Transcript Revitalizing Our Schools

Data Basics
Data Basics
Clif St. Germain, Ph.D.
Accelerating Student
Academic Progress
One of the most critical
problems our schools
face is the fragmentation
overload and incoherence
resulting from uncritical and
uncoordinated
acceptance of anything that
seems to work.
Here is the problem:
Selecting instructional programs
and processes “that work” is not
enough to warrant inclusion as
a viable strategy for improving
the academic performance of
our students.
What teachers and principals
need to guarantee sustainable
progress is a process for
identifying strategies and
programs that create a
“multiplier effect” in that they
impact academic performance
beyond what can be expected
by average progress.
This is where the
appropriate use of
data can be quite
powerful.
If our goal is to create
classrooms in which all students
can improve their learning
potential and demonstrate
learning progress on end of year
standardized tests then…
Priority one must be
to disaggregate
relevant testing data
to determine the level
of impact learning
support programs
have upon different
performance groups
in existing student
population.
Session One
Seminar objectives:

Revisit the basic principles of data diagnostics

Compare and contrast types of tests and data
reporting scales

Practice reading comprehensive testing histories

Review promising learning support strategies for
disaggregated performance sub-groups

Work with sample testing histories to practice creating
Within Group Learning Support Profiles for classroom
teachers
Staying Clear About the Purposes of
Data Disaggregation
Getting Out Ahead of Test Results
Experts suggest that test data,
appropriately used, provide schools (and
school leaders) with a reliable mechanism
for selecting appropriate learning support
programs.
The decisions schools make in this regard
significantly impact their ability to show
aggregate gains on standardized
measures of achievement. Knowing the
appropriate intervention to select is
priceless.
Getting Out Ahead of Test Results
For example, if a school’s data indicated
a large number of students in the Special
Needs group and that school did not
provide extensive reading support it
would be reasonable to expect that
school to show no gain. Similarly, if a
school provided reading support for all
students, even Gifted students, the effort
would be largely wasted.
Getting Out Ahead of Test Results
The message here is knowing how to
select and implement differentiated
learning support programs is vital to
showing across the board learning
gains on state-mandated measures of
achievement.
Data As A Steering Mechanism for
Accelerating Student Academic
Progress
•Honor the natural variance of
student abilities
•Emphasize progress over
attainment
•Align school-wide learning support
with within-group population
distributions (i.e. students needing
reading support)
•Monitor within group year to year
student progress
Attainment
Growth
The level of
achievement
reached at a point
in time
The amount
progress realized
from one period to
the next
What is value-added assessment?
Value-added assessment is a new
way of analyzing test data that can
measure teaching and learning.
Based on a review of students' test
score gains from previous grades,
researchers can predict the amount
of growth those students are likely to
make in a given year.
What is value-added assessment?
Thus, value-added assessment can
show whether particular students those taking a certain Algebra class,
say - have made the expected
amount of progress, have made less
progress than expected, or have
been stretched beyond what they
could reasonably be expected to
achieve.
What is value-added assessment?
Using the same methods, one can
look back over several years to
measure the long-term impact that a
particular teacher or school had on
student achievement.
How is value-added assessment
different from traditional measures
of student performance?
Student performance on assessments
can be measured in two very different
ways, both of which are important.
Attainment
• describes the absolute
levels attained by
students in their end-ofyear tests.
Growth
• describes the progress
in test scores made
over the school year.
How is value-added assessment
different from traditional measures
of student performance?
In the past, students and schools have been ranked
solely according to attainment. The problem with
this method is that attainment is highly linked to the
socioeconomic status of a student's family.
For example, according to Educational Testing
Service, SAT scores rise with every $10,000 of family
income. This should not be surprising since all the
variables that contribute to high-test scores
correlate strongly with family income.
How is value-added assessment
different from traditional measures
of student performance?
In contrast, value-added assessment
measures growth and answers the
