Climbing the Data Ladder

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Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation
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Agenda

• Purpose for Testing
• Reports/Context for Scores
• Classroom Diversity/Overall Score
• Goal Area Scores
• Tools Learning Continuum, Lexiles, Placement
  Guidelines
• Goal Setting Class, Student
• Building Instruction
• Differentiating Instruction

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• I can completely understand and interpret my NWEA
  data.

• I use NWEA and other data to guide instruction in
  my classroom.

• Im comfortable using many instructional
  strategies in my classroom.

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• All of my students are learning to their fullest
  potential.

• Instructionally, the needs of my students are
  very similar.

• Grade Level State Standards are the focus of all
  my instruction.

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Testing Purpose

• Why are we giving this test?

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Assumptions of Graded Schools

• We begin with a K-12 curriculum scale, covering
  content beginning with letter recognition in
  kindergarten to adult reading.
• Typically, we feel restricted to covering
  specific curricula or adopted standards at
  specific grade levels

Think about
Does this design meet the needs of all students?
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How does classroom reality relate to our
assumptions?

• We have students performing above, at, and below
  this grade level curriculum
• How does this impact assessment and instruction?

Adult Reading
x
x
x
x
x
5th Grade
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Think about
HOW DO WE FOSTER GROWTH FOR ALL STUDENTS?
Beginning Literacy
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The Mastery Issue

• The NWEA test is NOT a test for determining
  mastery of skills.
• It provides a road map for students toward
  achieving mastery.

This test provides the instructional level of the
student.
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Reports

• What reports do we use?

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Sample Teacher Report
(Preliminary)
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Sample Class Report (Final)
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On-Line Individual Student Progress Report
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Achievement Status Growth Report
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Context

• What do the scores mean?

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NOTE If using goal descriptors, they ARE
grade-level dependent



RIT? not grade-level dependent
Percentile grade-level dependent (NWEA norm)
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NWEA Monitoring Growth Document

• What are expected RIT and growth scores?

typical
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Monitoring Growth in Student Achievement
 
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RIT Block Growth Norms
Reading Grade 5 Fall to Spring
11.3
5.4
Handout
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Let the data speak to you!

• Look for.
• Academic Diversity
• Central Tendency
• Mean
• Median
• Outliers
• Comparison to the Norm Group

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Classroom Diversity

• How diverse is the performance level in my
  class?

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Class snapshots looking atOverall Class Data

• Divide by drawing lines on the class list at 10
  RIT intervals draw line after 210, 220, 230,
  etc.
• Create class breakdown chart by 10 RIT breakdowns
• Use standard deviation to understand class
  academic diversity

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RIT Score
- Breakdown by 10 point RIT bands
Count by 10s and draw lines at 10 point
divisions. That is, between 200 and 201, 210 and
211, etc.
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Activity Complete a Class Breakdown
Handout
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What does the standard deviation tell us?
Standard deviations (Std.Dev.) are indicators of
the academic diversity of a group of students.
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Larger standard deviations . . .

• Indicate that the group is more diverse.
• It is likely that small group instruction is more
  appropriate in these areas than whole group
  instruction.

Lower standard deviations ...

• Indicate that students are most alike in this
  area.
• Large/full group instruction may be appropriate.

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Standard Deviation 21
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Standard Deviation 8
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Heres A Way To Look At Growth Using Your Class
Breakdown Charts (in regard to standard
deviation)
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Fall Standard Deviation 21
Red Fall
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Spring Standard Deviation 21
Green Spring
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Fall Standard Deviation 21
Spring Standard Deviation 21
Red Fall
Green Spring
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Goal Breakdowns

• How do I use goal area scores?

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Goal Breakdown by Goal Descriptor
L, Jordan (215) U. Samuel (216)
5th Grade Math - Spring
Handout
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once were comfortable using Lo, Av, Hi, we can
begin to look at RIT range scores in the goal
performance area on the CLASS Report
RIT Range Scores (Available on MAP class report
only)
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Class Breakdown by Goal RIT Ranges
Sarah (219)
Handout
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How can I use the Goal Breakdown?

