According to the Student Success Initiative (SSI) 2012-2013 manual, the 81st Texas Legislature in 2009 made changes to their 1999 policy, requiring 5th and 8th grade students to “demonstrate proficiency” on the reading and mathematics section of their tests by their third administration. Additionally, the Grade Placement Committee (GPC) can approve advancement based on grades, standardized test scores and teacher recommendation. With this in mind, the 2013-14 sixth grade students at an elementary school in Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) recently completed their fifth grade SSI mandated assessments. Approximately 55% of the 120 students successfully passed the math section of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) with three attempts. Accelerated instruction, as required per SSI policy, followed each of the three attempts, to include tutorials after school, on Saturdays and during the summer. Through careful analysis of cummulative Student Expectations (SE) with less than 70% unmet, it was determined that a majority of the standards will need reteaching and/or intervention. How will the sixth grade math teachers meet the sixth grade SEs and accommodate for the previously unmet standards?
The initial step for intervention was to employ a strong a team of two math teachers: one to continue on level instruction with a blend of spiral review and another to deliver intervention level instruction for their current study, missed expectations according to previous fifth and ongoing sixth grade level assessments. Within the first two weeks of the 2013-14 school year, these teachers administered a pre-assessment using released fifth grade STAAR questions; a majority of the 115 students failed...
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...oing occurrence throughout the year. Small group station activities were adapted for independent practice and/or peer teaching during RTI. “Do Now’s” reviewing previously taught concepts were given in word problem format so that strategy use can be monitored in the classroom rather than homework. Incorporating various strategies and practices the team clearly put forth effort to ensure students received ample ‘advanced organizers’ and scaffolded instruction. The opportunity to apply their knowledge was provided through the textbook and its resources, teacher created materials, interactive notebooks and real world applications. Students demonstrated a desire to succeed because of the rapport the teachers had built and passion for mathematics instilled in them by their teachers. This is an added bonus to their differentiated instructional scaffolding strategies.
Thornton Fractional South High School represents a diverse school building in the South Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. We consist of a traditional 9th through 12th grade building with the exception of busing students to the District 215 Tech Center for vocational classes. We share these resources with our sister school TF North. Although we consistently outperform TFN, we are behind the state averages on both the ACT and the PSAE. On the ACT, we are below the state average on the composite score as well as on all three recorded sub-categories. We were closest to the state average in Science and the furthest in Reading. As for the PSAE test to measure those students meeting and exceeding standards, we are again behind the state average. TFS averaged 40.5% of students tested to meet or exceed standards. Meanwhile, the State of Illinois average was 53%. Currently, we are on the Academic Watch Status year 2. We were unable to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) or the Safe Harbor Target Goal for Reading and Mathematics which are the two target areas. Our goal as a school is to reach the AYP and attempt to reach and exceed the state averages on the ACT and PSAE.
Every year students in each grade level are required to take standardized testing to determine their level of competency in the course. The schools use it as a tool for passing students to the next grade level and ensuring they have been taught adequately. The Texas Education Agency or TEA supplies and monitors these tests given to students each year. According to the results received this past year, in 2013, 35 schools out of 456 campuses in Texas performed poorly on the STAAR test. The 35 campuses belongs to Dallas Independent School District which is 8% of the total and more than half of Houston’s sc...
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, otherwise known as the TAKS, is a standardized test used throughout the state of Texas to determine whether or not a student is prepared for the next grade level. The TAKS test was implemented in 2003 to replace the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills in concurrence with the “No Child Left Behind Act”. The new test added science and social studies portions to the already existing sections of math, reading, and English. The purpose of this was to obtain more information on where students are academically. However, since its inception, the test has been criticized for numerous reasons. The TAKS test has become ineffective in several capacities and has been used to determine teacher bonuses and assessment of how well a teacher is communicating, evaluations that it was not originally intended to decide. When taking into account all of these points of view, I have come to the conclusion that the TAKS test should no longer be used in its present function.
One part of the HSTW framework is a set of 10 Key Practices that each participating site implements by developing and carrying out a customized action plan for school improvement (SREB 1999). Kaufman et al. (2000) used existing HSTW data to analyze the impact of 6 clusters representing HSTW's 10 Key Practices. They concluded that achievement gains in science, reading, and math were correlated with the proportion of students meeting HSTW curriculum standards and with the amount of time students spent talking to their guidance counselors and teachers about their school program. They also concluded that the proportion of students perceiving their academic and CTE teachers working together to improve students' math, reading, and writing skills was correlated with achievement gains in those three areas. This Brief provides practical examples of approaches HSTW sites have used to move toward HSTW curriculum standards, provide students with guidance, and allow academic and CTE teachers to work together.