question: how much value did the school
staff add to the students who live in its
community? How, in effect, did they do
with the hand society dealt them?
If schools are to be judged fairly, it is
important to understand this significant
difference.
(Source: Theodore Hershberg Ph.D.)
NRT Data Reporting Scales
A normal distribution is a very important
statistical data distribution pattern
occurring in many natural phenomena,
such as height, blood pressure, lengths of
objects produced by machines, etc.
Certain data, when graphed as a
histogram (data on the horizontal axis,
amount of data on the vertical axis),
creates a bell-shaped curve known as a
normal curve, or normal distribution.
NRT Data Reporting Scales
NRT Data Reporting Scales
Normal distributions are symmetrical
with a single central peak at the
mean (average) of the data. The
shape of the curve is described as
bell-shaped with the graph falling off
evenly on either side of the mean.
Fifty percent of the distribution lies to
the left of the mean and fifty percent
lies to the right of the mean.
National Percentile Rank (NPR)
A student’s
percentile rank (PR)
A student’s national
percentile rank (NPR)
• Shows the student’s
relative position or
rank in a group of
students who are in
the same grade
and who took the
tests at the same
time of year as the
student.
• Shows the student’s
standing as
compared to a
large,
representative
sample of students
in the same grade
from the entire
nation.
National Percentile Rank (NPR)
The percentile rank, reported in units
that range from 1 to 99, is perhaps the
most useful and readily understood
score for interpreting student
achievement. It describes
performance in small fairly precise
units. These units clearly state
performance relative to the norm
group.
National Percentile Rank (NPR)
For example, if Kara earned a
percentile rank score of 72 on
the Vocabulary test, it means
that she scored the same as or
higher than 72 percent of the
students in the norm group who
were in the same grade and
took the same test. It also means
that 28 percent of the students
scored higher than Kara.
National Percentile Rank (NPR)
The percentile rank magnifies small
differences in the middle raw scores
while reducing differences in very high
and very low raw scores.
For example, a difference of only three
raw score points might be necessary to
move from a percentile rank of 50 to a
percentile rank of 55, while a difference
of seven raw score points might be
necessary to move from a percentile
rank
National Stanine (NS)
Stanines (Standard-nine) express test results in nine
equal steps ranging from 1 (lowest) to 9 (highest).
 The average stanine is a score of 5.
 Stanines, which are similar to percentile ranks, are
relatively easy to use because they are all onedigit numbers.
 The national stanine (NS) shows a student’s
standing within the group of students in the same
grade who took the test at the same time of
year.
National Stanine (NS)
Stanines for groups are useful for broadly
identifying areas of academic strengths
and weaknesses that might be represented
by a set of test scores. A group of students
with a stanine of 4 for Reading Total for
example, shows that these students share a
reading level that is slightly below average.
Within Group Distributions
Stanine
Percentile
% of
Students
9 - Highest Level
96 - 99
4%
8 – High Level
90 - 95
7%
7 – Well Above Average
78 -89
12%
6 – Slightly Above
Average
60 - 77
17%
5 - Average
41 - 59
20%
4 – Slightly Below
Average
23 - 40
17%
3 – Well Below Average
11 - 22
12%
2 – Low Level
5 -10
7%
1 – Lowest Level
1-4
4%
National Stanine (NS)
Stanines are less precise than percentile
rank scores.
For example, percentile
ranks of 24 and 40 both
represent a stanine of
4. However, PRs of 23
and 24 are consecutive
PRs that represent
stanines of 3 and 4,
respectively.
Reading Comprehension Sub-test
In the absence of an aptitude
measure (I.Q.) the reading
comprehension sub test score is the
best predictor of potential for
academic success. These tests are all
greatly influenced by reading ability.
Standard Score (SS)
Standard scores (SSs) are produced
from a single, equal-interval scale of
scores that is continuous from
kindergarten through grade 12.
Standard scores on The Iowa Tests
range from 80 for kindergarten
through 400 for grade 12. The range
of possible standard scores is different
for each grade level.
Standard Score (SS)
The major use of the standard score is
to measure achievement growth of
students or groups of students from
year to year.
Within a school or district,
successively higher standard scores
from grade to grade would be
expected.
See
handout for Sample
IOWA NRT Survey Battery
Score (Overall) /Year to
Year Expected Progress
Questions:
 What
do you know about a student in 5th
grade with a Standard Score of 263?
 Can
you determine this student’s NPR,
Stanine?
 Is
