ED594M  MEASUREMENT BASED DECISION MAKING IN PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Craig Weaver
216-406-5226
weaverids@yahoo.com

Course Description:  Programmatic decision-making based upon multiple assessment measures should be a fixture in all schools.  Also teacher performance and student learning must be quantifiable in order to plan and implement effective differentiated instruction.  This course will explore schoolwide assessments that organize and plan the most effective teaching and reteaching strategies that enhance and expedite learning.

Teacher Leader Standards (TLS) Addressed:

Standard 2.

Teacher Leader candidates promote the use of data-based decisions and evidence-based practice.

2.1 Candidates serve as building leaders in the development, implementation and continuous improvement of a comprehensive, cohesive and integrated school assessment plan grounded in multiple measures and data sources.

2.2 Candidates collaboratively analyze assessment data to plan and implement differentiated instruction to meet student needs.

2.3 Candidates lead collaborative efforts to develop high quality classroom assessments among grade-level and content-area teachers.

2.4 Candidates support teachers in responding to the intervention process by designing, implementing and gathering appropriate data and evidence.

2.5 Candidates identify resources (including instructional technology) and research-based strategies to support the assess-plan-teach-reassess cycle.

Standard 3.

Teacher Leader candidates facilitate a collaborative learning culture.

3.2 Candidates nurture open and effective lines of communication with students, parents, other educators, administrators, and the community through professional learning communities.

Standard 4.

Teacher Leader candidates participate in developing and supporting a shared vision and clear goals for their schools.

4.2 Candidates advocate for and initiate increased opportunities for teamwork to promote and support student achievement and other school goals.

Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession (OSTP) Addressed:

Standard 3.

Teachers understand and use varied assessments to inform instruction, evaluate and ensure student learning.

Standard 4.

Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction that advances the learning of each individual student.

Standard 6.

Teachers collaborate and communicate with students, parents, other educators, administrators and the community to support student learning.

Standard 7.

Teachers assume responsibility for professional growth, performance and involvement as an individual and as a member.

Course Objectives:

1. Demonstrate ability to collect and use school and individual student performance data to determine if learning goals are achieved  - TLS 2.1; OSTP 3
2. Use data to plan, deliver and assess instruction- TLS 2.4; OSTP 4
3. Encourage and promote a school culture that uses assessment data both for learning and of learning to provide for differentiated instruction – TLS 2.1, 2.2; OSTP 6, 7
4. Apply research-based assessment practices – TLS 2.3; OSTP 6, 7
5. Apply instructional frameworks that include pre-instruction, instructional application, assessment and reteaching – TLS 2.4; OSTP 4
6. Expand knowledge of the assess-plan-teach reassess cycle – TLS 2.4, 2.5; OSTP 3,4
7. Construct content specific assessment plan to support school/classroom improvement goals (SMART goals) – TLS 2.1; OSTP 6,7
8. Effectively lead a professional group to achieve goals and objectives – TLS 4.2; OSTP 6
9. Use technology and information systems as instructional tools throughout the teaching process – TLS 2.5; OSTP 4
10. Examine features of professional learning communities – TLS 3.2; OSTP 6
11. Articulate the critical issues involved in team collaboration – TLS  3.2; OSTP 6

Required Text and Course Materials:

Arter, J., & Chappuis, J. (2006). Creating & recognizing quality rubrics. Boston, MA:

Pearson.

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, R. (2010). Learning by

doing:  A handbook for professional learning communities at work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Stiggins, R. (2000). Student involved classroom assessment. Boston, MA:

Pearson.

Ohio Teacher Leader Standards

Ohio Standards for the Teaching Profession

Ohio Standards for Professional Development

Supplemental Text/Readings (Not Required):

Bailey,K.J. (2011). Common formative assessment.  Bloomington, IN:

Solution Tree

Jackson, R. (2010). Flagged for success.  Educational Leadership, Interventions

that work, Volume 8, No. 2, 18-21.

Love, N., Stiles, K. (2008). The data coach’s guide to improving learning

for all students: Unleashing the power of collaborative inquiry. Thousand Oaks,CA:  Corwin Press.

Stiggins, R., Arter, J., Chappuis, J., & Chappuis, S. Arter, J. (2012). Classroom

assessment for student learning: Doing it right—using it well. Portland, OR: Educational Testing Service.

