A Superintendent Writes... Common Assessment Reflection - Part 1

In response to the 1/16/2015 post, “Common Assessment Reflection,” a old school LYS Superintendent writes:

LYS Nation,

What to do with common assessment data?  What a question.  And a good answer was provided.  But I think Cain’s response can be substantially expanded.  First, keep in mind there is a big difference between data and information.  I have seen too many schools collect data and gather no information. That is called DRIP: Data Rich, Information Poor.

So, what's the difference?  Data turns into information when it changes adult practice as well as the very structure of your school.  Cain's approach to using common assessment data to improve instruction is an excellent start.  Also, his suggestion to use common assessment data to address the weakest SE's identified by the common assessments is also very valid, and is an example of turning data into information.

Still, there is more information that can be squeezed out of the common assessment.  In our district, common assessments are one of several factors that drive our support and intervention program (RTI). 

RTI Level 1 might be interventions; in class, pull-outs and/or push-ins for a short period of time in order to intervene on the specific deficiencies identified in specific children. 

Level 2 may last longer and involves some contact with a specialist.  Maybe a special education teacher works with the child for an hour a day for a few weeks, one on one (yes, even if the child is not special education). 

Level 3 results in heavy support, all year long.  In Level 3, the child will work with specialists as well as regular education teachers.  We have RTI classes built into the schedule across the district so we can adjust the child's schedule in order to meet identified needs.  Before and after school tutorials are not a part of our formal plan.  Our theory: if you don't get it done during the regular school day, it probably won't happen.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of March 8, 2015

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now Twitter users.  If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us.  To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of March 8, 2015.

1. 90% of North Caroline vouchers go to private religious schools. Tax dollars paying for religion. God needs no help from Caesar. (By @pastors4txkids)

2. Texas Legislature members who tout the Constitution on guns flaunt it when it comes to vouchers. "No establishment of religion" means exactly that: No.‬ (By @pastors4txkids)

3. “In a fire, everyone runs away - except for the fireman who run towards it.  When dealing with challenging students, be the fireman.” (By @DrRichAllen)

4. Do not fear those who do not understand your mission in life.  Living a life of adding value to others is not for everyone. (By @blitzkrieg607)

5. Principals who do not talk to teachers about instruction are like football coaches who do not talk to players about football. Why is one acceptable and the other is not? (By @LYSNation)

6. People seldom get in touch w/ their greatest strengths & abilities until its forced on them by major challenges. (By @RandyMBrown)

7. If only the rich can afford to go to the 'good colleges,' then we simply have a system of replicating privilege that already exists. (By @tgrierhisd)

8. Chastising students for not doing well on an assignment is not an RTI strategy. (By @LYSNation)

9. Teachers, repeat after me: Popcorn reading is NOT an effective instructional strategy. (By @LYSNation)

10. Question: why aren't educators the single most reliable, authoritative sources of info about Texas education for the Texas Legislature? Keep asking yourself that. (By @pastors4txkids)

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: ASCD Annual Conference; TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); TEPSA Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NAESP National Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Lesa Cain Writes... How You, the Principal, Should Use Your Data

The following is some advice LYS Coach and Common Assessment Pioneer, Lesa Cain, shared with some of the Principals that she mentors.

Good morning all,

I cannot say this enough, you must pre-plan for your data meetings. That means plan for when the meeting will occur, who will attend, what will be discussed and what you want to happen after the meeting. 

You must get the data first (before meeting with teachers). You must analyze the questions and determine the TEKS (learning standards in Texas) of concern.

For each TEKS that is a concern, look at each teacher in that grade level and see what their scores were on those questions. If there is a teacher that is having relative success, you must find out how they taught the standard. That becomes a conversation point in the data meeting and a potential intervention strategy.

Only after instructional practices have been identified and discussed do you use the data to sort students.  But sort for the purpose of deciding who will teach what, to whom, and when. These are RTI decisions and the data determines what you do and how you do it. And whatever you decide to do, track your results.

YOU as campus leaders have to have an idea BEFORE you meet with your teachers, this give you context during the discussion and allow you to better evaluate recommended instructional tweaks shared by the attending teachers. If you don’t have a plan, then you will be wasting precious time PREDICTING your future scores instead of RAISING them.

Yes, I am putting pressure on you... not on your students, not on your teachers, but on YOU. Think about what you are seeing in classes every day when you are observing instruction, what you know should be happening and is not happening. Get ahead of this by preparing for your data meetings and knowing the data BEFORE you meet with your teachers.  

We have just completed a third of the school year.  This is not the time to slow down.  This is the time to hit our stride.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of August 31, 2014

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now Twitter users.  If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us.  To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of August 31, 2014.