• Useful in flexible groupings in classroom
• Important to also keep in mind the students
  overall RIT score can be a wide variation still
  in what students know
• Provides a transition into using the Learning
  Continuum to refine skills and concepts at
  students instructional level

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Tools

• How can I use the data?

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NWEA Learning Continuum

• A useful tool for assisting in instructional
  development
• Useful for goal setting for students
• Helpful for flexible grouping planning

1.01
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Learning continuum sequence of skills
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The Learning Continuum is now accessible on the
NWEA web site

• The Test Coordinator in licensed districts has
  access information and the password

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How to access the on-line Learning Continuum
www.nwea.org/learningcontinuum
User Name Learning Continuum Password
LCAccess
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Some Learning Continuum Uses

• Materials selection
• Flexible grouping for instruction
• Sharing resources
• Curriculum writing
• Focusing instruction

• Development of IEPs
• Monitoring student progress
• Advancing students on outer ranges of a class

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The Lexile Framework

• A unit for measuring text difficulty
• Linked to the RIT score, which measures reading
  comprehension

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What does a Lexile measure?

• Syntactic Complexity
• number of words per sentence
• longer sentences - more complex, require more
  short-term memory to process
• Semantic Difficulty
• the frequency of the words in a corpus of written
  text
• corpus has over 400-million words

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The Lexile doesnt evaluate

• Genre
• New genres may need more teacher support.
• Theme
• A low Lexile score doesnt mean the books theme
  is appropriate for children.
• Content
• New content or topics may need to have new
  vocabulary and concepts pre-taught.
• Interest
• Students will tend to be more motivated when they
  can self-select reading material.

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Look at the Lexile as a range of scores
Upper range might be used for the students group
reading program instructional reading level
(score 50).
650L
? 75 Comprehension
205
600L
Lower range is a target for the students
independent reading - (score 100)
500L
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Lexile Literature

• 1500 - On Ancient Medicine
• 1400 - The Scarlet Letter
• 1300 - Brown vs. Board of Ed.
• 1200 - War and Peace
• 1100 - Pride and Prejudice
• 1000 - Black Beauty
• 900 - Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders
• 800 - The Adventures of Pinocchio
• 700 - Bunnicula A Rabbit Tale of Mystery
• 600 - A Baby Sister for Frances
• 500 - The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth
• 400 - Frog and Toad are Friends
• 300 - Cliffords Manners

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Lexile Texts

• 1500 - The Making of Memory From Molecules to
  Mind Doubleday
• 1400 - Philosophical Essays Hackett Publishing
• 1300 - Psychology An Introduction Prentice Hall
• 1200 - Business Prentice Hall
• 1100 - America Pathways to Present Prentice
  Hall
• 1000 - Writing and Grammar Gold Level Prentice
  Hall
• 900 - World Cultures A Global Mosaic Prentice
  Hall
• 800 - Word 97 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
• 700 - World Explorer The U.S. Canada
  Prentice Hall
• 600 - Science (Grade 4) Addison-Wesley
• 500 - People and Places Silver Burdett Ginn
• 400 - Imagine That! Scholastic Inc.
• 300 - My World Harcourt Brace

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Personal Use

• Aetna Health Care Discount Form (1360)
• Medical Insurance Benefit Package (1280)
• Application for Student Loan (1270)
• Federal Tax Form W-4 (1260)
• Installing Your Child Safety Seat (1170)
• Microsoft Windows User Manual (1150)
• G.M. Protection Plan (1150)
• CD DVD Player Instructions (1080)

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Matching Readers and Text
www.lexile.com
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Lexile Uses

• To help teachers compensate for disparities
  between student reading comprehension levels and
  the readability of assigned texts.
• Help students choose appropriate challenge levels
  
• Helpful to parents in choosing appropriate
  reading materials
• Librarians can use to purchase books
• Coding classroom libraries
• Put together books to accompany theme units that
  meet all students challenge level. Example
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Matern 390L
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Suter 440L
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain 990L

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Placement Guidelines
A RIT is only one piece of the puzzle for making
important decisions.
Handout
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Goal Setting

• How do I set goals with students?

