Using California Content Standards: Practice and Mastery to Inform Classroom Instruction

Transcription

1 Using California Content Stards: Practice Mastery to Inform Classroom Instruction What is benchmarking? The term benchmarking refers to an assessment given to students throughout the year to check for mastery of grade level stards. The type of assessment given varies from district to district, depending on the interpretation or definition that each organization has agreed upon. In my work, the type of assessment I believe to have the most power in driving instruction is a comprehensive benchmark assessment used in a formative manner. This type of an assessment encompasses close to all stards of a particular grade is given at strategic points throughout the year. Curriculum Associates California Content Stards: Practice Mastery assessments are a perfect example. Assessments focusing only on stards previously taught are generally referred to as an interim or formative assessment. Although the analyzed data yielded from the two is often used quite differently, I have found using comprehensive benchmark assessments for formative purposes allow for key instructional decisions to be made in the quest of improving student learning. Why is benchmarking important? Comprehensive benchmarks are important for several reasons. This type of assessment allows teachers to make informed instructional decisions to improve student achievement, as well as to define essential stards to be taught in an upcoming pacing period. It also provides the opportunity for teachers to reflect on their own instruction practice to get better results. Using data in this capacity is a shift from how we have typically used it in the past. Data is not used simply to pass or fail students, but rather used to modify instruction to increase student success. This allows teachers to know if, to what degree, students are making progress toward selected goals. Benchmark assessments are crucial in the data assessment cycle. In my opinion, the analyzed data benchmarking yields sets the playing field for the instructional arena. Content Stards 3 Mathematics Practice Mastery English-Language Arts Content Stards 4 Content Stards 5 Science Practice Mastery Practice Master y CURRICULUM ASSOCIATES, Inc. Toll-free: (800) Web site:

2 -2- How I use Curriculum Associates in my existing accounts the improvement I have seen... For the last three years, I have worked for a regional program that serves seven counties in the bay area region. It has given me the opportunity to work at several sites to really underst the needs of lower performing schools. One common thread I found throughout my work is the need to collect use data to drive instruction. In fact, after realizing the lack of its use knowing the power it holds, we now write into our memorum of understing that schools must use a benchmark assessment two to three times a My assessment of choice is the Curriculum Associates California Content Stards: Practice Mastery. year. My assessment of choice is the Curriculum Associates California Content Stards: Practice Mastery. We choose this product for several reasons. First of all, it has multiple assessments in each student booklet. This allows us to benchmark two to three times during the year using the same publisher, which is imperative when looking at growth over time. Next, the assessments are very thorough, never giving an instructor an inflation of the achievement of their students. The stards are assessed with rigor, where students have to underst the academic language in the question stem to be able to process the question. When comparing them to Bloom s Taxonomy, many questions reflect the higher order thinking skills. This is important to recognize because in any state assessment, the questions are rarely at the knowledge level. Students are expected to be able to process the stard in varying ways to prove their comprehension of all skills concepts embedded in a single stard. Finally, Curriculum Associates does an outsting job of deconstructing the state s stards to make their product closely aligned to the state s stards test. The number of items targeted toward a single stard closely aligns to the number of items in the blue prints for that state. I have found using these assessments have also increased the knowledge of the grade level stards for the instructors. They become increasingly aware of the stard complexity the various ways of assessing them. At the sites we serve, we recommend using benchmark assessments two to three times a year. If sites select three times a year, it is given the first month of school, in late November or early December, in early March. If they choose to do it two times a year, it is given in November late February. The reason I recommend three times a year is, as I have said before, it sets the instructional playing field. Data from the first benchmark gives you baseline information on your incoming students. It allows you to determine what the essential stards will be for the first pacing period sets the big picture for the identification of measurable goals. This data also allows you to move from intervention to prevention for those nonproficient students in their previous grade. The second benchmark assessment is given approximately after sixty days of instruction, bringing you to late November or early December. This data is looked at through a similar lens, but now you

