Year 2 Student Growth and Achievement Handbook …...student achievement, you’ll continue with TC-102: Using Data to Drive Instruction. In this module, you’ll In this module, you’ll

New York Year 2 SGA Handbook © Relay Graduate School of Education. All rights reserved. 1

Year 2 Student Growth and Achievement Handbook New York Campus – Class of 2017


TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 2 WELCOME TO STUDENT GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT AT RGSE ..................................................................................... 5 THE STUDENT GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT PATHWAY .................................................................................................. 6 HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK .................................................................................................................................. 7

CHAPTER 1: MEASURING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT THE RGSE PATHWAY FOR MEASURING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT .......................................................................... 8 STEP 1: DETERMINE CONTENT ........................................................................................................................ 8 SELECTING YOUR SUBJECT FOR MEASURING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT ............................................................................ 8 STANDARDS MASTERY VS. GROWTH-BASED METHODS TO MEASURE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT .......................................... 10 SELECTING YOUR RGSE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT TRACKER ........................................................................................ 10 DETERMINING A STANDARDS MASTERY SCOPE OF INSTRUCTION.................................................................................... 11 DETERMINING A READING GROWTH SCOPE OF INSTRUCTION ....................................................................................... 12 DETERMINING A WRITING GROWTH SCOPE OF INSTRUCTION ........................................................................................ 13 CO-TEACHING AND INTERVENTIONISTS ...................................................................................................................... 13 STEP 1: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 14 STEP 1: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 14 STEP 2: SOLIDIFY ASSESSMENT PLAN ..............................................................................................................15 RGSE APPROVED ASSESSMENTS .............................................................................................................................. 15 ASSESSING STANDARDS MASTERY ............................................................................................................................ 16 ASSESSMENT ALIGNMENT ....................................................................................................................................... 16 ASSESSMENT COVERAGE ......................................................................................................................................... 16 PERIODIC VS. SINGLE OPTION FOR MEASURING STANDARDS MASTERY ........................................................................... 17 TYPES OF ASSESSMENT ITEMS .................................................................................................................................. 18 CONSTRUCTING AN ITEM MAP FOR STANDARDS MASTERY ASSESSMENTS ....................................................................... 19 STANDARDS MASTERY FAQS ................................................................................................................................... 19 ASSESSING READING GROWTH ................................................................................................................................. 21 READING GROWTH FAQS ....................................................................................................................................... 21 ASSESSING WRITING GROWTH................................................................................................................................. 22 HITTING THE ASSESSMENT CEILING ........................................................................................................................... 22 ASSESSMENT CALENDAR ......................................................................................................................................... 23 STEP 2: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 24 STEP 2: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 24 STEP 3: SET GOALS .....................................................................................................................................25 PRESCRIBED ACHIEVEMENT FLOORS & AMBITIOUS GOALS ........................................................................................... 25 THE ACHIEVEMENT FLOOR AND AMBITIOUS GOAL FOR STANDARDS MASTERY ................................................................. 27 THE ACHIEVEMENT FLOOR FOR READING GROWTH ..................................................................................................... 27 STUDENT-SPECIFIC AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR READING GROWTH ..................................................................................... 27 THE ACHIEVEMENT FLOOR AND AMBITIOUS GOAL FOR WRITING GROWTH ..................................................................... 31 FIRST ROUND OF DATA ........................................................................................................................................... 27 SETTING ALTERNATIVE AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR UNIQUE STUDENT POPULATIONS ............................................................. 31 STEP 3: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 33 STEP 3: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 33 STEP 4: TRACK PROGRESS ............................................................................................................................34 RGSE STANDARDS MASTERY TRACKER ...................................................................................................................... 34 RGSE READING GROWTH TRACKER .......................................................................................................................... 36


ROTATING READING GROUPS .................................................................................................................................. 37 ROTATING READING GROUPS FAQS ......................................................................................................................... 38 RGSE WRITING GROWTH TRACKER .......................................................................................................................... 38 MAINTAINING AN ACCURATE ROSTER ....................................................................................................................... 39 KEEPING UP WITH YOUR ASSESSMENT CALENDAR....................................................................................................... 40 STANDARDS MASTERY CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................................... 40 STAYING ON-TRACK TO MEET YOUR END-OF-YEAR GOAL ............................................................................................ 42 STEP 4: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 42 STEP 4: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 42 STEP 5: VERIFY OUTCOMES ..........................................................................................................................43 FINALIZING YOUR ROSTER ....................................................................................................................................... 43 CONFIRMING YOUR DATA IS COMPLETE .................................................................................................................... 44 CONFIRMING YOUR TRACKER IS ERROR-FREE ............................................................................................................. 44 CONFIRMING YOUR END-OF-YEAR OUTCOMES ........................................................................................................... 44 STEP 5: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 44 STEP 5: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 45 OTHER POLICIES RELATED TO MEASURING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT .....................................................................46 CREATING AN ACADEMIC PATHWAY FOR NON-CORE SUBJECTS ..................................................................................... 46 EVALUATING STANDARDS MASTERY ASSESSMENTS .................................................................................................. 49

CHAPTER 2: MEASURING CHARACTER GROWTH THE RGSE PATHWAY FOR MEASURING CHARACTER GROWTH ..............................................................................50 STEP 1: DETERMINE CONTENT .......................................................................................................................51 SELECTING A CHARACTER STRENGTH ......................................................................................................................... 51 SELECTING A ROSTER OF STUDENTS FOR CHARACTER GROWTH MEASURE ....................................................................... 52 USING THE RGSE CHARACTER GROWTH TRACKER ...................................................................................................... 52 STEP 1: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 53 STEP 1: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 53 STEP 2: SOLIDIFY ASSESSMENT PLAN ..............................................................................................................54 SELECTING CHARACTER ASSESSMENT INDICATORS: THE CHARACTER GROWTH CARD ........................................................ 54 ASSESSMENT CALENDAR ......................................................................................................................................... 55 GRADE APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS........................................................................................................... 56 OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE CHARACTER DATA .................................................................... 56 STEP 2: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 57 STEP 2: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 57 STEP 3: SET GOALS .....................................................................................................................................59 RGSE PRESCRIBED CHARACTER GROWTH GOAL ......................................................................................................... 60 STEP 3: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 60 STEP 3: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 61 STEP 4: TRACK PROGRESS ...................................................................................................................................... 62 RGSE CHARACTER GROWTH TRACKER ...................................................................................................................... 63 MAINTAINING AN ACCURATE ROSTER ....................................................................................................................... 63 KEEPING UP WITH YOUR ASSESSMENT CALENDAR ...................................................................................................... 63 STEP 4: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 64 STEP 4: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 64 STEP 5: VERIFY OUTCOMES ..........................................................................................................................65 FINALIZING YOUR ROSTER ...................................................................................................................................... 65 CONFIRMING YOUR DATA IS COMPLETE .................................................................................................................... 66 CONFIRMING YOUR TRACKER IS ERROR-FREE ............................................................................................................. 66


END OF YEAR CHARACTER DATA............................................................................................................................... 66 STEP 5: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 66 STEP 5: SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 66 FINAL THOUGHTS .......................................................................................................................................67


