I'm choosing to push my teaching career into a different direction... I'm applying for a coaching position in my district. I'm both excited and scared, but change has always brought great things! Part of the application process is writing a narrative about how I've increased student achievement. Below is my final copy... I'd love your feedback!
What does student achievement look like?
I think achievement looks like a smile, happiness to be at school, engaged in learning, a Proficient score on a CSAP test, creating and completing projects that demonstrate knowledge. Tracking achievement can be shown in numbers, but also through a student’s emotions and passion. I believe that student achievement can be measured in many ways.
One of the most rewarding things for me as a teacher is when students make a return visit. Just last week two 7th graders came for a visit. One of these students was far from a achiever in my 5th grade class. But as he walked down the hall to see me there was a smile on his face. :) I asked the standard question “How are your grades?” He replied with a GREAT. I don’t have the data to support this students achievement, but I know I have helped him because he came back to see me. I believe that seeing a student succeed in middle school and high school is one way to measure student achievement.
CSAP scores are another way to measure student achievement. I’ve been proctoring CSAP since it began and have appreciated the addition of ‘growth’ scores. Through these scores I saw student achievement. CSAP also showed me that having students for multiple years creates student success. As a 5/6 multi-grade teacher at Little Elementary I had the pleasure of having students in my class for two years. When reviewing CSAP data I found that 100% of the students who were in my class for two years (school years 05/06 - 06/07) were proficient on the CSAP Reading assessment in their 6th grade year. To follow up I reviewed a second group of students that I had for two years in a row. Of these students 70% were proficient/advanced on the CSAP Reading assessment, and the 30% who were not, showed typical or high growth during their 6th grade year. As I said earlier, the new growth data provided through CSAP is another informative measure of achievement.
Continuous formative data is also important. Just recently, my 1st grade students were learning about weather. They took their final assessment, which included showing that they could identify tools, forms of water and the water cycle. When I graded these papers I found that only 35% of the students were able to identify the four parts of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and run-off). I then gathered some resources to review and re-teach. After two sessions they retook the water cycle test and now 86% of the class can identify the parts of the water cycle. No matter the grade level, teachers must use data.
Does data drive our instruction? YES... but we not only need to depend on the numbers. As educators we need to continue to see the “whole” child and all the data that they bring to us. The smile or frown, the passion or boredom, +10/20 on a spelling test, or a Advanced on CSAP. It is then our charge to analyze all this information and provide the right structures and systems to support the student. All types of data drive our instruction!
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