Main Elementary Student Performance Data Document Main Elementary uses a variety of research-based formative and summative assessments to accurately and carefully measure student progress throughout the school year and adjust instruction as necessary for each student. Some of the assessments we use are DIBELS, GRASP, SRI, and the CRCT. A description of these assessments, including student performance data for three years, is included below. DIBELS Next Data Summary Grades K-5 According to the University of Oregon Center on Teaching and Learning, the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. The DIBELS measures were specifically designed to assess the big ideas in reading. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills. These research-based measures are linked to one another and predictive of later reading proficiency. The measures are also consistent with many of the Georgia Standards of Excellence in reading, especially the Foundational Skills. Combined, the measures form an assessment system of early literacy development that allows educators to readily and reliably determine student progress. The role of DIBELS as indicators is described in Kaminski, Cummings, Powell-Smith, and Good (2008) as follows: DIBELS measures, by design, are indicators of each of the Basic Early Literacy Skills. For example, DIBELS do not measure all possible phonemic awareness skills such as rhyming, alliteration, blending, and segmenting. Instead, the DIBELS measure of phonemic awareness, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF), is designed to be an indicator of a student's progress toward the long-term phonemic awareness outcome of segmenting words. The notion of DIBELS as indicators is a critical one. It is this feature of DIBELS that distinguishes it from other assessments and puts it in a class of assessments known as General Outcome Measures. Main Elementary has used DIBELS as an assessment for several years. DIBELS is given to each child K through 5 th grade, three times a year. Sixth graders are assessed at the beginning and end of the year, and at-risk students are given a mid-year measure. The data is analyzed from each assessment, and instruction is then adjusted according to each child s need. Interventions or enrichment is provided, and students are progress monitored regularly to measure gains.
Grades DIBELS Measures DIBELS 2013 Benchmarks Fluency/Accuracy 2014 Benchmarks Fluency/Accuracy 2015 Benchmarks Fluency/Accuracy K Phoneme Segmentation 93% 72% 81% 1 st Nonsense Words - sounds 52% 49% 34% 1 st Nonsense Words whole words 79% 86% 29% 1 st Oral Reading Fluency 42%/42% 37%/42% 24%/21% 2 nd Oral Reading Fluency 32%/51% 21%/32% 24%/39% 3 rd Oral Reading Fluency 32%/51% 37%/50% 22%/42% 4 th Oral Reading Fluency 41%/67% 26%/68% 39%/61% 5 th Oral Reading Fluency 13%/33% 18%/30% 30%/59% As Main Elementary students become more familiar with the SRI and DIBELS assessments, an increase in student scores from beginning to end of the year are becoming more evident. With the new system-wide focus on Differentiated Phonics in grades K 6 in 2015, we began by assessing each student using the Informal Decoding Inventory. Though many of our students have not reached the benchmarks established by DIBELS, they have shown tremendous growth from the beginning of the year to the present. Adjustments in instruction have taken place when necessary. Main began implementing Walpole and McKenna s Differentiated Phonics late in the winter of 2015. Data collected has been stored and passed on to the next grade to ensure that minimal instructional time will be lost assessing students at the beginning of the year. Differentiated Phonics has been implemented with fidelity in all grade levels this school year (2015-16). We are optimistic about the early literacy skills that Differentiated Phonics provides us to give each child what they need to be a successful reader. Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Interactive is a computer-adaptive assessment designed to measure how well students read and comprehend literature and expository texts of varying difficulties. This formative instrument is used as a diagnostic tool to assess students Lexile levels so that intervention and acceleration can be implemented to meet the needs of each student. SRI has been the subject of six validation studies. The research ranges from a norming study with a sample of 512,224 students (this study was not conducted with the SRI) to an analysis of gender, race, and ethnic differences among fourth- through ninth-grade
students. The following table demonstrates students average growth by grade as measured by Lexile over the past three years. Expected growth for one school year is 100 Lexile points. Grade SRI Growth **Data indicates the average Lexile growth for that school year. 2013 Growth (by Lexile) 2014 Growth (by Lexile) 2015 Growth (by Lexile) 3 rd not available 91 195 4 th not available 189 118 5 th 211 122 85 6 th 174 158 72 Our students are becoming more and more familiar with the SRI assessment. They are beginning to realize how important it is and what a difference that doing their best can make. A strong focus has been put in place school-wide on independent reading. Goals have been set, and students are striving to meet them. We have more students reading daily than ever before. With all of this in place, and the continued focused instruction on reading and comprehension, we hope to see a larger growth in Lexile scores. We continue to strive to have all students reading on or above grade level.