3 -3- have a second data piece which allows for comparative growth. Through collaboration around instructional strategies interventions, educators can answer the critical question of What instructional modifications do we need to make based on our data to achieve better results? It s through this process that teachers begin to recognize possible factors for student performance. Such factors as the need for additional support on specific stards the ability to discern the success rate of specific strategies used by colleagues for certain populations. The data from the last benchmark given in late February or early March is analyzed through a lens focused on interventions. This data piece is critical in identifying nonproficient students engaging them in instruction targeted toward the mastery of the stards. Through this focused, supported effort, those students receive strategic instruction from an instructor deemed an expert in what they do. To support this process of using data to inform instruction, I have provided data graphs from a school site that has made great gains in student performance in a relatively short period of time. This elementary site didn t start using Curriculum Associates until late January, so we had to accelerate the process. Two things were done with their baseline data: grade levels set specific, measurable goals determined essential stards for the next instructional cycle. Students were assessed again in early March. The data was analyzed through the lens of intervention, focusing on the nonproficient stards students. Teachers revisited their goals checking to see if instruction was effective. They analyzed data to determine which stard strs needed overall support. They determined their nonproficient students designed a support system to target instruction to increase academic improvement. The process of using a reliable, valid assessment source strategic, targeted instruction led to the student gains seen in these graphs. The first graph shows student proficiency rate from to at each grade level. Delta View Elementary School % 52% 47% 22% 24% 2nd 3rd 4th 5th

4 -4- The next two graphs display data from two subgroups: Socioeconomically Disadvantaged the African American population. The final two graphs display a three year comparison for the 2nd 4th grades. Notice the performance bs are increasing at the proficient advanced levels are beginning to decline in the basic, below basic, far below basic bs. This school site is very excited about their increased student proficiency will be implementing three comprehensive benchmark assessments in the 2009 school year. Economically Disadvantaged: Percent Proficient & Advanced African American Students: Percent Proficient & Advanced % 43% 45% 45% 49% 54% 41% 29% 34% 33% 54% 56% 7% 15% 6% 6% 2nd 3rd 4th 5th% 2nd 3rd 4th 5th% Grade Mathematics: 2nd Grade; 3 Year Comparison 4th Grade Mathematics: 3 Year Comparison % % 34% 37% 22% 26% 25% 23% 21% 24% 27% 18% 28% 19% 9% 3% Prof./Adv. Basic Bbasic FBBasic 11% 5% Prof./Adv. Basic Bbasic FBBasic Performance Level Performance Level

5 -5- Just as teachers use data to reflect on their instruction, I too reflect on our data delivery model by looking at the school s Academic Progress Indicator (API) the Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) data. I reflect on the same questions. Have we increased overall student achievement in Mathematics English Language Arts? Have we decreased the achievement gap between our subgroups? Did we meet all of our short/long term measurable goals as grade levels or as a department? Through the analysis of data making sound decisions, grade levels attain their grade level goals, principals reach their school wide goals, districts improve overall academic success. Have some sites increased academic success on a larger scale than others? Of course they have. The percentage of schools that really embrace the power of data have the most growth. growth is dependent on many variables; however, schools that really embrace the power of data have the most growth. The most essential piece in this process is the data source itself. If you don t have an assessment that is well crafted, rigorous, aligned to the state stards, invalid scores may be the result making this whole process ineffective. I have found a reliable data source from Curriculum Associates, making my quest for raising student achievement a valiant effort. About the author: Shannon Ortl is a School Improvement Coordinator with the Regional System of District School Support. She currently supports Program Improvement districts schools in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Solano, San Mateo counties. Ms. Ortl provides training in stards based instruction with a focus on analyzing data to drive instruction in the classroom. She facilitates workshops in her region, serves as an implementation coach at several school sites, has presented at various conferences throughout California. Recently, she co-created a free, online data analysis tool that helps schools look at data to inform instruction. Prior to joining the Regional Program in 2005, Shannon worked as an educator for nine years. She has been a classroom teacher, a literacy coach, a site based project coordinator. Additionally, she works with the Napa, Solano, Contra Costa County School Academic Intervention Team, as well as the Bay Region IV District Academic Intervention Team. For questions or more information about this implementation model, you can contact Shannon Ortl via at shassay@yahoo.com. To learn more about the California Content Stards: Practice Mastery Series, contact Curriculum Associates via at info@curriculumassociates.com, visit our web site at or call