic course. Innovations in school design and disruptive technologies are making the possibility of a highly networked school a reality.