Filling Out Yellow Student Data Sheets for EOY

Continue using the same Yellow Student Data Sheet.

K-6th grade
Writing Inventory for BOY and EOY - Write the %.  You may also include advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic if you would like

K-2nd grade
DRA for BOY and EOY - Write the student's independent reading level for all students who you give a reading grade 
3rd-4th
DRA for BOY and EOY - Only need to assess and report for students reading below grade level

1st grade only
Reading Recovery - Record yes if student has been in Reading Recovery

3rd-6th grade
IRI (OPTIONAL) - Only record if you used this assessment with students.

2nd-6th grade
Acuity ELA - Record the scale score

K-1st grade
Comm. Arts Benchmark - Record %

2nd-6th grade
Acuity Math - Record the scale score

K-1st grade
Math Benchmark - Record %

LNW Survey

As we begin thinking about Literacy the Nixa Way for the 2014-2015 school year, we are requesting your feedback.  Please complete the short, anonymous survey to help us make LNW the best it can be next year!  We truly appreciate your feedback. :-)

Click HERE to complete the survey.

What's New on the MAP? Missouri Learning Standards

The Missouri Learning Standards website posted the following information on March 14, 2014:

What’s New on the MAP

There’s been talk about the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) being replaced by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) tests. There are changes coming to certain parts of the MAP that involve SBAC, but the program remains intact. Here’s what that means for Missouri students, teachers and parents:

The MAP assessments will cover the same subjects as always. But beginning in the 2014-15 school year, MAP will use new SBAC questions in English language arts and math to reflect new content in the Missouri Learning Standards. The assessments will also be administered online, just as current high school assessments are.

Online Testing 

Online assessments will provide quicker results – within 10 days for grade-level assessments and five days for end-of-course exams – instead of issuing scores several months after students take the tests. They also allow Missouri to transition to computer-adaptive assessments, which can adjust the difficulty of questions based on student response. For instance, a student who answers correctly will be given a more challenging question. An incorrect answer generates a less difficult question. This type of testing gives teachers, parents and students better information on students’ mastery of a subject.

The information from tests will provide insight into college and career readiness early enough to address issues and provide extra support where needed.

Although the new assessments were pilot tested in 2013 and will also be administered as a field test in 2014, the 2014-15 school year will be the first year the tests will be given to all students with results contributing to school district accountability.

Formative, Interim and Summative Assessments

For the first time, the state assessment system will provide districts with formative and interim testing resources to use as they see fit. Formative assessments include daily assignments, in-class activities and teacher observation. Districts will also have access to a digital library of formative assessment tools, practices and professional development materials to improve the way they collect and use information about student learning. Interim assessments are given from time to time throughout the school year to measure student progress. They allow teachers to identify students’ strengths and problem areas and individualize instruction to help both children who are struggling and advanced students.

The summative assessments in English language arts and math will be administered at the end of the school year. These summative exams will build on Missouri’s existing foundation of rigorous performance-based assessments and will give teachers and parents a better understanding of a child’s progress from grade to grade. They will also enable educators to identify and address any gaps in learning before students enter college or the workforce.

Other Changes

Missouri has revised assessment administration to allow for more classroom instruction time. Rather than the full assessment, students in grades 3, 4, 6, and 7 will take 30-minute survey assessments in English language arts and math (one hour total). Students in grades 5 and 8 – the transition grades – will continue to take the full assessment in English language arts and math, as well as the science assessment. 

Something New for 11^th Graders and Their Parents
 

For the first time, Missouri will provide a one-time administration of the ACT® for every 11^th grade student in the state. ACT® scores will allow teachers, students and parents to see whether a child is adequately prepared for college-level courses. The state-paid administration will also save families the testing fee.

MAP will continue to be a great way to gauge students’ performance from one grade level and course to another under the Missouri Learning Standards. With the new English language arts and math questions from SBAC, teachers, parents and students will gain an even better understanding of the depth of learning each child is achieving.

SBG: May/June Online Book Study

Everyone is invited to participate in an online book study that will be taking place in May and June!  We will be reading and discussing Ken O'Connor's A Repair Kit for Grading:  15 Fixes for Broken Grades.

 
All elementary educators will receive a copy of this book.  Participation in the online book study is optional and is being provided as an opportunity to begin thinking about, discussing, and asking questions about the implementation of standards based grading in Nixa.

