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Data Driving Goals, Instruction, and Learning

The Division of Teaching and Learning would like to welcome you to the 2011-2012 school year and provide an overview of how student academic performance data from the 2010-2011 school year are being used as leading indicators in preparation for the 2011-2012 school year. As you know, the District 102 Future Planning Committee worked throughout the 2010-2011 school year to produce a long-range strategic plan entitled, Learning Vision into Action, which will guide the work of the district over the next five years. This plan is dynamic and will develop continually with the inclusion of learning stories and feedback used to monitor and report our progress. It acknowledges the long-standing commitment to developing excellence in each student as stated in our district vision:

“Every day, every student will come to school and be met with learning opportunities at his or her personal developmental level in all subject areas. He or she will leave the school day having been challenged and successful and looking forward to tomorrow.”

On opening day, teacher teams gathered to analyze data and set SMART goals.

One of the four goal areas addressed by the plan is, “Personalization and Academic Rigor” which states, “Every student will participate in rigorous, engaging experiences that facilitate personalized learning and foster high self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation.” The committee set an initial strategy to continually develop and improve systems that provide feedback on student learning at the district, school, and classroom levels. To address this strategy, District 102 has consolidated achievement data from multiple systems (e.g., Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), and AIMSweb) into one system for teams to access and analyze achievement data toward the development of goals and learning targets for the 2011-2012 school year.
Just as teacher and administrative teams work throughout the school year collecting and analyzing student achievement data, this work continues over the summer as the results from the ISAT, IAA and ACCESS for ELLs tests are released by ISBE and analyzed in relation to the existing data. Teacher teams and building administrators then review the achievement data and define goals, strategies, and action steps that are strategic, measurable, and results oriented as they plan for the coming year. These teams then monitor and adjust their strategies as new data are collected and analyzed throughout the year.

In the 2010 – 2011 school year, District 102 students in second through eighth grades continued to perform well-above the norm on Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). NWEA released its 2011 Norms Study which included data collected from over 5.1 million students, 13,000 schools, and 2700 districts and all 50 states. Our students’ spring MAP scores, when compared with the mean scores of the 2011 norm group, show performance ranging from one-half year above the norm at second grade, to four grade levels above the norm group at sixth, seventh, and eighth grades in both Reading and Mathematics. Since the MAP test measures the growth of individuals from September to May, teams are able to “drill down” to specific areas such as Reading Comprehension or Number Sense to determine in what specific areas growth was made over an entire school year.

By 2014, all students are required to "Meet or Exceed State Standards" in Reading and Mathematics.

The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and Illinois Alternative Assessment (IAA) tests are given once each year (usually in early March) and are the measures by which our school district is held accountable by the Illinois State Board of Education under the law commonly known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This law requires that all schools and districts show students making “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) as measured by their attendance at school, participation on the state tests, and performance on state tests including the ISAT.

Under NCLB, states set targets for the percent of students required to meet or exceed standards each year, with a target of 100% meeting or exceeding standards by 2014. The benchmark was set at 85% in 2011 and will increase to 92.5% in 2012.
Overall results of the 2011 ISAT and IAA tests in the areas of Reading and Mathematics showed that 94.4% of students tested across all grade levels met or exceeded standards in Reading and 95.9% met or exceeded standards in Mathematics. Moreover, 97.3% of sixth grade and 96.9% of seventh grade students met or exceeded standards in Reading. 99% of fourth grade students met or exceeded standards in Mathematics.

D102 Reading and Mathematics overall performance on ISAT remains high.

NCLB requires each subgroup of students identified within the population to reach these established targets as well. A subgroup is identified within a school or district when 45 students (or more) in a particular category are enrolled. These categories include race, English proficiency, economic status, and learning disability. The subgroups identified within District 102 in 2011 were: White, Asian, Hispanic, Limited English Proficient, Economically Disadvantaged, and Students with Disabilities. Despite the 7.5% increase required for all subgroups to meet or exceed standards (from 77.5% in 2010 to 85% in 2011) only our “Students with Disabilities” subgroup did not make AYP in the areas of Reading or Mathematics at Meridian Middle School (the only school that had enough students to constitute a subgroup). At the district level, this subgroup did not make AYP in the area of Reading. What this means is that those students who were already identified as needing additional support to attain learning standards did not perform at the same level of success as those students who were not identified as needing additional support to attain learning standards. Yet each student in this subgroup made progress toward his/her established learning goals.
As a District, we will continue to work diligently to ensure that all students are making academic progress at the highest levels. We are neither comforted nor dismayed at the results of any single measure of student achievement. Rather, we are committed to continuous improvement and keeping our focus on providing each learner with the skills required to be successful, flexible, and confident leaders in a world of unprecedented change. We will continue to provide remarkable learning experiences and opportunities across all schools and grade levels. We welcome and appreciate your ongoing support and partnership as valued members of the D102 Learning Community.