1. Putting an RTI label on a child doesn't "fix" them. Differentiated instruction and progress monitoring is what helps the student. (By @vhssaldana)

2. Today's Quote:  "For teachers and students alike, there is no education like that which arises out of adversity." (By @DrRichAllen)

3. Teachers, when someone walks into your room the natural tendency is too talk more. Let your students do the talking to really impress. (By @justintarte)

4. You can't learn to love books if you never get to read books. Period. (By @KyleneBeers)

5. "16, 17, 18, 21... This counting is hard." Got to love Kindergarten math. Renewed respect for Kindergarten teachers! (By @LYSNation)

6. Phrases you are unlikely to hear:

"I won the lottery!"

"I was struck by lightning yesterday."

"A policymaker visited my classroom."

(By @BluntEducator)

7. I visited 24 classrooms today. Today was a good day. (By @HoustonSuper)

8. I think people are confusing pedagogy with curriculum. Curriculum determines what you teach. Pedagogy is how you teach. (By @iamDrWill)

9. There is no one right way to teach, but there are a lot of bad ways. (By @BluntEducator)

10. "I woke up very early today and I am still awake..." Amazing but true facts that Kindergarten students will share with you. (By @LYSNation)

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of September 22, 2013

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now Twitter users.  If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us.  To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of September 22, 2013.

1. Getting our students to write critically every day is imperative.  Student reflection and synthesis lead to higher rigor! (By @mathayres)

2. We should hear less "Be Quiet," and more "Talk about what you are learning," in our classrooms. (By @Snowmanlearning)

3. "Frequent Purposeful Talk is a great way to monitor understanding and document the effectiveness of our RTI." Karen Rocker (By @CabidaCain)

4. Teach students to read like detectives and write like investigative reporters. (By @Jeff_Zoul)

5. The ongoing discussion on school safety begins and ends with exterior door security. (By @LYSNation)

6. Many policymakers mean well but are blind to what actually happens in within the halls of schools. (By @RYHTexas)

7. Bad instructional practices + a good excuse = bad instructional practices. (By @LYSNation)

8. Rethinking Breaking Ranks, and then I see E. Don Brown's name. Now it all makes sense! (By @TinneyTroy)

9. Morale follows performance. Focus on student success. As that improves, so will morale. (By @LYSNation)

10. It never gets old sharing this. The Number 1 best selling education book on Kindle, today? The Fundamental 5! Thank you, LYS Nation!! (By @LYSNation)

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations); NASSP National Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Writes... EOCs, Credits and Transfers - Part 1

In response to the 5/23/2012 post, “A Principal Asks... EOCs, Credits and Transfers,” a LYS school leader writes:

I think the issue is far from moot. The issue is if credit has been granted OR denied by another institution, it is impossible to change the grade on the AAR (Academic Achievement Record, AKA transcript).   That is, my school district can't change the PEIMS inputs from another district that exists on the AAR.  Cain's suggestions would be problematic for this reason.  Try explaining to a parent that credit appearing on their child's AAR doesn't count because you don't want it to.  Good luck with that one.  If a child has credit earned on an AAR, it is considered a grave error to re-enroll the child in the same course again as you can only get credit for a course one time.  I have seen children with two credits in Algebra 1 before, and I have dealt with the people who made the mistake severely, as it is a manifestation of incompetence and malpractice.  

If the credit was denied on the AAR from another district, the new district would have no choice but to either re-enroll the child in the same course or place the child in credit recovery.  Dealing with a failing grade on an AAR is much more straightforward than dealing with a passing grade from another district on an AAR.

So my take is different than Cain's: 

Case #1: If credit appears on the AAR and the child passed EOC the new district is stuck with it and must honor it.  

Case #2: If the child passed the course but failed the EOC, the district would place the child in some form of RTI course and would have to retest the child, of course.  The passed course cannot be retaken for credit (there are other options, of course, like course number stacking).  

Case #3: If the credit is denied on the AAR for any reason, including attendance or failure, the new district is stuck with that too, and the child must either re-take the course or enter credit recovery.  If the child failed the course in the previous district but passed EOC, I would place the child in credit recovery and maybe some RTI for the next course in the 4x4 sequence and be done with it.  

Case #4: If the child failed the course and failed EOC, I would have the child retake the course and EOC with a healthy dose of RTI included, the obvious solution.

I think my solutions are the only solutions that are acceptable.  I think if a receiving district tried to suppress or supplant the passing grades on an AAR from a previous district, the issue would go to the Commissioner, and I think the analysis I have presented here would prevail.

Of course none of this has anything to do with class rank or GPA, which is a local issue that can be recalculated.  I do believe that the issue of course credit has to be dealt with as I have described above, with some small variations allowed of course.

SC Response

We are actually discussing the same issue at two distinct points in time.  So instead of our opinions differing, they are the same.

I tackled the problem based on the student transferring to a district BEFORE a credit in a particular class was officially granted or not granted. Which was the original context of the question, though based on a cold read of the blog post, that was not clear.  In that case, the logic outlined in the original post is completely valid (as we agreed, in our phone conversation).

