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)]
_ _ _ _ _
[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)]
_ _ _ _ _
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.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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
_ _ _ _ _
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.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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]
_ _ _ _ _
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]
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
[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?]
_ _ _ _ _
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?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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”]
_ _ _ _ _
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.
_ _ _ _ _
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.
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
- 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.
_ _ _ _ _
- 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.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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