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By rhudson – August 29, 2011

Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Technology Expands to 50 Classrooms in District 102

Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102 begins its third year of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) implementation with over 30% of classrooms configured for the 2009-2010 school year.

This fall, students in each of our four schools will experience classrooms and other learning environments enhanced with the latest interactive technologies. From interactive whiteboards (often referred to as “Smartboards” as facial tissue is often referred to as “Kleenex”) to student response systems (SRS) or “clickers,” interactive technology is being adopted across D102. What’s more, this adoption is being led by the teachers and the teaching and learning goals they have established – as opposed to a technology allocation plan.

Two years ago, the District began a pilot in sixteen learning environments with interactive technology solutions from five different manufacturers; Mimio, eBeam, Interwrite, SMART, and Promethean. It became clear that, in addition to the visual enhancement provided by LCD projectors, the interactive nature of these products enhanced instructional aspects and student interactions within the classroom. The addition of the clickers added a whole new dimension to the amount of feedback teachers were gathering instantly within each lesson.

“The responders are so fun because they keep me interested,” exclaimed a seventh grader during math class. “The new system is amazing,” remarks Aptakisic Junio High School Mathematics teacher Amy Liebach. “All students participate because peers wait for all to respond – and I can see what is clearly understood and what needs to be discussed further.” The responders give immediate feedback to the entire class through graphs and numbers without exposing publicly who contributed each response. Moreover, corrective instruction occurs at the moment the feedback is received rather than waiting for homework or quizzes to be scored and returned.

Earlier this year, Dr. Robert Marzano shared preliminary research findings indicating that significant student gains were attained through the use of interactive technology in classrooms when four primary conditions existed – teachers using these resources were already experienced teachers; teachers reported being comfortable using the interactive technology; teachers had used the technology for two years or more; and teachers used the technology about 75% of the time for classroom instruction. These findings support the model used to deploy this technology across District 102.

Teachers were selected for the initial pilot based on interest and prior participation in technology-rich learning activities with students. Once these “explorers” were able to share ideas and initial results with colleagues, a growing desire for expansion emerged. Through a competitive mini-grant process, “pioneers” or “early adopters” are invited to submit innovative proposals focused on student activity and engagement. These proposals also required the applicants to state their current level of proficiency with the requested technology and a professional development plan for continued growth and collaboration with peers. Once funded, these grant recipients were required to share at the team, building, district and/or Board level their successes and challenges during the grant period. From these innovators’ explorations, building leadership teams and District-level departments began plans to equip more teachers with tools that would expand learning opportunities for students. The important point to remember in this effort is that the technology alone will not transform the learning environment. Rather, transformation depends on how a teacher crafts the learning activities that would not otherwise have been possible without these interactive tools. In order for teachers to reach this point, opportunities for professional growth and collaboration are essential.

Our teachers are the innovators and leaders of this charge. They are using all available means, including carpooling to distant cities to meet and collaborate with like-minded colleagues, or pursuing advanced certification to become authorized trainers of trainers. They share “best practices” in staff meetings and across the District networks in order to bring everyone to a higher level. One group of teachers from different schools worked together to develop common units with the IWB technology. They not only shared these units with each other, they also served to support their own growth and development in their use of the new resources. One of our teachers reported recently, “It’s like having the universe in my hand, because there is no end to the universe, and there is no end to the possibilities I now have for my students.”

“When you have excellent teachers and all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place at the same time, it’s exciting,” reflects Dr. Theresa Dunkin, Superintendent. “This was a team effort and fueled by a strong working relationship between the Technology and Teaching and Learning departments who moved this forward. Everyone’s benefiting. The teachers are discovering new ways to apply teaching methods to reach students who are equally as excited about the hands-on lessons.”

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By rhudson – August 30, 2009