WELCOME TO STUDENT GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT AT RGSE Dear Relay GSE Graduate Students, Welcome to your Student Growth and Achievement (SGA) work at the Relay Graduate School of Education! We are excited to introduce this innovative part of our program and discuss how it sets us apart from other graduate schools. Historically, graduate schools of education have conferred degrees to teachers based more on inputs than outcomes.1 However, there is no evidence to suggest that having a master’s degree improves teacher skill.2 To address these fundamental issues, Relay GSE asks teachers to demonstrate the ability to lead students to academic achievement. This is a critical component of our program. In all SGA modules, teachers will focus on their students’ growth and achievement and will rigorously track their students’ progress throughout the academic year. There are myriad challenges associated with measuring student outcomes, not the least of which is norming around “enough growth and achievement,” given the variety of grade levels, subjects, and instructional contexts teachers work in every day. Furthermore, not all measures of growth and achievement are created equal. Rather than designing separate Relay-specific academic assessments, we have outlined a set of measures commonly used in schools that are acceptable as evidence of student growth and achievement at Relay GSE. In this Handbook, we will review these measures and the Relay GSE policies that go along with using them. We will also review specific policies you'll need to be aware of while driving toward your Academic and Character Goals. Throughout, we will review many examples and answer frequently asked questions in great detail. Whenever you have questions about the nuances of measuring student growth and achievement, we suggest that you first reference this handbook. If you have questions not addressed here, please contact your faculty advisor. Making student growth and achievement a critical component of earning a master’s degree in education is a fundamental tenet of Relay GSE and is a revolutionary change in the field of teacher education. For these reasons, some of these policies are still evolving. Accordingly, some of the guidance in this document may also evolve over time. Whenever changes do occur, we will notify you as soon as possible. We wish you the best of luck with your SGA coursework and look forward to working with you this year! Best,

Kaycee Salmacia Director of Student Growth and Achievement

Liam Honigsberg Assistant Director of Student Growth and Achievement

1 Inputs vs. Outcomes: Levine, A. (2006). Educating school teachers. Washington, DC: Education Schools Project.

http://www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdf

2 No evidence that having a master’s degree improves teacher skills: Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005).Teachers, schools and academic achievement. Econometrica, 73(2), 417-458.

http://www.edschools.org/pdf/Educating_Teachers_Report.pdf


THE STUDENT GROWTH AND ACHIEVEMENT PATHWAY

SGA is one of the main components of the Relay GSE academic program. Over the course of two years, you will gain the knowledge and skills needed to create accurate and meaningful measures of student growth and achievement. When the school year begins, you will embark on the important work of getting to know your students and school setting. You’ll use the information you gain about your teaching placement in SOP-112: Knowing Students, Families, and Schools to prepare for SGA-101: Year 1 Pathway. In this module, you will learn why great teachers set goals for their students and how you can set ambitious and feasible Academic Goals for your own students. You’ll be introduced to the RGSE Pathway to Student Achievement—the main content of this Handbook—and will begin to get your first “at bats” at the knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to be a great data-driven educator. After a few months of driving toward your Academic Goals and tracking your student achievement, you’ll continue with TC-102: Using Data to Drive Instruction. In this module, you’ll practice analyzing and responding to student achievement data and you’ll have the opportunity to write your first data-driven action plan. At the end of the year, you’ll finish up with SGA-102: Year 1 Outcomes. In this final module, you’ll take stock of what you and your students have achieved, you will have the opportunity to celebrate progress, and you will reflect on what you want to achieve in Year 2 of your SGA coursework. With one year of SGA work under your belt, you’ll be ready to begin the new academic year by writing your year-long Pathway in SGA-201: Year 2 Pathway. In addition to reviewing the Academic Pathway and learning how to set up year-long Academic Goals, you’ll set up a parallel Pathway for Measuring Character Growth. Like the Academic Pathway, the Pathway to Measuring Character Growth provides an approach for accurately and meaningfully measuring character outcomes. Throughout the year, you’ll have data check-ins with your faculty advisor in SGA-202: Academic & Character Progress to ensure that you and your students are on track toward meeting your goals. In your next data-driven instruction module, TC-202: Using Data to Drive Interventions, you will learn how to respond to your data and create small-group and individual interventions to ensure meaningful outcomes for all of your students. As you approach the conclusion of the year, you will report on and reflect upon student performance by writing your Data Narrative in SGA-204: Year 2 Outcomes. The Data Narrative will include an analysis and an accompanying report that tells the story of your student achievement data and outlines possible next steps for further increasing student learning. Concurrently in the spring, you’ll begin drafting your Master’s Defense in SGA-210: The Master’s Defense. You will film a teacher showcase video to highlight your best teaching, and you will prepare to defend your teaching before earning your Master’s Degree. Your SGA coursework will culminate with the submission of your final Master’s Defense Portfolio and an in-person presentation of your Oral Defense. One of the keys to your success in the SGA coursework is following the RGSE Pathways for Measuring Academic Achievement and Character Growth. The RGSE Pathways are a best-practice approach for accurately and meaningfully measuring student outcomes. You’ll apply the Pathway approach in Year 1 and Year 2 of your SGA coursework and will see it interwoven in all of your SGA modules. The upcoming section reviews the best way to use this Handbook and introduces the Pathway approach. There is a lot of exciting work ahead, so let’s get started!


HOW TO USE THIS HANDBOOK Is 82% a high score or a low score? If all of your students finished the year with an 82% average test score, would you be proud? Some of you who teach 1st grade may say, “No way! 82% is a B minus grade! That’s not good.” Some of you who teach Advanced Placement US History may say, “Yes! 82% earns a strong five on the AP test. It would be awesome if my students could average such a high score!” Many of you may say, “It depends.” Indeed, it does depend. It depends on how much (breadth) of the material was taught. It depends on the extent (depth) to which the material was taught. It depends on the quality, rigor, and alignment of the assessments that were administered. It depends on when and how frequently the content was assessed. It depends on how the overall “average” was calculated and what counted or didn’t count in the aggregate computation. It depends on other factors, too. In summary, it depends on how accurately and meaningfully student achievement was measured. We’ve designed the entire SGA curriculum to guide you toward creating accurate and meaningful measures of student achievement. We want you to end the school year with great results, and we want you to be able to hang your hat on those results, knowing proudly that the numbers accurately and meaningfully represent your students’ success. This handbook is organized to provide you with a comprehensive, singular resource for answering your SGA questions. It is divided into two chapters: Measuring Academic Achievement and Measuring Character Growth. In each chapter, the handbook’s sequence mirrors the steps of the Pathways. The Pathways are five-step sequences that follow a logical progression, beginning with determining the content you will measure for your SGA coursework and proceeding through solidifying your assessment plan, setting goals, tracking progress, and finally, verifying outcomes. Our recommendation is that you initially read this handbook once, from beginning to end. Moving forward, we advise you to refer to the section of the handbook that parallels your progress in the SGA sequence. For example, as you are working to finalize your assessment plan for measuring academic achievement, please reference the section devoted to “Step 2: Solidify Assessment Plan” in the Measuring Academic Achievement chapter. Now, let’s begin with Step 1 of the RGSE Pathway for Measuring Academic Achievement!


