Chapter 9 discussion

I find myself thinking back to the "new teacher in the district" meetings that I've had to sit through every fall for the past 5-6 years...what a chapter this was! I mean, like at these meetings I've gone to, I sit there and think...gosh, I know this stuff is important, but how/why do I remember all this stuff?!?! What, specifically, does this have to do with me as a Spanish teacher?!?! How will this data effect, if at all, my students or how I teach them the material?!?! Yikes! All the graphs, charts, and hard-core data just makes me more and more confused the longer I stare at it. There's a woman in my district right now who's responsibility is to be the "data lady," or at least that's what I've been calling her. She organizes all this data collected during state/national testing dates, figured out RIT scores, and helps create a plan of attack if/when a school or schools in our district haven't met our AYP (adequate yearly progress). She's in her glory when she's presenting information on all this stuff, yet my eyes just glaze over and I know that very little is sinking in, especially when I'm trying to focus on my own teaching practices, my graduate work, finding sources for my APP, reading the assigned chapters, and so on... Holy cow! Will this whole mess really be over within a year?!?!