Using Data to Drive Great Instruction

1
Using Data to Drive Great Instruction

• UCONN Assessment Colloquia Series Workshop

2
Achievement First

• The Mission of Achievement First is to deliver on
  the promise of equal educational opportunity for
  all of Americas children. We believe that all
  children, regardless of race or economic status,
  can succeed if they have access to a great
  education.
• Achievement First schools will provide all of our
  students with the academic and character skills
  they need to graduate from top colleges, to
  succeed in a competitive world, and to serve as
  the next generation of leaders in our
  communities.

3
Aims and Agenda

• Aims
• TWBAT
• Build standards-based interim assessments
• Write great questions to assess student progress
  towards mastery of state standards.
• Use data from standards-based assessments to
  drive instruction.
• TWB
• Inspired to use, rather than report data

• Agenda
• Data-driven instruction philosophy/overview
• The AF curriculum overview
• Writing great assessments
• Using data to inform instruction
• Wrap-up

4
Do Now

• Think back to times in your life when you have
  had to take a high stakes exam.
• How did you prepare for the exam?
• Did you receive any feedback during the
  preparation for exam?
• What other feelings did you have about the
  process?

5
Why Test?

• Thinking back to that high-stakes test you took
• What was the purpose of the test?
• Where did your success on the test get you?
• What was the value or benefits of the test?
• Why do we test?

6
The Achievement First View on Assessment

• The state standards are the floor, not the
  ceiling
• Standards lay out for us the basic skills
  students need for a solid educational foundation.
  They are there to help us ensure we are giving
  students this essential groundwork. However
• Standards are the minimum. To fulfill our
  mission, we push students beyond them and
  incorporate many other factors that lead to
  student success
• Truly Valuable Assessment vs. Teaching to the
  Test
• Our assessments are based on our instruction, not
  the other way around
• Assessments, used properly, let us know whether
  were truly doing our best for our students

7
The Power of Great AssessmentUsing Rather Than
Reporting Data

• Report Data to
• update parents, principals, school
• track students progress
• Reward or consequence students

• Use Data to
• inform instructional strategies
• measure growth over time
• identify misunderstandings measure mastery

8
Achievement First Curriculum Development Overview

• State/AF standards
• Scope and Sequence
• Interim Assessments Curriculum Materials
• Datasheets
• Instructional Battle Plans

9
Examining State Standards

• Sample State Objective
• Identify or infer important characters,
  problems, settings, events, relationships and
  details.

10
Lessons That Teach Students to Master SETTING

• SWBAT identify the time and place of a story.
• SWBAT identify and describe the setting of a
  story including the time period, place, and the
  unexpected happening within the setting.
• SWBAT consider how a story would be different if
  it happened in another time and place.
• SWBAT identify how the setting influenced the
  subjects life.
• SWBAT identify how the setting effects the mood
  and can be a main character in the story.

11
Lessons That Teach Students to Master CHARACTER

• Pair/Share Activity
• Turn to the person next to you and write 2-3 aims
  that help students reach mastery of character
  analysis.
• Sample State Objective
• Identify or infer important characters,
  problems, settings, events, relationships and
  details.

12
Interim Assessments

• Aligned to the scope and sequence
• Match the state assessments in terms of level of
  difficulty and question type
• Roughly follow the state assessment blueprints
• Cumulative

13
Interim Assessments

• Start IA 1 IA 2 IA 3
  IA 4 IA 5

14
What Interim Assessments Are Not

• Perfect assessments of all the skills,
  knowledge, and motivation that students will need
  to succeed but they are a very solid indication
  of student mastery of essential skills
• The only form of assessment used at Achievement
  First schools (or that a teacher should use)
  but they are one important part of a complete
  picture of student success
• Standardized tests but they are
  criterion-reference tests that measure student
  mastery of clearly-defined standards
• Only basic skills, only multiple choice but
  they include higher-order thinking skills,
  problem-solving, and writing to explain answers

15
Writing Great Questions

• Each question addresses a standard that is
  covered on the scope and sequence on or before
  this IA.
• Each question asks the standard in the same (or
  very similar) way as the state assessment or
  example questions.
• Each question is geared at the appropriate grade
  level.
• Each question has only one correct answer.
• Each question is clearly stated and free from
  grammatical errors.