CHAPTER 1: THE RGSE PATHWAY FOR MEASURING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT STEP 1: DETERMINE CONTENT

SELECTING YOUR SUBJECTS FOR MEASURING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT Depending on your placement, you might find yourself teaching from as few as one subject (e.g., 6th grade mathematics) to as many as eight subjects (e.g., a multiple subject elementary teacher who is also responsible for teaching PE, music, and art). Regardless of your teaching placement you will measure one subject for your SGA coursework. You will focus your attention to a single academic goal that will be emblematic of your success as a teacher. It will serve as your primary touch point for an ongoing conversation to build your data literacy skills, strengthening your ability to critically consume all types of data that you encounter. In most cases this means that elementary teachers will be held responsible for measuring student achievement for math or English language arts (ELA), and secondary teachers will be held responsible for measuring student achievement for their core content and/or homeroom class. Here are some examples: Multiple Subject Elementary Classrooms If you teach in a traditional multiple subject elementary classroom, you will be responsible for measuring student achievement for one subject. This subject should represent the core curriculum of your class and should be the subject in which you have the greatest impact on your students’ achievement. In almost all cases, this will include math and ELA. However, if you are not responsible for teaching ELA or math, you may


select other core subjects such as social studies or science. You will be responsible for measuring student achievement for all students in your class. Single Subject Secondary Classrooms If you teach in a traditional secondary classroom, meaning that you teach one area of content for one grade level, you will be responsible for measuring student achievement for this subject for one class. This class will either be the group of students with whom you spend the most time, or your largest class roster of students. This will may be your homeroom class. Multiple Subject Secondary Classrooms If you teach in a secondary classroom and teach two or more subjects, you will be responsible for measuring student achievement for one subject. To select the best subject, please choose the subject that is closest to your core curriculum, or the subject where you teach the largest number of students. For instance, if you are a humanities teacher who teaches two periods of English and two periods of social studies, you will be responsible for measuring student achievement for English. If you are a science teacher who teaches one class of honors physics, three classes of physics, and one class of chemistry, you will be responsible for measuring student achievement for physics for one class of students. This class will either be the group of students with whom you spend the most time, or your largest class roster of students. This may be your homeroom class. In the following chart, you will see a few real-life examples of how Relay GSE graduate students have selected subjects to measure for SGA coursework at RGSE. Table 1: Sample Subjects to Measure Student Achievement for SGA Coursework at RGSE

Teaching Placement Subject to Measure

Description / Rationale

I teach 3rd grade, which includes reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.

1 subject: math OR reading

When possible (and appropriate), multiple subject elementary teachers should measure math OR reading since these subjects best represent the core curriculum. When choosing between math OR reading, consider where you spend the majority of your instructional time, and which subject of focus will be in the best interest of your students.

I’m a co-teacher in a 1st grade classroom. I teach a reading group every day as well as either science or social studies, depending on the day.

1 subject: reading, science, OR social studies

When reading is an option and appropriate based on your students’ reading levels, you will almost always measure reading. Between science and social studies, you should select: (A) the subject with the greatest number of students, (B) the subject that you teach for the greatest number of days, and/or (C) the subject closest to your school’s core curriculum.

I’m a high school world history teacher.

1 subject: world history

This is straightforward. You will measure world history for the class with whom you spend the most time and/or the class with the largest roster of students.

I teach three classes of 8th grade life science and two classes of 8th grade honors life science.

1 subject: 8th grade life science

In this situation you will measure 8th grade life science since this is the subject you spend the most time teaching.

I teach 2 classes of 5th grade ELA, 1 class of 6th grade ELA, and 2 classes of 5th grade study skills. (I’m filling in for the study skills teacher who is on maternity leave).

1 subject: 5th grade ELA

You should select 5th grade ELA. Although you likely have a similar amount of students in your study skills classes, you should not choose to measure those classes for Relay because (A) you aren’t the study skills teacher for the whole year, and (B) study skills, while important, is not as close to the core curriculum as ELA.


I teach 7th grade writing. 1 subject: writing

This is straightforward. You will measure writing for one class.

I teach 8th grade ELA (some students are reading above grade level, and some are reading way below grade level).

1 subject: ELA OR reading

There are some instances where your students’ baseline results will influence the subject you measure. In this case an ELA goal may not be feasible for your students reading below grade level, and measuring reading skills may not be ambitious for all students reading above grade level. Given this, you should choose the most appropriate measure for the majority of your students. More on this below.

I teach two classes of Algebra 1, two classes of geometry, and two classes of Algebra 2.

1 subject: Class with greatest number of students

Assuming you spend the same amount of instructional time in all subjects, you should select the class with the greatest number of students.

STANDARDS MASTERY VS. GROWTH-BASED METHODS TO MEASURE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Once you select the subject you will measure, you are ready to confirm the appropriate method for measuring academic achievement in that subject. There are three methods used to measure student achievement for your work at Relay GSE, described below:

Standards mastery measures students’ knowledge of a particular set of standards-based content,

and is best suited for subjects where the curriculum is based on a predefined set of standards that all students must learn by the end of the year. Some examples of subjects suited to standards mastery measures are 3rd grade math, 6th grade ELA, 8th grade social studies, 9th grade earth science, and Spanish 1.

Reading growth measures students’ reading achievement using a growth-based metric wherein students’ reading levels from start-of-year are compared against students’ reading levels at end-of-year. The difference between starting reading levels and ending reading levels provides an indication of how much students’ reading skills have improved. Reading growth measures are most appropriate when students are starting the year reading below grade level and/or ELA instruction is reading-specific.

Writing growth measures students’ writing achievement using a growth-based metric wherein students' start-of-year scores on a designated six traits writing rubric are compared against students’ end-of-year scores on the same writing rubric. The difference in average starting rubric scores and average ending rubric scores provides an indication of how much students’ writing skills have improved. Writing growth measures may be used in all grade levels but are most appropriate in secondary settings.

SELECTING YOUR RGSE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT TRACKER Once you have selected the subject you will measure for your Academic Pathway and identified the method you will use to measure student achievement in that subject, you will select the aligned RGSE academic achievement tracker. We require that you use RGSE trackers for all your SGA modules. While we recognize that you may leverage trackers you’ve received from your school and other partners, these tools will not allow you to calculate students’ progress toward your goal at RGSE. The RGSE trackers have been designed specifically to report student achievement results in ways that are aligned to the RGSE Pathway to Student Achievement and are comparable across graduate students. Because of these reasons, it is our expectation that graduate students use these trackers throughout the program. In future steps of the Pathway you’ll learn more about how to use the RGSE student achievement trackers. For now, please focus on selecting the tracker that aligns to your selected subject and method. There are three Year 2 RGSE student achievement trackers:


1. Standards Mastery Tracker 2. Reading Growth Tracker for Year 2 3. Writing Growth Tracker for Year 2

DETERMINING A STANDARDS MASTERY SCOPE OF INSTRUCTION In previous eras, not all teachers were responsible for determining their scope of instruction. Instead, many were simply given a textbook at the start of the year and told, “Teach this, chapter one through the last chapter, and everything in between.” At Relay GSE, we believe that you should begin the academic year by sitting down with the curriculum and working to establish what material should be taught, in what order, and along what timelines. In short, you must determine your set of standards. Determining Your Set of Standards A standards mastery “set of standards” is the list of standards you will be responsible for teaching and assessing over the school year. Rather than Relay GSE defining the standards you must teach and assess, we believe that you should be responsible for measuring the standards appropriate to your school, network, district, and/or state setting with an appropriate level of breadth and depth. Below are the guidelines for selecting your list of standards:

The state of New York has adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Therefore, if CCSS standards exist for your grade/subject, you should select 100% of the CCSS standards as your set of standards.

If you are teaching in a grade/subject for which there are no CCSS Standards, you may elect to teach 100% of the New York State Standards, professional standards, or school-created power standards for your grade and subject as your set of standards.

