Julie H. Rucker
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Standard 1: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community .
Questions:
1) Why is it important for the school community to collect and analyze test data on all students?
2) How can data collected from standardized tests help administrators develop and plan intervention programs for at-risk students?
Situation:
Covey High School is a rural school in South Georgia of approximately 600 students, grades 9-12, on a 4x4 block schedule. For two years, this school has been under “Needs Improvement” status because the percentage of students who met or exceeded the standards was less than what was required for “Annual Yearly Progress” (AYP). When looking at school AYP data, school administration discovers that the same subgroup, black males, is the one subgroup where students are not meeting or exceeding standards.
Assistant Principal Scott has been given the responsibility of school improvement under the supervision of the school principal and the assistant superintendent in charge of curriculum for the school system. She will work with a Leadership Facilitator assigned to the school by the Georgia Department of Education. One of the first tasks for Ms. Scott is to collect data for students who are taking the Georgia High School Graduation Test in the current school year. She looks at 8 th grade STAR test scores that indicate reading levels, ASSET tests from 10 th grade, CRCT tests from middle school, and any EOCTs taken by students when in high school.
While evaluating data, she makes a decision to look at all possible testing data on students in the 10 th , 9 th , 8 th , 7 th , and 6 th grade in the small school district, including the 5 th grade CRCT scores for current sixth graders. She anticipates using this data to forecast which classes will have difficulty making AYP, also indicating which classes may need additional intervention prior to their 11 th grade year when graduation tests are administered.
What Administration Discovered:
Through the data analysis, she determined which students would benefit from a new test prep course taught during the first semester of the school year by faculty from each academic area where a GHSGT is given. This course will occur during the school day and will be counted as an elective on the students' transcripts. The school is especially concerned about science scores, even though they are not used yet to determine AYP. An individual analysis done by Covey High School administrators determined that students who make below 70% on End of Course Tests in science have a 90% chance of failing the science portion of the GHSGT the first time they take the test.
Also, Ms. Scott discovers that females' test scores are consistently higher than males' scores. She also determines from data forecasting that students in this year's junior class have a chance of scoring well enough on state standardized tests to help the school make AYP this school year. She has also determined that next year's junior class has a marvelous chance, based on past data, to do well on graduation tests and pull the school out of NI status. Unfortunately, the current freshmen, who will take the test in 2008, have little to no chance of meeting and exceeding standards without intensive intervention. Again, this forecast is based on previous standardized test scores.
The final finding made by Mrs. Scott is that there is a huge achievement gap on state test scores between Technology/Career Prep students and College Prep students, sometimes as much as 40%.
What Changes Will Be Made As a Result:
Covey High School 's administration believes that all students can meet or exceed the standards set forth by the state with appropriate support. To help juniors who may lack some of the skills or knowledge they need to succeed on state tests, the test prep class will be offered in the fall as well as a one-week intensive review in the spring, where at-risk students are pulled from their normal classes for an intensive test review session each block.
The GHSGTs on which students perform the worst at Covey are Physical Science and U.S. History. Ms. Scott has set into motion reform within the science department with much input from the teachers. No TCP students will take Environmental Science in 9 th grade. When they reach 11 th grade, TCP students will take two “skinny” classes that meet all year long, Physical Science and U.S. History. This way, students will not take EOCTs in these two subjects until the end of their junior year, and they will also have a year-long focus on the two subjects that have the lowest scores on the graduation tests.
Responding to the Questions:
1) Why is it important for the school community to collect and analyze test data on all students?
Ms. Scott's collection of test data has a two-pronged advantage: she can identify current juniors at-risk of failing graduation tests without immediate intervention; she can forecast the testing trend for future classes in order to implement intervention programs earlier in their high school career.
2) How can data collected from standardized tests help administrators develop and plan intervention programs for at-risk students?
The data revealed to Ms. Scott that there is a disparity in the scores of TCP and CP students, motivating her to work with faculty to alter the school schedule for TCP students at certain points in their high school education, giving them an opportunity to spend more time on critical subjects. Ms. Scott also realized that the black male subgroup has the most difficult time meeting and exceeding standards, so she is beginning a mentoring program for those students with an adult in the school or business community. Finally, it gives a statistically accurate picture of student performance to the whole school community which can be used to identify those who need intervention prior to taking graduation tests.
Assessment of Administrator: DevelopingI would give Ms. Scott a developing rating for how she is disaggregating test data for the school to determine which students need immediate or future intervention in order for the school to meet and maintain Annual Yearly Progress. Ms. Scott's interpretation of the date provides critical information for the school community; this is her first year using data to determine which students need intervention, which she has done proficiently. She is still working with school faculty to determine what those interventions need to be, which is why I have given her a "Developing" rating for this case study.
e-mail: jrucker@friendlycity.net