this student a high, average or low
performer?
 Why
do you think there are some spaces
with empty scores?
Questions:
 What
do you know about a 6th grade
student with a standard score of 216?
 Can
you determine this student’s
predicted level for 7th grade?
 What
questions do you have about
reading this score progression chart?
Comprehensive Testing History:
The Louisiana State Department of
Education publishes student testing histories
for all students. These histories list the entire
testing history of an individual student. In
those instances where the most recent
testing data do not provide ample
diagnostic information to make an
informed judgment of appropriate
learning support it is recommended
that teachers print a complete
history.
Comprehensive Testing History:
A complete student
testing history can be
accessed as follows:
• Access state web site
www.louisianabelieves.com
• Click: Assessment
• Click: Annual Assessments
• Click: LEAP web
• Enter User ID and Password
• Student Testing History (3rd Tab)
• Click: Student Test History
Search
• Enter Student ID
• If Student ID is not available,
then enter the student’s last
name and first name in the
appropriate boxes
• Click: submit
• Click: Select
• Verify-correct student
Session Two
Within Group Learning
Support Profiles
Your students can be
disaggregated into five
performance groups according
to standardized
academic indicators
and overall literacy
scores
(survey battery).
A Note to Principals and Teachers
Each performance group generally
represents students with similar
academic needs. Similar to the
Response to Interventions Model, the
performance groups represented here
can be expected to improve their
collective performance with
appropriate instructional support and
progress monitoring.
A Note to Principals and Teachers
Note Well: Instructional interventions
suggested for one group are not
necessarily appropriate for others, nor
are they intended to be substitutes for
regular classroom learning experiences.
Performance Groups with substantial
percentages should be given
considerable attention as you formulate
your school improvement priorities.
Questions you might ask include
the following:
 Is
the percentage of special needs students
similar to the number of students presently
approved for special academic services?
 Students
in the targeted assistance group
are predicted to experience much higher
levels of failure without additional time to
complete basic school tasks. How can we
arrange for these students to pair their
reading, language and/or math classes with
regular support linked to these subjects?
Questions you might ask include
the following:
 Students
in the maximum impact group, because
they have gaps in their prior knowledge due to
poor organizational skills, or limited active working
memory capacity, tend be underachievers. How
can we guarantee that these students learn how
to become more efficient learners?
 Students
in the gifted alert group are students
who learn rapidly but whose development is
asynchronous (uneven). In these children there is
a great gap between mental abilities and
physical and emotional development. For this
reason these students are more vulnerable.
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups
Special Needs Group: These students
score in the well-below average range
on the iLeap Survey Battery
Score/Over All (NPR 1-10)
A check-list of “best practice” strategies
known to enhance the performance of
special needs students includes the following:
• Screening for special services
• Concentrated reading support programs
• High interest math and language
curriculum
• Technology support for meaningful
practice
A check-list of “best practice” strategies
known to enhance the performance of
special needs students includes the following:
• On-line alternative testing programs
• Regular formative assessments and
feedback on progress
• Opportunities to learn with average and
above average students
• Parent volunteers for one on one
academic support.
A check-list of “best practice” strategies
known to enhance the performance of
special needs students includes the following:
It cannot be avoided that these students require
intense elemental help. If their test results are
accurate, expecting these students to achieve
significant increases in performance in one year of
school is not supportable. The goal with these
students is long-term, incremental progress in all
areas with intense emphasis on reading and basic
levels of literacy. The social and emotional wellbeing of these students is also important to monitor.
Providing on-going counseling support for these
students is a must.
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups
Targeted Assistance: These students
score in the below average range on
the iLeap Survey Battery Score/ Over
All (NPR 11-22)
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups – Targeted Assistance