Discussions will take place through Google Groups, an online discussion forum.  A private group has been created for our book discussion and invitations will be sent prior to the start of the book study.  You may sign up for the book study HERE.  Please sign up by Friday, May 23rd.  Because the discussion is taking place online, you can participate in group discussions at any time from almost any location! :-) 

SCHEDULE:

Week of May 26th - Chapter 1
Week of June 2nd - Chapter 2
Week of June 9th - Chapter 3
Week of June 16 - Chapter 4
Week of June 23 - Chapter 5

Standards Based Grading: FAQ

Our first collaboration regarding standards based grading brought about lots of great questions.  This week's CIA Matters will focus on sharing those questions, providing additional information, and opening up a forum for discussion.  Please share any thoughts or ideas for discussion by replying to the post.

How is SBG different than what we're currently doing?

Traditionally, student performance for a quarter was based on averaging scores from the entire quarter.  Early scores could be averaged together with later-quarter performance in which a student demonstrated proficient performance.  Typically, student work habits affected the overall grade such as incomplete or missing homework or participation points being averaged into the overall grade.

Standards based grading communicates how a student is doing on a set of performance goals.  It takes into consideration consistent performance as well as the most recent data collected and separates behavior and work habits.

Traditional Grading	Standards-Based Grading
Connected to assessment methods	Directly connected to standards
Norm-referenced	Criterion-referenced
Achievement, effort, attitude, and behavior all factors	Achievement is the only factor
Every grade recorded with minimal support for re-assessment	Most recent assessment information used
Averaging all grades	Various forms of data collected
Variations of assessment quality	Quality assessments aligned to standards
Teacher-only involvement in grading assessment	Involvement of student in assessment

How will SBG be communicated with parents?

In May, the Elementary Education Office will share SBG with parents using a Quick News update, release a parent brochure, and post a FAQ page on the district website.

During your Parent Orientation in August, you will share an informational video from Dr. Kopp with parents.  If there are any questions following the video, refer them to your building principal.

How will this affect SPED students?

The SPED referral process will not change.  If a student is in the regular classroom and they are consistently receiving "1s", the student will be referred to Care Team.  The regular classroom teacher should have documentation such as Acuity, unit test scores, DRAs, SRI scores, writing inventories, and work samples to share with the Care Team, which is the same protocol from previous years.

Students who are currently in SPED will continue to work on IEP goals just as they have in the past.  If a student is in the SPED room for an entire subject, the SPED teacher will assess and report student progress through progress goals.  However, if a student is not in the SPED room for the entire subject, the SPED teacher and regular education teacher will collaborate and report student progress in Power School.

If a student is more than one grade below grade level, the student will receive a "1" on the standard and in the comments section of the report card, it can be stated that the student is working toward grade level standards.  If a student is able to complete grade level work with some assistance from the SPED or regular education teacher, the score would be a "2".  If the student is able to complete the work independently or with little support from the educator, the score would be "3".

Why aren't all of the standards listed on the grade card?

The purpose of the standards based report card is to communicate with parents and students about the progress of the student.  Teachers collect evidence on specific grade-level standards and use that evidence to make a decision about a grade to report.  Although the teacher is collecting evidence on the standards, reporting every single standard at each grade level would most likely be overwhelming to parents and teachers.  For example, in third grade, there are over 40 standards in ELA alone.  Many of the standards are not taught in isolation, so listing them separately is not necessary.

How will Power School accommodate SBG?

Power Teacher in Power School has the capability to be used in conjunction with standards based grading.  In fact, Power Teacher is endorsed by leading researcher Ken O'Connor.  His favorite aspect of Power Teacher is the ability for teachers to see several measures of central tendency.



However, if you choose to keep track of your data using another method, you can simply enter scores in Power School for the report card at the end of the quarter.

One positive change from Power School includes the ability for teachers to see the comments that have been typed out before they are printed. :)

How will we keep track of the data collected?

There are various ways to keep track of the data you collect on your students.  Teachers who have experience using SBG have used Power School, Excel spreadsheets, and even paper grade books.  Deciding how to keep track of the data will be a personal preference for the teacher.  The most important decision will be what evidence you keep to show student growth and mastery.  Many teachers choose to keep unit tests and performance events until the end of the quarter for this purpose.