STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Amanda Stoffey & Natalie Williams Help Students Achieve More Through Accountability
by Katie Nugent photos by Joshua Dunn
14
|
FocalPoint
Natalie Williams (left) & Amanda Stoffey
FocalPoint
|
15
StrengthInNumbers
W
When students in Natalie Williams’ fifth grade class at the CICS Prairie campus receive their NWEA MAPs scores—a tri-yearly test administered by CICS to track student performance—it’s usually a cause more for celebration than consternation. “Everyone graphs their own scores to see their progress, and we put it up on the bulletin board. Students get excited about it,” Williams says. What makes this test different, as far as the students are concerned, is the only ones they are competing against are themselves. “We are a community. We are one,” she continues. “We all learn differently, and we’re here to teach each other and help each other learn.” Chicago International’s decision to use the NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) MAPs (Measure of Academic Progress) assessment program began with the organization’s deeply held belief in the importance of data in monitoring individual student progress. “We use our assessment data to make necessary changes to improve the quality of education,” says Chief Data Analyst Christine Poindexter. “CICS takes a further look at exactly what is behind those numbers to ensure we are not teaching to a bubble of students (group of students on the ‘bubble’ of meeting the proficiency standards), we
are meeting the needs of all students.” For additional background on the assessment system, please see “Talking Points” on page 18. But not just any accountability system would work. MAPs features several crucial advantages over more traditional standardized testing methods. Administered three times a year (in September, January, and May) in grades 3 through 8, MAPs tracks student progress throughout the school year on a range of subjects, providing a detailed view of students’ progress over time. Since results are available within days of testing completion, it offers a real-time snapshot of student progress for teachers and administrators. And what’s more, MAPs’ computer-based tests are adaptive, meaning that they dynamically adjust to each student’s performance level. As a student answers a test question on a computer, the program chooses subsequent questions based on that student’s own ability level. This type of test is a better indicator of a student’s true achievement than a traditional assessment, which is often a single test given to all students and written for the average ability within a grade level.
The result is an assessment system that not only provides the best illustration of a student’s performance over time, it gives teachers and administrators the detailed information they need to make immediate decisions. “The data allows us to assess each student’s strengths and weaknesses and pinpoint what it is he or she needs to learn,” says Amanda Stoffey, a third grade teacher at CICS Prairie. “It’s also almost like an outline that shows us ‘here’s where they need to be,’ and ‘here’s what we need to do to get them there.’” Teachers and administrators also say that NWEA’s assessment offers some distinct advantages over the annually-administered ISAT (Illinois Standards Achievement Test). “Since students take the assessment three times per year, they become more familiar with the test taking process and thus it doesn’t cause as much anxiety and fear as the high-stakes ISAT, which is only one time per year,” says Chief Academic Officer Andrea Brown-Thirston. In addition, the real-time aspect of the NWEA assessment data means the information is immediately actionable for teachers. “I feel that NWEA offers more beneficial information
We are a community. We are one. We all learn differently, and we’re here to teach each other and help each other learn. 16
|
FocalPoint
StrengthInNumbers
than the ISAT, due to the fact that teachers are able to get immediate results of the students’ progress,” says Stoffey. “The ISAT results aren’t completed and published until the following school year—making it too late for teachers to adjust their lessons to meet the students’ needs. The NWEA gives detailed information about what skills and concepts to enhance, develop, and introduce in order to meet students’ individual skill levels.” “For instance, I currently have some students whose strength is Reading Strategies and Comprehension and whose weakness is Word Analysis and Vocabulary Skills, based on their initial NWEA results they took in September,” continues Stoffey. “In order to develop their Word Analysis and Vocabulary Skills, I’ve developed lessons based around using prefixes and suffixes and how they change word meanings, identifying root words, using context clues within a text to define unknown words when they read, identifying synonyms and antonyms—using them with weekly vocabulary words.” The test results are conducive to a differentiated teaching strategy, says Poindexter—a shift from the “teaching down the middle” mindset of earlier days, in which focus was placed on moving students over a proficiency line rather than meeting the unique needs of individual learners. Stoffey echoes this thought: “It helps me in grouping students, because it then allows me to think of them heterogeneously or homogeneously.” Williams agrees that the data is a tool for differentiated teaching. “The NWEA score information is very specific and it points out the individual needs of each student,” she says. “I can use this information to teach students the specific strategies and skills needed to boost their learning. I can use it during groups and on a one-on-one basis. This gives me the opportunity to enhance what the student already knows and what the student needs to know.” The scale NWEA uses to measure a student’s progress is called the RIT scale, an equalinterval scale used to chart a student’s
academic growth from year to year. “NWEA does not provide grade level status,” says Brown-Thirston. “By using a common RIT system, there is no sense of who is below or above grade level. The RIT score gives the student, teacher, and parent a sense of what kinds of skills the student is capable of completing.” The MAPs feedback is tailored to each student, so “even students who are really low in terms of academic performance can still see positive results,” says Brown-Thirston. “Our special education students are held to the same standards in terms of making growth. And this makes the teachers more accountable for making sure that all students are making progress.” In many ways, CICS’ carefully chosen accountability system goes beyond traditional notions of standardized tests and their place in the classroom environment. For one thing, it promotes an atmosphere of community and cooperation rather than competition or anxiety.
Amaya Campbell, a CICS Prairie fifth grader (a current student of Williams’ and former student of Stoffey’s), has earned consistently excellent marks on standardized tests, underscoring a strong involvement from home, according to Stoffey, who welcomes such parental involvement. “I do try to explain the testing process to parents and offer strategies and tips for the test, so they really can coach their student to do his or her best,” she says. Campbell, whose favorite subject is science and who enjoys working in groups, says “I get a little nervous before the test because I want to do my best, but I’m happy I did well.” In the end, “The students are not competing with each other as much because they are trying to achieve their personal best,” says Brown-Thirston. “The assessment system that we use helps the student to understand exactly where they are and what their target is. The teacher makes this clear to the students so they become partners in their own learning and academic achievement.”
FocalPoint
|
17