K-12 education appears to be the next venue that will be affected by big data.

Education data systems have become an $8 billion industry since the implementation of Common Core standards in United States public schools, according to an article in The New York Times.

The Common Core program calls for states to reach outlined national goals within their standardized English and math curriculums. Teachers are looking for measurable ways to the track their students’ performances so that they can predict how well the students will perform. 

“I think what’s happening now is as it becomes easier to create these data systems, we go to put more data in,” said Michael Maher, assistant dean for professional education and accreditation.

Currently, data education companies, such as InBloom, a nonprofit company, which allows teachers to integrate student data into the classroom teaching tools are increasing in popularity. InBloom and similar companies can hold contact information, disciplinary records, curriculum planning data and test scores. 

Maher said test score data could be a detrimental consequence to the increasing use of big data in the class room. However, these consequences depend on the education system.

“In North Carolina, I tend to like the direction we’re going,” Maher said. “We have more access to data and intercept more data; we test scores whereas some other states are going that route.” 

Maher said he would be concerned if the state starts changing the way it evaluates teachers and using tests instead. He said half of teacher evaluations are based on test scores in some states, and these scores are often misinterpreted.

Maher said his attitude toward educational data is mixed and depends on the intended use of the data. 

“On one hand, it’s great,” Maher said. “The more data I can get on students in my classroom, if I’m a teacher, the better I can personalize or customize instruction. But there’s always the fear [of] ‘Well, what happens with all that data? Where does it go? If it’s all online, then how do I protect it?’ How do I protect children from having their data misused?”

Maher said there are also security concerns that go along with big data.

“I think more data is generally better, but there are certainly concerns when you start talking about how we protect identity, how we make sure we’re using the data in appropriate ways and how we make sure data is used,” Maher said.