The good news for this group is that they can be
expected to show general improvement of their
performance with effort and targeted assistance.
Research supports providing these students with a
double block of instruction in language and
mathematics. The additional time should be used to
guarantee that these students have the support
necessary to successfully complete their language
and mathematics assignments.

Recent initiatives using decoding reading skills
programs have shown remarkable results with this
performance group.
Suggestions for helping the Targeted
Assistance group improve their performance
in school:
• Extended reading and language
instruction
• Extended math instruction when
warranted
• Literacy support intervention period
• Home resource study packets
Suggestions for helping the Targeted
Assistance group improve their performance
in school:
• Tight scaffolding during use of
E-Learning Technologies
• Interest-based classroom
projects
• Regular formative assessments
with positive feedback
Suggestions for helping the Targeted
Assistance group improve their performance
in school:
•Test-taking and study skills instruction
•Tight scaffolding during instruction
•Recognition for effort and progress
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups
Maximum Impact: These students
score in the slightly below average to
average range on the iLeap Survey
Battery Score/ Over All
(NPR 23-49)
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups – Maximum Impact
This group of students, because they
also represent a sizable percentage of
your student population, will have a
significant impact on school
performance indicators used by most
accountability systems.
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups – Maximum Impact
These students are most often very capable learners
who can improve their performance with a limited
amount of instructional intervention. The most
common barrier to their success is their lack of
“with-it-ness.” They don’t know “how” to be
successful in school. This means that they have not
learned how to determine the difference between
what is essential to know and what is less important.
Over the years they have failed to develop efficient
strategies for learning in school. The result is that
their prior knowledge is sketchy at best. Therefore,
they must work harder to initiate meaningful
learning.
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups – Maximum Impact
Here are a few suggestions for helping these
students improve their performance in
school:
First check their reading comprehension
scores to rule out a reading problem.
If the reading comprehension score is above
the 24th percentile one or several of the
following strategies are recommended:
• Homework support programs
• Subject-area tutorial programs
• Supervised study hall
• Elements of Effective Study Courses
If the reading comprehension score is above
the 24th percentile one or several of the
following strategies are recommended:
• E-Learning Technologies
• Opportunity to work with above
average classmates on learning projects
• Pairing with an academic mentor (a
more successful student)
If the reading comprehension score is above
the 24th percentile one or several of the
following strategies are recommended:
•Regular feedback on
progress
•Opportunities to make up
missed work without penalty
•Recognition for progress
and effort.
If the reading
comprehension score is
below the 24th percentile,
reading support will be
required.
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups
Class Strength/Gifted: These students
score in the above to well above
average range on the iLeap Survey
Battery Score/ Over All
(NPR 51-88/Gifted Alert
NPR 89-99 respectively)
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups – Class Strength/Gifted
These are students who thrive in challenging
situations and are motivated by recognition
for the quality of their intellect. However,
many of these students “fall through the
cracks.” Any student in the Gifted Alert or
Class Strength category who is not
experiencing success in school represents a
missed opportunity to add a contributing
member to your school’s learning community.
Promising Learning Support
Disaggregated by Performance
Groups – Class Strength/Gifted
These students require daily opportunities to
question ideas, express personal opinions,
solve challenging problems, hypothesize
and direct their own learning. Frequent
opportunities to go beyond the textbook,
conduct research and stretch the limits of
their thinking will keep these students
meaningfully engaged in school.
The challenge for teachers is to create lesson
formats that provide opportunities for these
high performers to engage in the following:
• Struggling with thought provoking questions;
questions with no right or wrong answers
• Dealing with contradictions
• Conducting independent research
• Writing essays and reports
The challenge for teachers is to create lesson
formats that provide opportunities for these
high performers to engage in the following:
•Shifting quickly to
application
•Planning, organizing their
work in groups
•Using rubrics to self-monitor
progress
The challenge for teachers is to create lesson
formats that provide opportunities for these
high performers to engage in the following:
•Producing evidence of quality work
and presenting to “significant others”
•Using E-Learning Technology as a tool
for learning
•Teaching other students what they
have learned.
It should be noted here that all
students require a caring teacher who
is aware of the academic needs of
each individual student and is
committed to providing high
engagement learning activities,
personalized support, reinforcement
and feedback as needed.
Classroom Learning Support Profile
This profile is designed to draw teacher
attention to the specific type of learning
support warranted by the performance
levels of the students in this class. It is in no
way intended for ability grouping of
students.
Classroom Learning Support Profile
Directions: Use the individual student’s
Overall Performance score reported as a
Stanine (NS) or a National Percentile Rank
(NPR) equivalent to determine the
appropriate performance range for each
student. Then place the student’s name in
the appropriate learning support group.
Closing Table Talk Discussion
Internal Accountability
Value-added
We use Data to
student performance place students into
data drives learning
classrooms
decisions
We…
We…
We use Data to
design learning
support programs
that are aligned to
our student needs
Our teachers know
where our students
are now and can
describe exactly
what meaningful
progress looks like
Nobody falls through
the cracks
Our goal is to use
data to create
classrooms that are
more likely to
succeed
We…
Contact
Clif St. Germain,
Ph.D.
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: (985) 674-2800
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