Saturday, June 13, 2020

Using Valid Assessments of Students’ Functional Literacy, Math, and Language Arts Skills to Instructionally Group Students this Fall (Part I)


The Importance of Assessing—NOT Guessing—Each Student’s COVID-19 Slide


[CLICK HERE for Complete Blog Message]


Introduction

   Despite the fact that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths continues unabated—if not increasing in many states, schools must necessarily plan for some type of re-opening this Fall.  In our last two Blogs, we focused on the planning for students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health re-entry.

[CLICK HERE for:  May 16, 2020.  Why is Education Week Sensationalizing Student Trauma During this Pandemic? Will Schools Re-Open Without Pathologizing their Students' Emotional Needs? (Part I)]
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[CLICK HERE for:  May 30, 2020  Preparing NOW to Address Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs Before They Transition Back to School: Let’s Use Caring and Common Sense as Our Post-Pandemic Guides (Part II)]
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   In this new two-part Blog Series, we discuss what schools need to consider now as they plan for their students’ academic re-entry this Fall.

   More specifically, in this Part I, we address why (and how) schools should validly assess—as soon as possible when students return to school—the functional, mastery-level status of all students in literacy, mathematics, and writing/language arts. These assessments should be anchored by the academic performance standards that are operationalized by well-crafted scope and sequence maps that are accurately measured by the school-selected (or created) assessment tool(s).

   We then recommend that the assessment results—corroborated by classroom performance and previous assessments—be used to identify groups of students who are functioning above, at, below, or well-below their current grade-level placements.

   Finally, in this Blog message, we discuss how to organize students who are functioning within one grade level of their respective grade placements into homogeneous instructional or skill-specific cohorts, and heterogeneous comprehension-level or applied project-based cohorts. These instructional groups are based on the academic standards and goals of the subject area, and the grade level of the students.

   In Part II of this Series, we will discuss how to use the assessment results to address the academic progress and enrichment of students who are “above” their grade-level standing, and the academic gaps of students who are below and well below their grade-level placements.
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First Things First: What Will “School” Actually Look Like

   None of us can completely predict the Fall, whether students will be allowed to return to school, and how many parents/guardians will allow their children and adolescents to return.

   At the same time, most schools are already planning—basing their plans on a “best guess” scenario of what “school” will look like for them. Many schools are wisely supplementing these primary plans with one or two contingency plans depending on parents, staff, buildings, transportation, computer and related technological resources, state COVID-19 requirements, and the possibility that the pandemic will further rebound.

   A few days ago, an Education Week article outlined six potential re-opening models based on their discussions with public health officials, education leaders, and superintendents across the country.

   These are presented because the model used by a district will necessarily impact its schools’ and staffs’ functional and logistical plans for their academic and social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health re-opening activities in the Fall.

[CLICK HERE for Complete Description of these Models]

1. Phased Reopening
2. Multi-Track System
3. Staggered Schedules
4. Bubble Strategy
5. Cyclical Lockdown Strategy
6. Year-Round Schedule
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   If you read this Education Week article literally, there are many concerns.

   For example, nothing in the article suggests that the student groups or cohorts, chosen to come to school, should be organized by students’ academic learning and mastery status or needs (other than the global special education, ELL, and vulnerable student statement in #2).

   And, the models do not appear to factor in the importance of grouping students—strategically and using valid data—so that teachers can effectively (a) differentiate their instruction, (b) use appropriate pedagogical approaches and strategies, and (c) address the fact that many students are strong in some academic subjects but weak in others.

   Thus—again, at face value, the models seem to focus on logistical “cattle-herding,” rather than also trying to impact and maximize (certainly, under trying conditions) instructional efficacy.

   And if this is true and if educational leaders say, ”We don’t have enough time” or “We’re doing the best that we can”. . . . then the three bullets at the end of the Introduction section above need to be re-read and seriously considered.

   My friends, I understand that these are unusual and unprecedented times. But, we can and must do better at this—right from the outset.
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First Things Second: A Blueprint for Assessing Students’ Current Academic Skills

   In order to accomplish the assessment, instructional grouping, effective differentiation and pedagogy, and multi-tiered service and support goals implicit in the Blog Sections above, a research-based roadmap is presented below.

   Critically, nothing in this roadmap is new. It simply needs to be adjusted to each district’s current conditions, resources, . . . and re-entry timelines.

   To accomplish this, districts and schools may need to think—logistically, and relative to staff and resource (re)allocations—"outside the box.” At the same time, aren’t they already doing this in planning for their students’ unprecedented post-pandemic re-entry? We all are already outside of the box.

   The “bottom line” is that, in this essential area of academic planning, districts and schools need to accomplish the following:
  • Functionally and validly assess all of their students in literacy, mathematics, and writing/language arts early in the Fall as they return to school;
  • Integrate and “StoryBoard” the results (see below), in each academic area, to determine the best instructional homogeneous and heterogeneous groups (to include cross-grade or cross-aged groups, as relevant) to maximize teachers’ pedagogical differentiation and students’ academic progress;
  • Identify, specify, and integrate the students who need multi-tiered services, supports, and interventions in order to be successful into the StoryBoard;
  • Align the StoryBoard with available (and flexibly deployed and used) staff and resources (including Intervention Specialists, paraprofessionals, computer-assisted instruction and intervention, after-school tutoring, etc.)... with an eye toward student equity, and not student equality;
  • Factor the results into (a modification of) the school’s post-pandemic schedule and logistics; and
  • Evaluate on a quarterly basis, making “mid-course” grouping, scheduling, and/or logistical changes as needed.
[CLICK HERE for this Complete, Step-by-Step Discussion in the Full Blog Article, and a School Case Study Example]
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   Parenthetically, the crucial student equity suggestion above has been discussed in previous Blogs.