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Set a Class Goal

• Choose one subject or class
• Look at Goal Area Summary Data
• Choose a Classroom Goal
• Find 3 ways to target this goal
• Complete the activity with other subjects or
  classes

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Summary Goal Information
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5th Grade Math2002-2003 Classroom Goal
example
Measurement

• Use linear units (standard and metric)
• Mass and volume
• Temperature
• Radius, diameter, circumference of circles
• Time, calendar
• Money
• Angle measure and comparison
• Perimeter, area, and surface area
• Using formulas

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Goal-Setting With Individual Students
Handout
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• After fall testing, set up a conference with each
  student
• Go over fall results and have the student set a
  growth and content goal for Math, Reading, and
  Language

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Setting Growth Goals

• Use your fall Class RIT report (choose one
  subject)
• Consider typical fall-to-spring growth based on
  RIT Block growth information
• Complete the Growth Goal section
• Use the spring Class RIT report to evaluate the
  growth

Handout
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Growth by RIT Block Norms
Handout
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Setting Content Area Goals

• Use Goal Performance Area RIT ranges to consider
  content goals for students
• Find the Goal Area with the highest RIT range to
  celebrate
• Find the Goal Area with the lowest RIT range to
  focus on for the year.
• Help students find ways to target their goal.

Handout
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Conferencing With Students and Parents
Handout
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This worksheet can be used to help teachers
establish common academic goals with students and
parents.
Handout
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Sharing Information with Parents

• In 15-20 minute conference, spend no more than 5
  minutes on test data
• Share class goal
• Share, or have student share, individual content
  and growth goals
• Share ideas for parents to help with individual
  goals at home

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Lesson Planning

• How do I use data to guide instruction?

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Building the Instructional Ladder

• Using State Standards as the Foundation
• Using Student Data and the Learning Continuum

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For a subject/skill/concept area, and its
relevant state standard, determine
What is it that none of my students know?
What is it that a few of my students know?
What is it that most of my students know?
What is it that all of my students know?
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The goal should be for all children to move
up at least one rung of the ladder.
Deborah Burns
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Example
STANDARD The student will use the scientific
process to answer questions.
What is the difference between an independent and
a dependent variable?
How do you control a variable?
How do you pose an hypothesis?
What is an experiment?
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Once RIT range levels have been determined, use
the NWEA Learning Continuum and State Standards
to help define specific skills at each RIT range
on the ladder.
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Example . . .
STANDARD Geometry Properties of two and three
dimensional objects (points, rays, lines, and
angles including congruency, similarities and
transformations).
241-250 Identify symmetry of a sphere.
231-240 Understand meaning and representation of
a dilation.
211-220 Identify types of transformations
(rotations).
201-210 Identify mirror images.
191-200 (ALL) Identify figures with line
symmetrical parts.
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Now take a few minutes to see how our ladder was
constructed
Handout
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Sample of Ladder concept applied to
Project-Oriented Instruction
Source Vickie McCoy 8th Grade English
Teacher Franklin, IN
Handout
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Differentiating Instruction

• How do I meet the needs of all of my students?

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Why Differentiated Instruction?
Dealing with the reality of diverse learners.
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One way to think about differentiation

• Differentiation is classroom practice that looks
  eyeball to eyeball with the reality that kids
  differ, and the most effective teachers do
  whatever it takes to hook the whole range of kids
  on learning.

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Mapping a Route Toward Differentiated Instruction

• Even though students may learn in many ways, the
  essential skills and content they learn can
  remain steady. Students can take different roads
  to the same destination.
• Carol Ann Tomlinson

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Teachers can differentiate
according to students
Readiness
Interests
Learning Profile
through a range of instructional and management
strategies
Source The Differentiated Classroom, Tomlinson
1999
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What is meant by Flexible Grouping?

• Flexibility to move students from one group to
  the next to meet individual needs.
• Flexibility for teachers to move between groups
  and provide instruction.

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Just a sampling of Differentiated Instruction
strategies . . .
Source The Differentiated Classroom, Tomlinson
1999
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Data does not improve student learning,
instruction does!

• Be intentional.
• Find the Time.
• Use data to guide you.
• Become a place of learning.
• Share whatever and whenever you can no one can
  do it alone!

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Handout
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Thank You!

• Parke Smith
• Parke.Smith_at_nwea.org
• 574-834-4200