When it comes to education, it is about helping people discover, refine, and develop their gifts, talents, passions and abilities; and then helping them discover how to use those gifts, talents, abilities in ways that benefit others and oneself (Bull, 2015). However, with education, there are many places where this does not happen and learners may fall between the cracks. Schools are heavily measured on testing, student outcomes and student numbers that it has become the main focus to excel the school district—but what about the students? I recall a time where I was sitting in a classroom and the teacher was going over a math lesson. Many students struggled and were having a difficult time following along with the task. The teacher started
The district is now making all teachers use an assessment tool called iReady. It is a website that assesses students in math and reading. They are first tested on a kindergarten through fifth grade range to find out what they know. Then the program takes that score and determines the right level for the child and they are tested again on the level. Once all students have been assessed the program orders the students from highest to lowest and by average grade level skill they are on: early second grade, middle second grade, late second grade or any other grade. The teacher uses those scores to create her reading groups, math groups and the students she will give extra assistance to. They haven’t officially established how many times and when they will do this iReady assessment but for now they are doing it once a week for forty five minutes. The test also flags if they spent too long or too little time on a question. The ones that spent less than 15 seconds per problem are to go back and do the assessment again.
Curriculum and instruction is impacted by assessment, and whether in the design, delivery or data interpretation processes, aligning these apparatuses is most challenging part of being a teacher. Teachers are called to exercise an alignment between assessment and curriculum, use assessment to guide instruction, and deliver assessment that truly evaluates achievement. Two forms of assessment used in the classroom, formative and summative possess important components, that track them into purposeful, designated uses. Even more so challenging as a teacher in using these two assessments is understanding how they work separately, together, and exploring how they might be used with and for each other.
Some may view the extra time and effort needed to make this program succeed a negative aspect of it. Everyone that takes part in the RTI program of a school should be knowledgeable about everything that goes on with the instructions and assessments. Teachers may be appointed extra jobs or duties to make time for small group and individual instruction for those students in Tiers 2 and 3.
Too much time is being devoted to preparing students for standardized tests. Parents should worry about what schools are sacrificing in order to focus on raising test scores. Schools across the country are cutting back on, or even eliminating programs in the arts, recess for young children, field trips, electives for high school students, class meetings, discussions about current events, the use of literature in the elementary grades, and entire subject areas such as science (if the tests cover only language arts and math) (Kohn Standardized Testing and Its Victims 1).
Black, Paul. (2003). The Nature and Value of Formative Assessment for Learning. Improving Schools. 6 (3) 7-22
Teachers use a range of formative assessment tools and teaching approaches to gather evidence for the purposes of: monitoring and measuring student learning; providing students with feedback; and providing feedback to inform teaching and modifying instructional strategies to enhance students’ knowledge and performance in mathematics (ACARA, 2015; DEECD, 2009; McMillan, 2011; Taylor-Cox, & Oberdorf, 2013). Regular use of formative assessment improves student learning as instruction can be adjusted based on students’ progress and teachers are able to modify instructions to cater to students’ individual needs (Black & Wiliam, 2010; Taylor-Cox, & Oberdorf, 2013). Various forms of informal and formal formative assessment methods are conducted as learning takes place, continuously through teacher observations, questioning through individual interactions, group discussions and open-ended tasks (McMillan,
Throughout the course of the lesson, it may take multiple sessions before the student is ready to independently practice the skills learned. Anticipated lesson duration is included with each lesson plan provided in this instructional unit. Madeline Hunter’s Seven Steps of Instruction includes stating the objectives, anticipatory set, teacher input, modeling, checking for understanding, guided practice, and independent practice (Hunter, 2004). For the purpose of this instructional unit, input and modeling have been condensed into a streamlined event; as well has, checking for understanding and guided practice. This form of lesson planning is preferred within the Elkin City Schools district and lends itself to the creation of engaging lessons.
Being that the subject of mathematics is so complicated it takes an efficient teacher to be able to successfully teach students the correct steps in solving mathematical equations. Teaching math cannot be done successfully by reading some vocabulary words, filling in the blanks on a worksheet, and then taking a quiz, mathematics needs to be taught in ways were students get to explore problems and follow the necessary steps to solve the problem. Most importantly students need practice in math and that can be done in many different ways. Many teachers today think and teach the same way to all of their students, ignoring their individual ways of learning. “Teachers need to employ strategies that will help them develop the participation essential to engaging students in mathematics.” (National). It is also a proven fact that students tend to learn more and have higher participation when they work in groups. Effective teachers in the classroom will provide students with opportunities to work independently and collaboratively to make sense of the math curriculum in which they are learning. (Anthony & Walshaw, 2012). By working in groups students can ask questions to their peers as the arise and the students take more responsibility in t...
The purpose of Chapter two is to review literature related to the major variables within the study. Two literature reviews were conducted. The first literature review examined the retention rates and low standardized test scores on Students taking Middle School Math. This follows the purpose of the conceptual framework, the Keller’s ARCS model(1987). Here, there will be literature related to inform the study that is related to the research design, intervention design, and measurement instruments. Lastly there will be a section on the Conceptual Framework.
The teacher will also make norm-referenced and criterion referenced interpretations of assessment through this website. They have graph and color-coded bands that show widely held expectations for children’s development and learning. The teacher will use this website and graph to communicate twice a year with the parents about the child’s strength, weakness or any area of