Skills Iowa SIOUX CITY JULY 8 AND 18, 2014. Introductions Margaret Buckton Rhonda Justice Susie...

Skills Iowa SIOUX CITY

JULY 8 AND 18, 2014

Introductions

Margaret Buckton Rhonda Justice Susie Olesen Doug Robbins

A moment of reflection

What data and information . . . . . . ◦ do you need to do your new position of consulting teacher well? ◦ do teachers need to do their jobs well?◦ do students need to be successful in school?◦ do parents need?

What is Skills Iowa?

Bank of questions in reading comprehension, math and the conventions of language aligned to Common Core State Standards

Sioux City Interim Assessments◦ Quarterly in both math and reading◦ 20 questions each◦ Aligned to Sioux City pacing guides and power

standards◦ Q2-Q4 will be reused with possible slight

modifications to compare data over years◦ Q1 assessments will be new.

State Interim Assessments – Optional for Individual Teachers and Buildings◦ 9 annually in reading comprehension

◦ Fiction◦ Non-fiction science text◦ Non-fiction social studies text

◦ 3 annually in math◦ Cover same standards

Over 1300 five to ten minute tutorials in reading comprehension, vocabulary, the conventions of writing, math, science, employability skills aligned to Common Core State Standards

Research Supporting Skills Iowa

Usage

Classes exceeding expected gains on the math benchmark tests had teachers who used all of the components of Skills Iowa more than teachers of classes with lower than expected gains.

Effective teachers found SI to be a valuable resource in raising student achievement.

Increased usage does not guarantee increased test scores. The “How” SI is used is far more important than the “How much”

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100 Percent of Teachers Implementing New Skill into Practice

Joyce and Showers (1987)

Professional Development

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100 Percent of Teachers Implementing New Skill into Practice

Joyce and Showers (1987)

Professional Development

How does this

happen?

Leadership

Leadership

• Support teachers in taking quarterly benchmark assessments and stressing that usage isn’t optional. Clear and high expectations.

• Finding time for trainers to work with principal, coaches, and staff, sometimes together, sometimes separately. Professional development.

• Looking at the data, sharing data with students, staff, parents, school board. Using data to determine where to go next.• Student learning• Usage

• Asking teachers about the data: What do you see? Areas for improvement? Surprises? Where are you going next in instruction as a result of data study? Creating a collaborative environment.

• Using data in PD work and faculty meetings; modeling importance of data. Modeling what is expected.

David NagelCorwin Professional Learningdave@davenagel.com

“Measurable improvement in student learning only occurred in PLCs that focused on changing the instructional practices of their teachers.”

Supovitz, 2002; Supovitz & Christman 2003

http://www.davenagel.com/uploads/files/ISFIS/Slides%20from%20PLC%20Session.pdf

Waterloo Study Dr. Jane Lindaman

Participation on Skills Iowa is decent in that 73% of students take at least 8 of the 9 reading tests. (82% take at least 7 of 9 reading tests.)

There is a significant correlation between Skills Iowa benchmark tests and Iowa Assessments. When students pass the majority of Skills Iowa tests, they are quite likely (80-90% likely) to be proficient on Iowa Assessments.

"Given the predictive value of the Skills Iowa benchmarks related to the Iowa Assessments, this program has gone from being a 'nice to have' to a 'need to have' tool."

Jane Lindaman, Superintendent, Waterloo Community School District

DEMO

Remember: There are two programs

edifyASSESS

Skills Tutor

Sioux City Implementation2014-15

1. Calendar – 4 quarterly tests

2. What needs to happen before the first assessment?

3. What needs to happen after each assessment?

4. Resources

Sioux City Implementation2014-15

Proposed Skills Iowa Testing Windows (a little longer time frame)