General Information:

This class is a blended format.  Several activities will be completed outside the classroom. 

Tentative Agenda:

DAY ONE

Introductions

Review Teacher Leader Program

Review Syllabus

Watch Ted Talk:  Geoff Canada

            (write summary of main points; share)

PLC slides

Slide 1- Purpose of your school- discuss

Slide 2 – What would people see if they came to campus/ looked into classroom window – Discuss

Slide 3 – Share Book – Du Fours’

Slide 4 – Discuss

Slide 13 – Discuss – assessment

Slide 14 – Activity – Chart paper with 6 essential elements

Slide 18 – What can you stop doing?  Small group and share

Slide 24 – Reflect (see notes)

Slide 28 – 33 Communication and Celebration

Slide 33 – Activity

After Slide 35 – Share Case Study and Discuss

Slide 37 – Discuss

After Slide 38 – Hand out Critical Issues for Team

Slide 44 Activity; also discuss what to do if team member violates norms

2 Handouts – Team Norms

Afternoon – 1:00 – 4:00

Assessment Review- In order to review the various types of assessment (tests), students will be divided into 3 or 4 groups (Selected Response, Essay/Performance Tasks, Rubrics) depending on number of students in class. Each group will be assigned a chapter on their “test” to read and prepare a presentation for the class.  The presentation will highlight important guidelines for writing the “test” and an activity for the class to do practicing those guidelines.  The presentation/activity should be approximately 30 minutes in length due on Day 2. 

Groups 1-3 Reads Stiggins; Student Involved Classroom Assessment Chapter on their assigned test – (We have books for their use)

Group 4 – Reads Arter; Creating and Recognizing Quality Rubrics – 2 Chapters (Chapters are available for their use)

*Ask students to bring in course of study for a subject to be used on Day 2 in order to identify Essential Outcomes

DAY TWO

Finish day one topics if needed

Writing SMART Goals

Slides 45-48

Handout – SMART goal worksheet – Example of Grade 8

Have pairs write a SMART goal use Slide 48 as model include current reality; Get peer feedback; Write revised goal on board to share with class – highlight SMART

Assessment presentations

Identifying Essential Outcomes Slides 49 – 53

Slide 54 – Activity – Work in pairs – choice to use course of study brought by one of pairs

 Common Assessments revolve around Essential Outcomes – Slides 55-58

Afternoon: Individual time can work where ever – Notre Dame, Library or Home

1. Begin writing 2 different assessments

Selected response questions 7-10 items

Essay Questions 2 or 1 performance task

Rubric – Analytic specific to the essay question – can not be generic/general

** bring to Day 3 for peer feedback

2. Write 3 SMART Goals – use Worksheet planning guide; must contain current reality

**bring to Day 3 for peer feedback

3. Gather data on school district and school building for project

ie. Demographics

Free and Reduced Lunch

                        Graduation Rate

                        Attendance

                        School Report Card

Identify area of focus based on above data

4. Read articles on PLC or Data based Decisions or Assessment  must be from last 5 years- summary/important points, implications, your comments

DAY THREE

Finish day two topics if needed

Peer Review of Assessment instruments

Using Data Activities

1.  Third Grade Reading Skills – Target Scores  Hand Out

      What can you learn?

      Look at average. Do we need to do intervention?

Read:  5 Good Ways to Talk about Data - Discussion

2.  Teacher 1-4 Handout

      How would you group students for intervention/enrichment and why?

3.  Item Analysis Handout/ use Protocol Here’s What, So What, Now What? Handout

      Identify key elements

Watch video – gcsprincipalsplaybook.wikispaces.com

            What do you see in this data?

Read article:  Give your Teaching a Jump Start – small group discussions

Role Play – Protocol for Team Meeting – Groups of 3

Peer Review of SMART Goals

Afternoon:

Work on Data Project- Highlight Interventions must include

            Remediation as well as Enrichment

Work on article summaries

**Ask students to bring laptops for Day 4

DAY FOUR

Finish day 3 topics

Conclusion of PLCs Slides 59-61

Read:  How PLC’s Do Data Right – discussions

Go to computer lab or use laptops in pairs – https://gcsprincipalsplaybook.wikispaces.com/file/view/Data+Points+and+Guiding+Questions+Protocol.pdf

Depending on size of group – separate into groups of 6-7 to share 1 article – after person shares rest of group records important points and their opinion.  Change groups around for article 2.