In addition to these guidelines, there may be circumstances under which you choose to assess a different set of standards and/or a prioritized set of standards. Selecting Standards Other Than the CCSS When you Teach in a CCSS Grade/Subject There may be instances in which you teach in a CCSS grade/subject, but want to measure a different set of standards for your Pathway. One example of this is if you teach in a school or network that chooses to assess a set of school-created power standards instead of the CCSS. Assessing your school-created power standards would make more sense in this instance since this is the actual content that you will be teaching throughout the school year. If you elect to select a set of standards other than the CCSS, you must provide the following information in your Academic Pathway:

Present compelling rationale for using an alternative set of standards. Why is this set of standards better aligned to your teaching placement?

Describe how your alternative set of standards compares in breadth and depth to the CCSS for your grade and subject. How many more or fewer standards will you be assessing? What content is similar? What content is different?

Your faculty advisor will approve your alternative set of standards if she believes the standards are better aligned to your teaching placement, that they include a sufficient amount of breadth and depth, and that they are in the best interest of students. Selecting a Prioritized Set of Standards When selecting a set of standards, you should always start with 100% of the designated standards for your grade/subject. However, there may be instances in which you want to create a prioritized set of standards. One example of this is if your school has created an adapted scope and sequence based on the CCSS.


Perhaps your school has made an informed decision to teach and assess the majority, but not all, of the CCSS for your grade and subject this year. Another example is if you diagnosed your students at the beginning of the year and learned that they are multiple levels below grade level in your subject. Due to this finding you may choose to select prioritized—or the most important—standards for your grade and subject and supplement your standards scope with remedial standards from a previous grade. A final example is if you diagnosed your students at the beginning of the year and learned that they are performing above grade level in your subject. In this instance, you may want to add standards from the next grade level to your set of standards for the year. All of these examples require getting to know your standards in detail at the beginning of the year and making an informed, data-driven decision about what is appropriate for your students. If you select a prioritized set of standards, you must provide the following information in your Academic Pathway:

Present compelling rationale for using a prioritized set of standards. Why is this set of standards better aligned to your teaching placement?

Describe how your prioritized set of standards compares in breadth and depth to 100% of the designated standards for your grade and subject. How many more or fewer standards will you be assessing? What content is similar? What content is different?

Your faculty advisor will approve your alternative set of standards if she believes the standards are better aligned to your teaching placement, that they include a sufficient amount of breadth and depth, and that they are in the best interest of students. A Note on Sufficient Breadth and Depth For a set of standards to demonstrate sufficient breadth and depth, it should reflect the span and complexity of a yearlong curriculum. For example: In a course entitled “US Geography,” a set of standards that only addresses geography in 30 out of 50 states would lack breadth. A set of standards that only addresses the geospatial topography (and nothing more) of all 50 states would lack depth. A set of standards with sufficient breadth and depth would address the human geography and physical geography of all 50 states. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been written to reflect the span and complexity of a yearlong curriculum. If you have selected a set of standards other than CCSS, your faculty advisor may ask you to defend the quality of your standards and their ability to balance the need for sufficient breadth and depth. The Importance of Confirming Your Set of Standards Once you have selected your set of standards, they are set. What happens if you run out of time in the school year and fail to teach your full set of standards to your students? Running out of time and not teaching certain content is no different from unsuccessfully teaching that same content. Either way, the result is identical—students are unprepared for the next grade level because they missed key material. In addition, it is impossible to accurately and meaningfully measure student achievement if the goalposts are not held firmly in place throughout the year. For this reason, we urge you to carefully backwards-plan to ensure that you select an appropriate set of standards for your students to master at the beginning of the year.

DETERMINING A READING GROWTH SCOPE OF INSTRUCTION Reading growth, unlike standards mastery, is based on students’ holistic reading ability rather than mastery of discrete standards. The ultimate goal of teaching and assessing students’ reading growth is to help students read on a higher grade level at the end of the year than they did at the beginning of the year. Because of the unique nature of teaching and assessing reading growth, you will not have to select a set of standards for this subject. Please note that reading growth is an acceptable achievement measure for students on pre-kindergarten to upper-sixth-grade reading levels.


DETERMINING A WRITING GROWTH SCOPE OF INSTRUCTION Selecting a writing growth scope and sequence is also a fairly simple process. Writing growth is based on students’ holistic writing ability rather than mastery of discrete standards. The ultimate goal of teaching and assessing students’ writing growth is to help students write at a higher level of sophistication at the end of the year than they did at the beginning of the year. Because of the unique nature of teaching and assessing writing growth, you will not have to select a set of standards for this subject. Please note that writing growth is an acceptable achievement measure for all grade levels, but it is most appropriate in secondary settings.

CO-TEACHING AND INTERVENTIONISTS We recognize that some teachers may be instructing in settings where you share teaching responsibility with another instructor. If you are a co-teacher or an interventionist, and you share responsibility for teaching certain content to your students, please read on. If this situation does not apply to you, and you are the only teacher responsible for teaching and assessing the content you’ve selected for your SGA coursework, feel free to move on to the end of this section to answer the qualifying questions for Step 1 of the Academic Pathway. If you are in a co-teaching or interventionist placement, you probably have questions about how to determine your content and scope of instruction as it relates to the material that you personally will be teaching. If your class is taught a standard but not by you personally, should it count toward the content for which you are held responsible? What if you and another teacher both instruct a standard together? Obviously, a co-teaching situation makes it more challenging to ascertain which achievement results should be attributed to which teacher. To address this issue we have created the following options to help co-teachers make informed decisions about determining their particular curricular coverage. We have established two options for teachers in co-teaching situations. We encourage you to select the option that best allows you to link your instruction to student achievement results and that is in the best interest of all of your students.

Shared Content and Students If you choose this option, you will accept the overall data for ALL the students in your class and ALL the scope of instruction they are taught. You will likely choose this option if you share instructional control over what happens within your classroom even if you do not personally teach all students all of the time, or all content all of the time.

Example: You co-plan and co-teach 3rd grade math with your co-teacher. You do not separate your planning by standards and do not separate your students into consistent groups for math instruction. Even if you wanted to claim credit for specific standards or specific students, it would be impossible to do so since you both had a hand in planning and teaching nearly all standards and nearly all students.

Divided Content and/or Students If you choose this option, you will be responsible for a set of students or a portion of your scope of instruction. You should choose this option if you do NOT share instructional control over what happens within your classroom and you feel that your overall student achievement results will not accurately reflect the impact of your instruction.

Example #1: You are only responsible for teaching reading to 15 of your 30 students this year and do not have input on what reading instruction takes place with your other 15 students. You know this grouping will remain consistent throughout the year.


Example #2: You are responsible for lead teaching 50% of your math standards and your co-teacher is responsible for lead teaching the remaining 50%. You do not have input on the instruction for the 50% of standards that you are not lead teaching.

STEP 1: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS To successfully complete Step 1 of the Pathway you should be able to answer the following qualifying questions:

1. Have you selected the subject that best matches the content for which you are primarily responsible?

2. Have you selected a mastery or growth goal? 3. Have you selected the appropriate RGSE tracker? 4. Standards Mastery: Have you selected an appropriate set of standards with sufficient breadth and

depth? 5. Full-time co-teachers: Have you selected an appropriate shared-data option?

STEP 1: SUMMARY By this stage, you should know what subject you are measuring for your SGA coursework, as well as the scope of instruction for each subject you’ve selected. Congratulations! You are ready to move on to Step 2: Solidify Assessment Plan.