[CLICK HERE to see:

April 11, 2020. The Pandemic Unearths the Raw Reality of Educational Inequity and Disparity: COVID-19 Forces Us to Realize We Need to Change the Village]
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[CLICK HERE to see:

November 23, 2019.  Maybe It’s the (Lack of) Money that Explains the Relationship Between Black-White Achievement Gaps and Disproportionate Disciplinary Suspensions?]
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   While this does not need to be sequential, in order to complete this journey, districts may—first—need to address students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs (as above) when they re-entry their schools in the Fall.

   Then—second—schools will need to organize their schedules and staff so that academic assessments can be completed (as above) to functionally and validly assess all of their students in literacy, mathematics, and writing/language arts.

   To accomplish this—just to suggest an “out-of-the-box” creative approach— schools may need to take a week and have different grade levels of students come to school on different days to be assessed, while other students are home learning virtually. This way, all of the staff in a school can be fully committed to completing the grade-by-grade assessments in a timely, effective, and most valid way.

   In fact, this suggestion may not be so radical. . . as some schools already adjust their schedules and staffing at least three times per year to conduct interim, formative assessments.

   And why not change the schedules and staffing for a short period of time? . . . if it results in valid academic assessments that allow schools to move ahead with high-quality grouping and instruction?
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First Things Third: Support for Moving Ahead

   Hopefully, the discussion above has helped create an academic planning blueprint that districts and schools can use right now to prepare for the re-opening of schools (some time) in the Fall. Clearly, an explicit part of this blueprint involves potentially putting students into Homogeneous Skills Groups.

   And for those who react emotionally when discussions advocating homogeneous skill grouping or teaching students at their instructional (rather than age/grade) levels begin, we hope that our explanations and clarifications have resulted in a level of calm.

   To be more specific: The use of homogeneous skills groups is not ability grouping, and we would never suggest the “old-school” tracking of students.

   Indeed, to this point and embedded in the discussions above, we have emphasized the importance of:
  • Grouping students so that teachers do not have so many differently-prepared (relative to prerequisite knowledge and skills) student groups that differentiation is functionally impossible;
  • Effectively monitoring students’ progress relative to formative and summative outcomes—to ensure that the selected grouping patterns are producing expected learning and mastery;
  • Regrouping students in a timely way when they have made so much progress that the group they are in no longer makes pedagogical sense; and
  • Grouping students on an academic subject-by-subject basis—eliminating the potential whereby the same students stay together for all subjects for an entire semester or year or, perhaps, across multiple years.
   But beyond our assertions, we would like to note some additional voices that support our recommendations in this area. These include two large-scale studies in mathematics that show that many students with significant skill gaps never catch up to their on-grade-level peers. A study showing the significant number of states moving toward competency-based grading, student evaluations, and high school graduation. And, the fact that the Cleveland School District is now considering teaching students in skill-based groups—doing away with traditional grade-level classes.

[CLICK HERE for Complete Blog Message with these “Additional Voices”]

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Summary

   This new two-part Blog Series addresses what schools need to consider now as they plan for their students’ academic re-entry this Fall.

   In this Part I, we addressed why (and how) schools should validly assess—as soon as possible when students return to school—the functional, mastery-level status of all students in literacy, mathematics, and writing/language arts.

   We then recommended that the assessment results—corroborated by classroom performance and previous assessments—be used to identify groups of students who are functioning above, at, below, or well-below their current grade-level placements.

   Finally, we discussed how to organize students who are functioning within one grade level of their respective grade placements into Homogeneous Skill Groups and/or Heterogeneous Comprehension or Applied Groups. We provided a Third Grade example with literacy results, integrating the data into one of the six models of how most districts nationally are considering the return of students to school in the Fall.

   In Part II of this Series, we will discuss how to use the assessment results to address the academic progress and enrichment of students who are “above” their grade-level standing, and the academic gaps of students who are below and well below their grade-level placements.
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   Significantly, we anticipate that many educators will say that these ideas—while research- and statistically-based—are not realistic given time, resources, schedules, and even expertise.

   Our response is:
  • We need to know and be guided by the research-to-practice first as we approach our students academically this Fall. We then can strategically come as close to our evidence-based blueprints (given the available time, resources, schedules, and expertise) as possible.
If we are not guided by the research-to-practice, we will (in essence) be playing “instructional roulette” with our students’ futures—knowing that the risks are great and the results may be underwhelming.
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  • If we don’t instructionally program our students for academic success, then academic frustration and related social, emotional, and behavioral problems—beyond where these students will enter this Fall—have a high probability of emerging.
These problems will then undermine these (and other) students’ academic engagement and progress as part of a vicious cycle.

The result: We will be further behind—both academically and behaviorally—than when we started.
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  • We need to “go slow to go fast.” That is, schools should not assume that they know where students are academically functioning—rushing to put students into different instructional groups in the absence of valid data this Fall. Moreover, they should not rush to begin instruction.
Clearly, students (and staff) will need some social, emotional, and behavioral time this Fall to re-establish relationships, debrief the last half of the school year, and re-set their routines and interactions. This “time” must include discussions regarding the death of George Floyd; racial bias, injustice, and discrimination; and the anguished protests that rightly followed yet another unjustified Black murder.

Academically, we need to accurately, and in a measured way (no pun intended), determine who is behind, and how far they are behind.

If this takes “a little more time” to get it right. . . so that students are then assigned to the “right” classes and instructional levels. . . where we can get it right on their behalf. . . then we will actually be ahead of the game. . . as will our students.
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   As always, I appreciate your ongoing support in reading my work.  If you have comments or questions, please contact me at your convenience. 

   And please feel free to take advantage of my standing offer for a free, one-hour conference call consultation with you and your team at any time.

Best,

Howie

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