From L to J

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From L to J
Using Data to Track Student Progress

• Sara Dixon Lana Balletti
• Gin Fisher Jen Grzenda

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Fishbowl Activity
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Focus for this session

• To understand the purpose of moving from L to
  bell to J
• How to conduct random sampling of grade-level
  expectations
• How to effectively motivate students with
  individual and class charts

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Numerical Goals?

• Improvement means that this year is better than
  the prior year.
• Continuous improvement means each year is better
  than the last.
• Numerical goals cause confusion. If a 5 goal is
  set and the school improves 3.5, staff doesnt
  know whether to celebrate or moan.

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Failed Strategies

• Fear
• Blame
• Ranking
• Incentives
• These strategies are based upon the belief that
  you and I are the problem.

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The Wrong Statistics

• Education has patterned its statistics after
  athletics, whose aim is to have only one winner.
• Ranking keeps education from creating as many
  winners as possible.

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A Little Math

• Five incentives per day
• 180 days per school year
• Thirteen years
• Equals 11,700 incentives

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Hope comes from

• Understanding the root causes of educational
  frustration
• Having solutions to these frustrations

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Root CausesThe Jefferson Memorial
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Permission to Forget

• Beginning with first grade spelling, students
  know they have permission to forget. Sometimes
  after the test, but almost always by the end of
  the year.
• Teachers estimate they spend 1/3 of the school
  year teaching students content they should know
  prior to entering their class.

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Permission to Forget

• Four years of K-12 education is spent in review.
• Ten years of a teachers career is spent in
  review.

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Fishbowl Activity
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Harry Schroeder

• When there is no system of measurements in place
  to gauge customer satisfaction, can an
  organization genuinely say that its customers are
  a top priority?

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Purpose of Analyzing Data

• Improving learning, not improving test scores
• Alignment and continuous improvement are both
  needed
• Improved learning will result in improved test
  scores
• How to have both high standards and high success
  rates

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Standards
Low Average High
High Easy A NCLB
Average Bell Curve
Low 50 F
Success Rate
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Tracking Student Progress

• The classrooms histogram shape should progress
  from an L to a bell and finally to a J.
• This can also be used to track grade level or
  school wide data.

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L Curve
Number of Students
Beginning of the year
Percent Correct
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L Curve ? Bell Curve
Number of Students
Mid-year
Percent Correct
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L Curve ? Bell Curve ? J Curve
Number of Students
End of the year
Percent Correct
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Student Made Charts

• The place to start is with students graphing
  their own progress toward end-of-year grade level
  expectations.

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Tracking Letter Recognition
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Self-Reflection
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Random Sampling

• Random sampling from end-of-year items provides
  students a constant review of what has been
  taught and a constant preview of what is yet to
  be taught.

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Sample Size

• The square root of the total number of questions
  is an ample sample size for accurate data, if
  collected weekly or bi-weekly.
• For example, if there are 120 items to be
  mastered, you should ask 11 random questions a
  week.

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Random Selection

• Drawing from a hat or fishbowl
• www.randomizer.org
• Popsicle sticks
• Rolling dice (numbered list)
• Numbered ping-pong balls
• Bingo numbers (tumbler)
• Transparency questions

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Class Run Charts

• Used to track class, grade level, or school wide
  progress
• Can be useful in identifying trends, valleys, and
  plateaus
• Can also be used to monitor attendance,
  tardiness, referrals, etc.

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Fishbowl Activity
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Conclusion

• Most test data is designed to rank and compare
  rather than to give insight education is
  considered a contest to be won or lost.
• Insight is necessary to create a better future.
• The focus is year-to-year progress.

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Ready,
Set,
Flush!
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1. Flush your fish
2. Grab the fishbowl
3. And move from L to J!