STEP 2: SOLIDIFY ASSESSMENT PLAN

Your next step in the RGSE Pathway to Student Achievement is to create an assessment plan that allows you to rigorously measure student learning with assessments that are tightly aligned to your scope of instruction. This is your key lever for demonstrating your ability to drive student achievement. At the end of the year, you should be able to say: “This scope of instruction is what I planned to teach, and it is exactly what I taught. To measure learning of these standards, I administered this rigorous set of assessments, and my students excelled. I am therefore confident that they learned the material.” Remember, you could be the best teacher in the world, but absent robust assessment, you will have no way to fully prove your effectiveness or to know if your students actually learned what you taught. Now that you know the content you’ll be teaching and assessing this year, we’ll begin by introducing the RGSE-approved assessments for each subject, and then we’ll dive into the specific considerations you’ll need to address for standards mastery, reading growth, and writing growth assessments.

RGSE-APPROVED ASSESSMENTS From a psychometric, research, and fairness perspective, it would be best if each RGSE graduate student administered a common RGSE assessment. However, given the number of assessments your students already take, and given that assessments and instruction should be harmoniously aligned, we have opted to approve a set of assessments that are probably already in use at your school and in your classroom. Table 2 outlines a set of measures commonly used in schools that are acceptable as evidence of student achievement. You may solidify your assessment plan from the list of approved measures below.


Table 2: Approved Measures of Student Achievement

Subject Assessments

Mathematics RGSE-approved,1 teacher-constructed2 or teacher-acquired3 math assessments measuring mastery of your selected set of standards

English Language Arts

RGSE-approved, teacher-constructed or teacher-acquired ELA assessments measuring mastery your selected set of standards

Science RGSE-approved, teacher-constructed or teacher-acquired science assessments measuring mastery of your selected set of standards

Social Studies RGSE-approved, teacher-constructed or teacher-acquired social studies assessments measuring mastery of your selected set of standards

Reading Growth

DRA2 (Grades K-8) (Note, not DRA)

Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System (Grades K-8)

Reading A to Z (Grades K-8)

Rigby (Grades K-3)

STEP Reading Assessment (Grades K-3)

Teachers College Reading & Writing Project Reading Assessment (Grades K-8)

Writing Growth

RGSE-approved, teacher-constructed or teacher-acquired 6 traits writing rubric and scored grade level anchor paper

Other Subjects

RGSE-approved, teacher-constructed or teacher-acquired assessments and/or rubrics measuring mastery/growth on national standards, state standards, professional organization standards, or power standards

1 The RGSE approval process is explained in greater detail in the later section “Evaluating Assessments”

2 “Teacher-constructed” assessments refer to those written by the teacher and/or peer collaborators

3 “Teacher-acquired” assessments refer to externally created exams, e.g. NWEA tests, district I.A.s, SAT-10, etc.

ASSESSING STANDARDS MASTERY If you are measuring student achievement for a standards mastery subject, you should assess student learning on a continued basis—this includes daily exit slips, homework, quizzes, tests, unit exams, midterms, etc. Although you may leverage many different types of formative assessments to adjust your instruction in real-time, in order to measure academic achievement you will use sizeable, summative assessments such as unit tests, quarterly assessments, or midterm exams. Data from these sizeable summative assessments can be used to make inferences about student achievement in your classroom and will serve as the optimal measures of standards mastery. Standards mastery is a meaningful measure of students’ achievement if three conditions are met:

1. The standards taught and assessed are at an appropriate level of rigor. 2. The assessment items adequately cover the standards. 3. The assessments consist of rigorous, high-quality items aligned to these standards.

If any of these three elements are missing, numerical measures of standards mastery lose their meaning.

ASSESSMENT ALIGNMENT Whatever assessments you choose, one of the first steps you will take in solidifying your assessment plan is to ensure that the assessments you are using to measure standards mastery are aligned to your set of standards.


First, you will make sure that your assessments assess your standards at the intended level of rigor for your grade and subject. This means that a student who has fully mastered the content could earn a 100% score on each assessment. Examples of assessments that do not meet this criteria would be an assessment that only assesses grade level standards at the lowest level of Bloom’s (this would be lower than the intended level of rigor for the grade and subject), or an assessment that assesses beyond grade level expectation or uses discriminating items such that a proficient student would earn only a 50% score on the exam (this would be higher than the intended level of rigor for the grade and subject). Second, you should make sure that your assessment questions align directly to your set of standards. This means that all questions on your assessments should assess your set of standards and your set of standards only. Examples of assessments that do not meet this criteria would be one that assesses standards not in your set of standards, one that assesses standards before you teach them (i.e. doesn’t align to the sequence of your instructional scope), or one that fails to assess all of your standards by end-of-year. A Note on Assessment Alignment We encourage you to use all of the assessments and/or question items at your disposal whenever that’s possible, rather than writing your own question items. However, if you leverage these existing resources, please do so with care. You should use these resources only if they are truly aligned to your set of standards. Before selecting any assessment tool, please first ensure that the questions are assessing the intended level of rigor for the standard and that the assessment questions align directly to your set of standards.

ASSESSMENT COVERAGE Once the content of your assessments is fully aligned to your set of standards, you must also ensure that you have adequate assessment coverage. Most standards are sized to include several concepts and skills within the single standard. It is difficult to gauge mastery of those standards with results from only a single assessment item. At the same time, it can also be difficult to administer a large number of items to assess each and every standard. Making an inference about student learning from only one item per standard is a flawed approach, but requiring too many assessment items per standard can take away from important instructional time and is not always feasible. Because of this, we require what we believe is a sufficient but not overwhelming amount of standards mastery coverage. In order to obtain an accurate measure of mastery, standards should be assessed on multiple occasions or with multiple items. As described below, there are strict guidelines for the number of assessment items that must be administered for each standard before a standard is adequately covered.

PERIODIC VS. SINGLE OPTION FOR MEASURING STANDARDS MASTERY All teachers who measure standards mastery will have two options for collecting data to demonstrate the degree of standards mastery that students have achieved by the end of the year. These two options vary in the number of assessment instances that count toward the overall measure of standards mastery and the number of assessment items needed per standard. Periodic Assessment Option:

If you choose this option, you will measure standards mastery based on results from an average of multiple periodic assessments throughout the academic year. Each of these rounds of assessments is assumed to be summative and therefore each will count toward the overall measure of standards mastery. You may only use assessments that are equivalent to unit tests or larger in scope (e.g., not weekly quizzes) to ensure adequate retention of content. Across the year, you must have a minimum of 3 items per standard, covering 100% of your set of standards. Please note that these items may come from more than one of your assessments, but you’ll need to have at least three items per standard, cumulatively, across your assessments.


Single Assessment Option:

If you choose this option, you will measure standards mastery based on results from a single, summative assessment. It alone will count toward the overall measure of standards mastery. On this assessment, you must have a minimum of 2 items per standard, covering at least 50% of your set of standards. Please note that if you select this option you will still be responsible for collecting at least three other rounds of formative data throughout the year, but your Goal will be measured by one single, comprehensive, end-of-term summative assessment.

Failure to assess your set of standards makes it impossible to accurately and meaningfully measure academic achievement. If you are using the Periodic Option to measure standards mastery, you must assess 100% of the standards in your instructional scope with a minimum of 3 items per standard. If this requirement is not met, because there will be insufficient data from which an inference about students’ achievement can be drawn, a score of zero must be assigned for every item for every standard that was not fully covered. Again, any standards that are indicated as part of your instructional scope but are not assessed will be scored as zeroes, since there is zero evidence of mastery of those standards.

The same rule will be applied if you are using the Single Option and do not meet the requirement of assessing at least 50% of your set of standards with a minimum of 2 items per standard. Please be thoughtful and plan ahead to ensure that you will adequately cover your set of standards.