GRASP Math Assessment GRASP (Georgia RESA Assessment of Student Progress) was developed by math specialists at the West Georgia Regional Educational Services Agency (RESA) to be used as a screening tool for mathematics in grades 2-6. According to the West Georgia RESA website, the GRASP tools are designed to provide teachers with the data they need to plan rigorous instruction for all students. For students who require intervention in addition to regular classroom instruction, GRASP provides tools designed to track progress on skills from Kindergarten to high school. The Math Computational Fluency screening instruments and probes measure if students in each grade level have acquired the basic math computational skills they will require to be successful in applied mathematics. According to the West Georgia RESA GRASP website, the West Georgia RESA Math Specialists collaborated with math teachers and specialists across seven school systems to create standards-based Math screening instruments and probes. In order to determine cut scores and time limits for the Standards-Based Math instruments, the RESA team gave the screener to over 2,000 students across 7 grade levels in 9 schools. The screening scores for the students who scored a performance level of 2 on the math portion of the CRCT were analyzed by grade level to determine the average score of students considered to be on grade-level. The time limits for each screener were calculated using the same method. Research on the cut scores for the Math Computation Fluency instrument was obtained from Dr. Ed Shapiro, Director of the Center for Promoting Research to Practice at Lehigh University (1996). Dr. Shapiro s research has been duplicated by several other teams across the country, who agree that students are considered fluent in basic math computation when they can correctly compute 20 digits within a series of basic math problems in a 2-minute time period. Main Elementary used the GRASP screener from 2012-2015. The GRASP helps teachers to identify gaps in students math thinking in concepts and fluency. The GRASP screener was administered three times each year (fall, winter, & spring). GRASP Data **Scores indicate the percentage of students who met or exceeded the cut score on the spring screening for that school year. Concepts and Applications screener Grade 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2 nd 57.1 50 82.6 3 rd 37.8 33.3 24.4 4 th 13.3 34.3 36.7 5 th 10 3.3 21.6 6 th 8.3 4.2 0
Computational Fluency screener Grade 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 2 nd 96.4 73 58.7 3 rd 56.8 37.9 30 4 th 66.7 12.5 48.3 5 th 53.3 0 19.4 6 th 73.9 3.4 7.1 Using the same math program for 2 years in a row will hopefully help, even though all of our math teachers in 3 rd through 6 th grade are either new to the grade level, new to teaching math, or new to our school. Students continue to show growth even though the gaps in number sense and fluency are evident. While the data may appear as though growth is not made consistently (based on the percentage of students meeting the cut scores), when the data is analyzed at the student level, there is evidence of significant student growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. A strong focus has been placed on fluency practice and number skills time in each classroom. Data is analyzed regularly to help provide appropriate interventions when necessary. Because we, as a district, felt that GRASP was not providing teachers and academic coaches with the most beneficial data to effectively plan for remediation and enrichment, we transitioned to using a new screener for the 2015-16 school year. The new screeners (IKAN and GloSS), which are part of the Numeracy Project, are equipped with appropriate interventions at teachers fingertips designed to target the child s specific area of weakness.
CRCT The Criterion-Reference Competency Test (CRCT) is an assessment mandated by the state for students in 3 rd through 8 th grade. Overall CRCT Results by Grade and Subject
Main s CRCT data, while some areas show an increase, demonstrate that all areas need improvement. Scores are inconsistent and do not follow a positive trend. Over the last 3 years, we have been working towards consistency in teachers, stability, and familiarity in curriculum. We are also focusing heavily on providing necessary foundational skills our students enter school with deficiencies in, such as literacy, fact fluency, and number sense. The content and assessment became even more difficult with the implementation of Common Core. While all of our students continue to show tremendous growth, their level of performance is not a good indicator of that growth. When Common Core came along, as well as College and Career Readiness Indicators, it made our students gaps become even more evident. We are optimistic with the faculty that we have in place, Differentiated Phonics, a consistency in our math curriculum with a focus on fluency and number sense, and a more focused hands-on approach to Science and Social Studies, we will see our students performance levels increase. Professional learning, resources, and instruction is focused on our needs that we see through analyzing our data. Growth is apparent, but the growth is not enough to enable the student to score at the appropriate performance level. We continue to identify our students individual needs to help them be successful and perform at the expected level.
Main Elementary School - 3 year profile