Q1: Sept 15 – Oct 3 Q2: Nov 19 – Dec 9Q3: Feb 9 – Feb 27Q4: Apr 20 – May 7

16 hours of training for each building available: Doug and RhondaTeach principals to use program, primarily access reportsTeach coaches to use program, access reports, make assessmentsTeach teachers to use program, set up classes, access reports, make assessments, make Skills Tutor assignments, access tools in edifyAssessWork with tech folks to be sure systems and Skills Iowa tools are compatibleWork with tech folks and clickersWork with collaborative teams in looking at the data

Before the first assessment, technology personnel…1. Submit Skills Iowa spreadsheet to Doug Robbins with

names, state IDs, and other demographic information of students and teachers that Skills Iowa has requested

2. Work with Doug to ensure the clickers work3. Make sure both edifyAssess and Skills Tutor are accessible

in the Sioux City system

Before the first assessment, teachers...1. Create classes from enrollment data submitted by district tech personnel.

2. Enter any new students not entered on initial entry into classes.

3. Give each student their username and password.

4. Make sure the pop-up blockers on computers used by students to take the assessments are turned off. Recheck for each assessment.

5. If using clickers (check with tech folks on accessibility), check that the system is in working order. Contact building tech coach with any concerns.

Before each quarterly assessment, school leaders (principals, consulting teachers) …

1. Develop a schedule for classes needing to access computer labs/carts to take assessments. Communicate this schedule with all staff.

2. Schedule quarterly meetings with Doug or Rhonda to work with the leadership team to analyze and use quarterly assessment reports to direct instruction.

3. ASAP: schedule new teacher leaders into a two hour initial training session.

4. Communicate and expect the quarterly assessment data will be used in collaborative teams, identifying students for extra help, planning instruction, follow-up formative assessment confirmations, etc. . . . talk about it – ask teachers in casual conversations, what SkillsIowa data did you discuss in your team conversation? What are you gathering now in preparation for your next team conversation? What are you doing differently in your classroom this week after talking about the benchmarks in your last team meeting?

Before the first assessment, central office personnel …

Make clear that all schools will participate in Skills Iowa by giving the assessments and using the data in the school improvement work.

Celebrate gains in buildings that were good early implementers and create opportunities for success stories to be told.

On-going: Remind principals, consulting teachers and instructional coaches about available support from trainers. Ask, what are you learning about classrooms in your building?

After each assessment. . .1. Communicate any problems to technology staff, leadership or trainers that

occurred during test administration, so issues can be addressed and solved.

2. Central office, building leaders, and teachers analyze assessment data. Doug and Rhonda will schedule a short meeting to assist each in analyzing data.

3. That analysis leads to these actions: ◦ collaborative teams use data for planning lessons that address challenges,

◦ collecting more data – what else do we need to know?

◦ setting goals for student performance, and

◦ other actions the team identifies as helpful.

“Why formative assessment needs to be a priority for every school” webinar and slides linked on the www.skillsiowa.org site under Research on School Improvement tab:

It’s not the data – it’s what we do with the data.

Dylan Wiliam

Dylan Wiliam

“Why formative assessment needs to be a priority for every school” webinar and slides linked on the www.skillsiowa.org site under Research on School Improvement tab:

It’s not the data – it’s what we do with the data.

Resources: Doug Robbins DougR@skillsiowa.org

Rhonda Justice Rhonda@skillsiowa.org

Skills Iowa www.skillsiowa.org (check out the resources for school improvement)

ISFIS School Improvement Boosters http://www.skillsiowa.org/?q=publications

We will focus on two reports today.

1. Item Response Distribution Report ◦ How might this report be useful to you in your

work in improving student performance?

2. Detailed Performance on Standards Report◦ How might this report be useful to you in your

work in improving student performance?

P.S. There are many other reports: read about them, access them, call Doug and Rhonda, look for short training webinars. . . Lots to come

Let’s look at Reports and Dig In What’s in it? How might you use this report in your work?

Item Response DistributionPerformance Band ReportDetailed Performance on StandardsStudent Performance on StandardsScore DistributionUsage Reports

Final feedback and Reflections:

What three things do you want to remember about today?

Any other comments?

Thanks for all you do and all you will do to improve outcomes for Sioux City students!