A Note on Selecting an Assessment Option The Periodic Option allows you to assess each standard multiple times soon after the standard has been taught, while student retention is highest. The Single Option allows you to assess standards at the end of the year when students have been given multiple opportunities to master the content. There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach, and one could argue that either approach provides greater reliability, or that either approach is a better reflection of true student learning. Please think carefully about which option aligns to your instructional situation, your students’ needs, and your assessment calendar.

A Note on Frequency of Standards Mastery Assessments Regardless of whether you select the Periodic Option or the Single Option, you will be required to submit data from at least four rounds of assessment by the end of the school year. Good pedagogical practice means regular monitoring and modifying of instruction based on data. Thus, we require the collection of multiple rounds of data. For the Periodic Option, these multiple rounds of data will all count toward your year-long measure of standards mastery. For the Single Option, while multiple rounds of data that precede your summative assessment will enable data-driven instruction, only the final assessment instance will count toward your year-long measure of standards mastery.

TYPE OF ASSESSMENT ITEMS There are two question types you will use to construct your item map—multiple choice and open response. Multiple-choice items are comprised of a question stem and usually four to five alternative answers. Alternative answers contain one correct answer and several distractors. Open-response questions vary from short fill-in-the-blank questions to longer performance-based tasks. Fill-in-the-blank questions can range from completion items, where a student responds to an incomplete statement, to short-answer items where a student responds to a brief question. Performance-based tasks are longer open-response assessments, such as social studies document-based questions or science experiments. All assessment items, regardless of type, should always be high-quality questions that yield valid inferences about student learning.

No matter the type of open-response question, you should always know the correct answer for a question before administering your assessment. For multiple-choice questions and short open-response items, this is


simple. However, you must also know the correct answer for longer open-response questions. For open-response questions with greater complexity, length, and point value, you will likely want to use a short rubric to evaluate student responses. If your open-response question is worth five points and requires a paragraph response, what response will earn a student one point versus three points or five points? For more information about how to track performance-based assessments, please see Step 4: Track Progress.

CONSTRUCTING AN ITEM MAP FOR STANDARDS MASTERY ASSESSMENTS To measure students’ mastery of a set of standards, you must administer assessments with items (questions) that measure mastery of each particular standard. A proper mapping of items to standards guarantees that you will have the capacity to accurately quantify students’ mastery across all standards. For this reason, we request that results for every standards mastery assessment be accompanied by an item map showing the alignment between individual items and the associated standard they are assessing. A snapshot example of an item map can be seen below:

This item map defines the relationship between each item on an assessment and the standard that is being assessed. Notice that some standards are repeated because they are being assessed with multiple items (for example, 2.OA.A.1, which is assessed by questions #1 and #2). You will be expected to define this relationship for the set of assessments that you administer. Each item on an item map should possess a 1:1 alignment to a specific standard, meaning that each item is assessing a single standard. This provides a clear picture of student performance on each particular standard. If you administer a multi-pronged question that measures multiple standards, you will need to restructure the scoring of that item. For example, a complex open-response question worth three points that assesses three standards can be restructured as three individual questions, each assessing a single standard.

STANDARDS MASTERY FAQS Q: How is the metric for standards mastery computed? A: “Standards mastery” is calculated as an average of averages that weights each standard equally when computing the overall average standards mastery. First, individual student performance across assessment questions is averaged on a standard-by-standard basis. Next, overall classroom performance is averaged across those individual standards. The “overall average standards mastery” summarizes student performance across all students, across all standards. Below, you will see a snapshot of a portion of a fictitious assessment demonstrating how standards mastery is computed. It uses the same item map as the image above, with student data included. There are six total assessment items assessing two different standards (2.OA.A.1 and 2.OA.B.2), and each assessment question is worth 1 point. Notice that the standards mastery for each individual standard is 50% and 100%,


respectively. The overall average standards mastery is 75%, the average standards mastery across the two standards.

Note (above) that the overall average standards mastery is not equal to the overall assessment average. The two students on this fictitious assessment each performed equally well, answering 5 out of 6 questions correctly. Their test scores would each be 83.3%, and the Overall Assessment Average would also be 83.3%, which is slightly higher than the 75% Overall Average Standards Mastery. The former is a test grade, and the latter is a measure of standards mastery. Q: What would be the advantage of choosing the Periodic Option to measure standards mastery? It seems like less work to select the Single Option. A: You must collect and submit multiple rounds of data, regardless of which option you select. Thus, neither option represents less work in assessing and reporting your students’ standards mastery. Q: What happens if I get to the end of the year and realize that I have not assessed all of the standards in my instructional scope, and that I have assessed some of the standards with only one item? A: Assuming you are using the Periodic Option, across the year you must have a minimum of 3 items per standard, covering 100% of the standards in your instructional scope. Any standard showing insufficient coverage must be tested further, or a score of zero must be assigned for every item for every standard that was not fully covered. Although quizzes are not considered an approved measure of academic achievement, to ensure complete coverage at the end of the year it is acceptable to count results from one “coverage quiz” toward the measure of Standards Mastery.


Q: What happens if I don’t write my own midterms and my department administers an assessment that contains items linked to standards I haven’t yet taught or that aren’t part of my instructional scope? A: A reliable measure of academic achievement assesses student performance on the standards in your instructional scope after you teach those standards. If you are not the author of the assessments you are using to measure academic achievement, it is possible that those assessments might include an extraneous item aligned to a standard you have not yet taught (or are not slated to teach, per your instructional scope). In this case, you should not include assessment data for that item in your tracker and should ensure you will assess that standard at a later date (if applicable). Q: What happens if I don’t write my own interim assessments and my battery of assessments doesn’t assess each standard with a minimum of 3 items per standard over the course of the year? A: If you are not the author of your own assessments, you should make every effort to obtain upfront information about the standards that will be assessed in each assessment instance, and the frequency with which they will be assessed across the year. If you cannot ensure that every standard in your instructional scope will be assessed, and you cannot review the yearlong set of item maps, you may want to include an optional end-of-year assessment in your assessment calendar as a placeholder assessment. If 100% coverage is met by the end of the year, you may skip the optional assessment. If 100% of coverage is not met by the end of the year, you may administer an additional teacher-created or teacher-compiled assessment containing the necessary items to ensure 100% standards mastery coverage.

ASSESSING READING GROWTH If you are measuring reading growth, you must use a Relay-approved reading growth assessment to quantify change in reading level from start-of-goal to end-of-year. This requires the following steps:

1. Collect baseline data. 2. Assess your students four times by the end-of-year. 3. Use a consistent reading growth assessment throughout the year and test under the same

conditions.

READING GROWTH FAQS Q: I’m a middle school ELA teacher. Should I be responsible for measuring student achievement for reading growth or ELA standards mastery? A: It may be appropriate for some middle school ELA and reading teachers to measure reading growth (typically by using the Fountas and Pinnell or Teachers College Reading and Writing Project running records). This choice is appropriate for middle school teachers whose students are reading below grade level. If you are a middle school ELA or reading teacher whose students are reading at or above grade level, measuring reading growth is unlikely to be an appropriate choice. In fact, since these running records reach their ceiling at an 8th grade level, they will not allow your students to demonstrate any reading growth throughout the year. In this instance, you will to be responsible for measuring student achievement for ELA standards mastery. To make the best decision, you will ultimately need to diagnose your students’ reading levels. Q: I’ve identified that reading growth is a meaningful measure for my students this year. However, the reading growth assessment my school uses isn’t on the Relay GSE list of approved reading growth assessments. What should I do? A: Please share this assessment with your Faculty advisor. She will share this assessment with the SGA Team and we will evaluate the assessment against the other approved reading growth measures. If the assessment meets the same criteria as the other approved assessments, it will be added to the list of Relay-approved assessments and you may use it for your Academic Pathway. If the team finds that this assessment does not meet the same criteria as the other approved assessments, you will need to use a


Relay-approved reading growth assessment for your baseline and end-of-year rounds of data. However, you are welcome to use your school-based assessment for all other rounds of reading growth data you collect this year.

