Chapter 4 was quite technical, but offers great basic information about data and key terms. As I have mentioned in professional learning sessions and collaborations, triangulation of data is key to getting at the entire picture of what our students need academically. I believe at times, that we view data as a task to complete and something done to us and our students. I think this is because as educators, we have been given tools (data) but never really taught how to use them, and how they can help us improve.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Chapter 4
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I definitely agree that many times we have all the data but are not sure how to "go at it" to analyze the information. I find this to be in difficult especially in Kindergarten where we have no previous data or at least no valid data for a couple of months. Many kindergartners are not even attending preschool anymore and it shows in their inability to communicate, obey rules, socialize, hold a pencil, etc. Many of the children coming into school for the first time are "no knowledge" students and when we do get initial data it doesn't seem to reflect what that student can do until we are further into the school year and they start to "sponge up" the knowledge that it is presented to them. However, and I know I am jumping ahead to chapter 5, creating space for thinking about data will be important to us as teachers to be honest when looking at the data before us. I feel when we have the time to look at the data, break the data all down and then use the information to improve our instruction....it can be overwhelming. I sometimes find it difficult to focus just on my students instead of the grade level as a whole. Jenny T.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the school year, I have to use a variety of assessments to help me determine a starting point and goal for instruction. As a special ed teacher helping students with reading goals, I obviously look at DIBELS, use a phonics Quickscreen to determine where my students are at on the Scope and Sequence, and Fry's High Frequency Word list. For older students, I will do the same, but I'm also interested in reading comprehension so I use disaggregated data from Acuity to look at strengths and weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with analyzing data for reading comprehension especially when using Acuity. Many of the students I work with are not reading at grade level; therefore, it's difficult to say Acuity is a valid test for these students. So I will often have to find another tool to measure reading comprehension at the student's reading level. If students are reading on grade level, I often see a discrepancy between Acuity results and unit tests. Unfortunately because of my schedule, I did not have collaboration time with grade level teachers to really take the time and put forth the effort needed to discuss causal theories. Like Jenny said, I too think breaking down data will help us all to become more precise and improve our instruction. I'm interested in seeing how collaboration works at Haley between reading interventionists and grade level teachers.
Mindy Haffner
For me, getting ready for the students who were in my class I would look at their data folders from their previous teacher (as long as they were returning). In the data folders I would find DIBELs scores, unit assessments, and an attendance record. I would then try to find their ISTEP scores and add these to the data folder. I would then add data I collected to these data folders over the school year and pass them on at the end of the year. Using a variety of data that was gathered from the previous year helped me understand what my students have mastered, what they still needed help in, and what needed to be reviewed/reintroduced at the start of the year. Looking at ACUITY was a great starting point for me because the data was disaggregated. The breaking apart by indicator made looking at the data really helpful to prepare for my students both in math and in LA/English. I would often form small groups based upon what I saw to hit the ground running on day one.
ReplyDeleteWhat I need to do a better job of is not putting all of attention into what ACUITY says. I need to also look at DIBELS and SRI scores. For me personally it's hard to trust the SRI scores. There's too many variables for me to hold that as an effective assessment. I know teachers can log into SAM and delete a student's test score if they did not do well and the student can retake the assessment so essentially you can make your data look like 90% of your students are improving if they retake it enough times. Collaborating with grade level partners, interventionists, and ELL teachers is a sure fire way to make sure all students are growing. I am really looking forward to being at Haley this fall and learning new things from you veterans. : )
-Chase Sleesman