16
Examples of Interim Assessment Questions

• Question 1
• Describe Gillys attitude when she meets William
  Ernest for the first time.
• Is this a strong question?
• What traits of great questions does it have?
• Which does it lack?

• Question 2
• When the Gilly does something really annoying,
  why does she get in trouble?
• Is this a strong question?
• What traits of great questions does it have?
• Which does it lack?

17
The Lost Boy and the Little People

• A long time ago when the world was new, a young
  Cherokee boy was exploring the mountains near his
  home. Kanati walked along dreaming about the time
  when he would be old enough to go hunting with
  his father and the other men of the tribe.
  Preoccupied with his thoughts, Kanati walked
  higher and higher into the mountains, farther and
  farther from home. It was beginning to get dark
  before Kanati realized he was lost.
• Suddenly, ahead of him, Kanati heard noises that
  sounded like people playing drums and dancing.
  The sounds seemed to be getting louder, so he
  continued walking. Maybe Im coming to a
  village, he thought. But when he reached the
  spot where the sounds seemed to be coming from,
  the drumming and dancing noises stopped. The spot
  was barren except for some grass and weeds.

18
Check for Understanding

• Pair/Share Activity
• Turn to a partner and write a question that you
  would use to assess students understanding of
  the characters feelings.
• Remember to use the guidelines for good question
  writing!

19
Distracter Answers

• Distracter answers should
• Be plausible answers that students may have come
  to by specific, incorrect thinking.
• Parallel the length and grammatical structure of
  the correct answer.

20
Check for Understanding

• Pair/Share Activity
• Adjust the question you just created to include
  good distracters.
• Remember, distracters
• Are plausible answers that students may have come
  to by specific, incorrect thinking.
• Parallel the length and grammatical structure of
  the correct answer.

21
The Basic Interim Assessment Process

• A structure for using a standards-based,
  data-based system to drive instruction
• 6 weeks to Mastery
• Check the Scope and Sequence to determine what to
  teach
• Design standards-based lessons and units
• Teach so students master standards
• Give the Interim Assessment
• Grade the Interim Assessment
• Analyze the Interim Assessment
• Structured conversation around data
• Whole class review, small group review,
  one-on-one tutoring

22
Using Data to Drive Instruction
23
Using Data to Drive Instruction

• In order to use data to inform instruction
• Collect data in a central location that allows
  you to track it over time.
• Define student mastery.
• Highlight standards that student have
  mastered/not mastered.
• Create a battleplan to target instruction,
  tutoring, and practice.

24
Looking at Data
25
Data-Driven Plans
26
Check for Understanding

• Pair/Share Activity
• Analyze a set of data to create your own
  data-driven plan

27
Wrap-up

• How do I develop a standards-based, data-based
  interim assessment system?
• Get a hold of all state standards, released
  tests, example items, test prep company
  materials, etc
• Analyze the materials to create a list of clear
  standards.
• Put these standards in a discrete order (scope
  and sequence) that clearly defines what is to be
  taught every 6 weeks (or whatever time period you
  use).
• Develop an end-of-year assessment that covers all
  these standards create answer keys, info sheets,
  and reflection sheets. Make sure that your
  assessments mirror (and exceed) the states
  assessments.
• Develop interim, cumulative assessments to assess
  student growth during the year.
• Create a system for meaningful conferences about
  student achievement put these meetings on the
  calendar and hold firm to them.
• Create a mechanism for curriculum development to
  address weaknesses exposed by your assessments.
• Ensure that teacher collaboration and
  professional development focus on the following
  questions What are our students mastering, not
  mastering? What is the most effective and
  efficient way to teach this standard?

28
Data-Driven Instruction

• Next Steps
• What am I going to take away from this?
• What can I/others do?
• May/ June 2009
• 2009-2010 School Year

29
For more information

• Samantha Kennedy, Teacher Recruiter
• samanthakennedy_at_achievementfirst.org
• Roxanna Lopez, Senior Curriculum and Professional
  Development Associate
• roxannalopez_at_achievementfirst.org