ASSESSING WRITING GROWTH Selecting a Rubric and Growth Metrics for Writing One of the most important steps in solidifying a writing growth assessment plan is to select the rubric you will use to assess your students. To make your writing growth data as accurate as possible, it is important that you use one consistent rubric over the school year. By using a consistent assessment tool, you will be best able to gauge your students’ writing growth across individual writing traits. Because of this, you will use a 6 traits rubric to measure your students’ writing growth. Since schools, districts, and networks use a variety of different writing rubrics, we do not require that you use a specific Relay GSE writing rubric; rather, you may use a four-point, five-point, or six-point 6 traits rubric. Selecting and Scoring an Anchor Paper As important as your rubric may be, your assessment toolkit will not be complete until you have an appropriate grade-level anchor paper. Why? Because an anchor paper serves as a benchmark for proficient grade-level writing for the grade that you teach. Let’s say you teach sixth- and eighth-grade writing, but your middle school uses the same traits-based writing rubric across your entire school. Without an anchor paper, your sixth and eighth graders would be held to the same standard even though they are two years apart. What you would need is a sample of proficient level writing for sixth grade and another for eighth grade to “anchor” your scoring. Anchor papers are equally important if you are using a grade-specific rubric because they serve as a concrete example of proficient grade-level writing for both you and your students. Along with your writing rubric, you will also be asked to submit a scored anchor paper for the grade you teach. Your scored anchor paper should represent proficient level writing for your grade. Baseline and End-of-Year Writing Assessments For growth-based goals, in order to measure the most accurate amount of growth, it is important that you have an “apples-to-apples” measure. For writing growth, there are two steps you can take to ensure this apples-to-apples measure. First, you need to select a baseline and end-of-year assessment that are of the same writing type—either an on-demand writing piece or a process-based writing piece. Second, you need to ensure that you are assessing the same general genre—either informative/explanatory, argument, or narrative. The table below illustrates the six types of assessment options you can use to assess writing growth.


Table 3: Writing Growth Assessment Options

Baseline Assessment End-of-Year Assessment

Examples

On-demand informative/explanatory On-demand informative/explanatory

On-demand argument On-demand argument

On-demand narrative On-demand narrative

Process-based informative/explanatory Process-based informative/explanatory

Process-based argument Process-based argument

Process-based narrative Process-based narrative

In addition to your baseline and end-of-year writing assessments, in Year 2 you are expected to assess and track at least two other writing assignments throughout the school year (of any genre or style) in order to monitor your students’ progress and complete your SGA coursework. Writing Growth FAQs Q: Where can I find good examples of rubrics and anchor papers? A: You should use published, vetted rubrics and anchor papers whenever possible. We suggest using the Relay GSE 6 traits rubric found in the SGA-201: Year 2 Pathway module, or another published 6 Trait rubric. The Common Core State Standards also include several examples of grade-level writing samples which may be used as anchor papers.

HITTING THE ASSESSMENT CEILING In order to be able to measure any kind of growth goal, you must confirm that each student will not “hit the assessment ceiling” by the end of the year. Hitting the assessment ceiling means that a student will no longer be able to demonstrate academic growth because the assessment caps out at a level close to that student’s starting point. For example, an 8th grade reading growth teacher using an F&P assessment will run a high risk of her students hitting the assessment ceiling since that assessment stops measuring reading growth at the 8th grade level. Students in this teacher’s class reading close to or on grade level will hit the assessment ceiling and will not be able to demonstrate as much growth as they may have made by end-of-year. Hitting the Assessment Ceiling FAQs Q: I’m a 3rd grade teacher and my school uses the STEP Reading Assessment. I know this assessment ends at 3rd grade. What should I do? A: Just as middle school students may “hit the ceiling” on the F&P assessment, students in 3rd grade may be in a position to do the same on the STEP assessment which caps out near the end of 3rd grade (i.e. 3.66). If you are a 3rd grade teacher using the STEP assessment to measure reading growth, you should carefully review your students’ baseline data before finalizing your choice to assess reading growth using this measure. If you find that your students’ baseline reading levels are such that they will hit the ceiling before the end of the year, you will need to use a different running record, such as the F&P/TCRWP, or, if your students are on grade level, assess ELA standards mastery instead. 2nd grade teachers with students at or above grade level should also take precautions to ensure that their students will not hit the ceiling on the STEP assessment.


Q: I’m a 7th grade writing teacher using a five-point 6 traits rubric to measure writing growth. After scoring my students’ baseline writing assessment I learned that I have three students who are already averaging scores of fives across all traits on our rubric. These students won’t be able to demonstrate any growth on our rubric this year. What should I do? A: Assuming this only impacts three students in your class, and that writing growth is an appropriate measure for your class at large, you should consider creating an alternative approach just for these three students. To do this, you can score their assessments using the same 6 traits rubric, but with a more rigorous 8th grade anchor paper. Scoring against a more rigorous anchor paper will lower the students’ baseline writing levels and give them the opportunity to demonstrate growth on the writing rubric over the course of the school year. It will also provide students with a meaningful target to drive toward since the 7th grade anchor paper would have been too easy a guidepost for these students.

ASSESSMENT CALENDAR A strong assessment plan includes an intention to collect data at meaningful intervals. Now that you have your assessments selected, your final step will be to create an assessment calendar. An assessment calendar summarizes what assessments you plan to give and when you plan to give them, so it should include approximate dates when you will collect rounds of data throughout the year. When creating your calendar, you will want think about the best times to assess your students, as well as how you will be able to ensure an adequate amount of assessments by the end of the year. For Year 2 graduate students, this will be a minimum of four rounds of data by year-end. You may decide to adjust your assessment calendar slightly throughout the year; however, it’s important to have a thorough plan in place at the beginning of the year to help you stay on track.

STEP 2: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS To successfully complete Step 2 of the SGA Sequence, you should be able to answer the following qualifying questions:

1. Have you selected a RGSE-approved assessment? 2. Standards Mastery: Have you selected assessments that align to your standards and created a plan

to ensure adequate coverage? 3. Writing Growth: Do you have a rubric, scored anchor paper, and aligned baseline and end-of-year

prompt? 4. All Growth: Have you ensured your students won’t hit the assessment ceiling? 5. Have you created an assessment calendar?

STEP 2: SUMMARY By this stage, you should know what specific assessment you are using to measure academic achievement in your subject. Congratulations! You are ready to move on to Step 3: Set Goals.


STEP 3: SET GOALS

PRESCRIBED ACHIEVEMENT FLOORS & AMBITIOUS GOALS By now you should have a strong sense of the content you are measuring and how you will be assessing student learning this year. Your next step is to set academic goals for your students. This section details the general policies you will need to use to measure student achievement for each type of goal. Fully acknowledging the complexity of using multiple metrics across a variety of contexts, we have attempted to create a structure that requires all teachers to demonstrate base levels of student achievement (Achievement Floors), while simultaneously incentivizing individuals to work toward ambitious student achievement goals (Ambitious Goals). Though we will discuss both the Achievement Floor and Ambitious Goal below, our intention is that you will drive toward—and invest your students in—the Ambitious Goal.