You tackled the problem based on the student transferring to a district AFTER a credit in a particular class was officially granted or not granted, which is a reasonable assumption and a regularly occurring situation.  In that case, the logic outlined in your response (above) is completely valid (as we agreed in our phone conversation).

So for the reader, as is it with so many things in education, timing is everything.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Channelview ISD Leadership Team Kickoff, Bushland ISD Staff Kickoff, Canadian ISD Staff Kickoff, Highland Park ISD Staff Kickoff, Sunray ISD Staff Kickoff, Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Top LYS Tweets from the Week of March 25, 2012

More schools are considering the move to e-readers over textbooks. The benefits are many. Less weight, less cost, convenience, just to name a few. But I have been trying to come up with a reason why this shift would not be a good idea. And then it hit me. With an e-book you can’t highlight passages or write notes in the book. But then I realized this is wrong on two fronts. First, you can write notes and highlight passages with many e-readers. Second, we fine and punish students for damaging school property if they mark a single page in a traditional textbook. Oops.

So e-readers are cheaper, lighter and offer a more interactive reading experience (without fear of punishment). And to top it off, due to e-reader apps most of your students have one in their pocket, purse, backpack or locker right now. It’s just that most schools make their students hide them during the day.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us. To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of March 25, 2012.

1. The "genius" of the Texas Legislature: Make students take a high stakes “End of Course” exam with two months left in the course.

2. The RTI success formula: 1. Teach the right thing (Foundation Trinity) 2. Teach it better (Fundamental 5) 3. Teach it longer (Tri-mester)

3. The GT success formula: 1. Teach the right thing (Foundation Trinity) 2. Teach it better (Fundamental 5) 3. Teach it at depth (Tri-mester)

4. North Forest ISD will not have to close and merge with Houston ISD. Education commissioner changes mind and grants reprieve. (By @e_mellon)

5. NFISD remaining open is bad news for kids but great news for incompetent education leaders across the state.

6. If North Forest ISD gets to survive there is no meaningful consequences in Chapter 39 of the Texas Education Code. It’s over. (By @txschoolsupe)

7. We all agree that the quality of educators varies. So why do we fight to maintain a system that allows a poor teacher to decide what is taught?

8. A college student costs the state $8,667 per year; a prisoner costs it $45,006 a year. (By @FareedZakaria)

9. Our choice in the voting booth is pro-public education or anti-public education. The choice is that clear.

10. I am a public school guy.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Reader Writes... (Common Assessment Data Analysis - Part 1)

In response to the 12/8/2010 post, “Common Assessment Data Analysis,” a reader writes:

Response to Intervention! RTI originally targeted children with special needs. Now, with the NCLB, RTI is used to help with "no child left behind" as well as targeting children that are possible GT students. These students will benefit from RTI strategy by the use of differentiated instruction. This leads me to the thought I had about differentiated instruction and the Test Blueprint. Using the Test Blueprint technique is it possible to make one test that covers all the cognitive domains reaching all levels of learners on as targeted by the RTI (the test being written for differentiated instruction assessment) and score it based on the level indicated by the RTI?

Meaning the low level students are expected to answer specific response questions correctly. The middle level students are expected to answer the lower level questions as well as the mid range questions and possible a portion of the higher cognitively guided questions. And the GT level students answers both the lower level questions as well as the medium level questions and now the higher level cognitively guided questions or an essay question where the student can elaborate on his/her knowledge? The test is kept in the students folder, but using differentiated assessment to assist differentiated instruction would save a lot of time and less paperwork for the teacher, plus allow the teacher to see the learning level she/he needs for instruction. The test of this nature of course is not returned for the sake of the lower level learners thinking they did not answer all the questions when in fact they answered what their objectives covered. Differentiation is differentiating objectives, not interest right?

SC Response

First of all, I’m very happy that you are thinking critically about this. I also want some input from some other LYS’ers, (specifically E. Don, Chuck, the Mike’s and Lesa), but I really believe that you are over-thinking this. The goal of instruction is to teach the standard at the level it will be assessed. We modify instruction to ensure that our students can demonstrate mastery at the assessed level. Then we assess at the level at which the standard is supposed to be taught. How our students perform on the assessment gives us the best indication of the positive or negative effect of our instructional practice.

I believe that your modified testing solution could quickly evolve into a case of self-fulfilling prophecy and would have a dampening effect on the overall quality of instruction on a campus. I prefer to teach every student at a high level and expose every student to the strategies and practices that increase performance.

To answer your closing question, differentiation is the differentiation of strategy, practice and intervention to insure success. In short, differentiation is the art of coaching.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Follow Sean Cain on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Attend the LYS Presentations at the TASB Winter Legal Conference (2/24/2011)

Visit the LYS Booth at the NASSP Conference

Attend the LYS Presentation at the Texas Middle School Conference