Share Projects

Evaluation:

Collaborative Data Analysis Project:   This project will includes  1) identifying sources of data and how it will be gathered and organized; 2) written analysis of data; 3) written plan of evidence-based intervention/enrichment

SMART Goals: Based upon analysis of data, students will write 3 SMART goals for a particular content area. 

Assessment Instruments:  Students will develop 2 common formative assessment instruments (tests) with 7-10 selected response items and 2 essay questions.  The assessments (selected response and performance or essay) should reflect characteristics of a well-designed assessment instruments complete with scoring rubrics (essay or performance sections of assessment).

Discussion Forum: The purpose of this assignment is to share learnings from research on professional learning communities, data decision-making, assessment and evidence-based intervention strategies. Read and review 3 articles (at least 2 of which have been published within the last 5 years) on 2 different topics related to this class (professional learning communities, using data).  A source could be www.allthingsplc.

Each member will be expected to respond to their colleagues ‘ articles presentations with comments.  

 

ASSIGNMENT	OBJECTIVE & STANDARD	POINT VALUE
Collaborative Data Analysis Project	Obj:  1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 TLS: 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 4.2	36
SMART Goals	Obj: 2, 7, 9 TLS: 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5	12
Assessment Instruments	Obj: 4 TLS: 2.3	24
Discussion Forum	Obj: 3, 5, 6,8, 10, 11 TLS: 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 3.2, 4.2	24
TOTAL POINTS		96

 

Rubric for Collaborative Data Analysis Project

	10-12 points	7-9 points	4-6 points
Case Study Description	Descriptive background of school and classroom. Detailed description of the several sources of data.	Offered some description of school and context.   Descriptions of the data sources are present but missing relevant material and information.	Description of the school and classroom are missing relevant information. Missing sources of data.
Analysis of Data	Presents relevant data and clearly establishes relationships in the data.	Presents data but may have unnecessary data included.	Presents data but doesn’t connect data logically.
Written Plan for Intervention	Plan reflects research into evidence-based intervention strategies.  Plan is complete with timeline  and necessary resources	Plan contains some evidence-based intervention strategies but not for all students.  Timeline may be inappropriate.	Several intervention strategies are not evidence-based.  Timeline and resources are minimal.
Total points
Project Total			36

 

Rubric for SMART Goals

	5-6 points	3-4 points	1-2 points
Data Analysis	Current Reality:  Several sources of data are used.  Interpretation of data is accurate.	Current Reality:  One source of data is used.  Interpretation of data may not be accurate.	Current Reality:  One source of data is used.  Interpretation of data may be inaccurate.
Written Goal	3 goals are written that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.	2-3 goals are written but may be missing one of the criteria- specific, measurable, attainable, relevant or timely.	Less than 3 goals are written and may be missing one or more criteria - specific, measurable, attainable, relevant or timely.
Total points
Project Total			12

 

Rubric for Assessment Instrument

	7-8 points	5-6 points	3-4 points
Components	2 assessments contain selected response questions, short answers and essay questions.	1-2 assessments may contain selected response questions, short answers and/or essay questions only	1 -2 assessments do not contain selected response questions, short answers and/or essay questions.
Quality of Assessments	All test items contain the characteristics of a well-designed question.	Several test items contain the characteristics of a well-designed question.	Limited test items contain the characteristics of a well-designed question.
Essay/Short Answer Rubrics	All written response questions have a scoring rubric.	Several written response questions have a scoring rubric.	No written response questions have a scoring rubric.
Total points
Project Total			24

 

Rubric for Discussion Forum

	8-12 points	7-11 points	2-6 points
Topics	Multiple (more than 3) research studies/articles are summarized and critiqued.	Several research studies/articles are summarized and critiqued.	Research studies/articles are missing summary and/or critique.
Response	Comments reflect knowledge of topic..	Comments reflect some knowledge of topic.	Comments reflect limited knowledge of topic.
Total points
Project Total			24