Achievement Floor In medicine, physicians pledge the Hippocratic Oath, committing, above all, to “do no harm.” Similarly, we ask teachers to generate at least one year’s worth of achievement in one year’s time—the educational equivalent of “do no harm.” We aim to do this by setting prescribed floors for the level of student achievement that each graduate student must achieve. While we endeavor to set all floors at equal levels of difficulty, it is possible that one floor might be easier to exceed relative to another. Although this is not ideal, each teacher should focus on his own assessment and should recognize that the floors have been purposefully set at reasonable levels such that conscientious effort should result in meeting or exceeding


the expectation. In future years, we may adjust the achievement floors, but we will do so in a responsible, data-driven way. Ambitious Goal To make a meaningful impact on the educational outcomes of all students—especially those starting the school year behind grade level—teachers must reach for much higher achievement than the floors described here. Achievement goals should strike a balance between being ambitious while also feasible. The right goal should invest the teacher, students, and families in working hard toward its attainment. Relay GSE has set prescribed Ambitious Goals for each subject; however, in each instance you will have the opportunity to “override” the prescribed Relay GSE goal if you have baseline, historical, and/or other data that helps you set a goal closer to the nexus of ambitious and feasible for your student(s). In the table below, we describe, by assessment, the Relay-prescribed Achievement Floors and Ambitious Goals. We have also provided rationale for setting the Achievement Floors at their particular levels. Table 4: RGSE-Prescribed Yearlong Goals for Academic Achievement

Assessment Achievement Floor Ambitious Goal

Standards Mastery: RGSE-approved, teacher-acquired or teacher-constructed standards mastery assessments

On average, students will achieve an average standards mastery of 70% of the selected set of standards. Rationale: Mastering 70% of a set of standards with appropriate breadth and depth ensures enough mastery of content to allow students to transition successfully to the next grade level.

On average, students will achieve an average standards mastery of 80% of the selected set of standards.

Reading Growth: F&P/TCRWP STEP Rigby DRA2 Reading A to Z

On average, students will grow at least one year in reading. Rationale: After receiving reading instruction for one year, students should grow at minimum one grade level in reading.

80% of students will meet their Student-Specific Ambitious Goals.

Writing Growth: RGSE-approved, teacher-constructed or teacher-acquired 6 traits writing rubric and grade level anchor paper

4-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 0.8 levels in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 5-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1 level in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 6-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow by 1.2 levels in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric

4-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1.2 levels as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 5-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1.5 levels in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 6-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1.8 levels


Rationale: After receiving writing instruction for one year, students should grow at minimum one year in writing (with 1 level of growth on a 5-point 6 traits rubric being the closest proxy for one year of growth).

in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric.

THE ACHIEVEMENT FLOOR AND AMBITIOUS GOAL FOR STANDARDS MASTERY The Achievement Floor for standards mastery is that, on average, students will achieve an average standards mastery of 70% of the selected set of standards. The Ambitious Goal is a more challenging metric, asking students to achieve an average standards mastery of 80% of the selected set of standards. It is likely that you will elect to teach 100% of CCSS, state, or school power standards and that you will not need to adjust your Achievement Floor or Ambitious Goal in any way. However, in some cases you may have baseline, historical, and/or other data that lets you know this metric is either too feasible or too ambitious for your current students. If this is the case, you will have the option of refining your set of standards to ensure that Achievement Floor is attainable and equals the one year of content mastery for your grade and subject, and that your Ambitious Goal is in fact a rigorous, gap-closing measure for your students.3 Any requests to change numerical goals must be approved by the SGA Team. For more information, revisit the section entitled “Determining a Standards Mastery Scope of Instruction” in Step 1 of this Handbook. For more information on how standards mastery is computed, please revisit the section entitled “Standards Mastery FAQs” in Step 2 of this Handbook.

THE ACHIEVEMENT FLOOR FOR READING GROWTH The Achievement Floor for reading growth is that, on average, students will grow one year in reading. The years of reading growth made by all students in a teacher’s class are averaged to determine if the class has met the Achievement Floor, rather than individual students. The rationale behind this “on average” measure is that it allows a reasonable amount of flexibility in the metric, as some students may grow more and some students may grow a little less. Additionally, this flexibility helps account for the unavoidable variation in measurement of “true” reading growth.

STUDENT-SPECIFIC AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR READING GROWTH For reading goals to be at the nexus of ambitious and feasible for each student, teachers can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach when goal setting. For students who are already well above grade level, growing more than one year might be difficult. For students who enter the year significantly below grade level in reading, teachers should push for substantially more than one year of growth, with the aim of putting those students at or above grade level by the end of the academic year. If teachers are going to truly impact their students’ life trajectories, reading goals must be tailored to be ambitious and feasible at the student level and thus should be based on where each student starts when entering the class. Highly effective teachers will lead at least 80% of their students to meet their Student-Specific Ambitious Goals for reading growth. The Relay-recommended growth metrics for Student-Specific Ambitious Goals are as follows: Table 5: RGSE Student-Specific Ambitious Goals

3 Ideally we would be able to set Student Specific Ambitious Goals for Standards Mastery. Such a system would likely build off a system of tiered standards. We hope to collect enough information to responsibly update this policy in the near future.


Starting Reading Level Prescribed Years of Reading Growth for Ambitious Goals

When starting more than 2.0 years below grade level… …students should grow at least 2.0 years (in one academic year)

When starting between 2.0 years below grade level and 0.5 above grade level…

…students should grow at least 1.5 years (in one academic year)

When starting more than 0.5 years above grade level… …students should grow at least 1.0 year (in one academic year)

These prescriptions are rules-of-thumb. In practice, depending on the assessment and grade level, it might be impossible for a single student to make 1.5 years of growth because the assessment only allows for growth in particular increments (e.g., 0.33, 0.66). For example, when prescribing Ambitious Goals, RGSE might have to choose between 1.33 and 1.66 years of growth instead of 1.5—a situation where we will always round up (e.g., suggest 1.66 years of growth).


Below, you will see an example of student-specific ambitious goals that have been set for a fictitious class of 3rd grade students. Notice that the SSAG varies for each student, based on that student’s baseline reading level, relative to the grade level. Sarah, for example, begins with a baseline reading level L (grade level equivalency 2.67), which is 0.33 years below grade level. Therefore, per Table 5 (above), Sarah’s SSAG is set at 1.5 years of growth for the year. Her prescribed goal is set at level Q (GLE 4.33), the reading level approximately 1.5 grade levels above her baseline level L, rounding up. Similarly, Annie begins with a baseline reading level B (GLE 0.33), which is more than 2.0 years below grade level. Therefore, per Table 5 (above), Annie’s SSAG is set at 2.0 years of growth for the year. Her prescribed goal is set at level K (GLE 2.33), the reading level 2.0 grade levels above her baseline level B. To view all grade level equivalencies for F&P and other approved reading assessments, please see Table 7 on the next page. Table 6: Ms. Doe’s 3rd Grade Class

Start-of-year

Baseline (F&P Level)

Baseline Reading

Level (Grade Level Equivalency)

Relay-Prescribed Ambitious

Goal (F&P Level)

Relay-Prescribed Ambitious

Goal (Grade Level Equivalency)

Adjusted Ambitious

Goal (F&P Level)

Adjusted Ambitious

Goal (Grade Level Equivalency)

Adjusted Overall Years

of Growth (if meeting Adjusted

Goal)

Rationale for Overriding Prescribed Goal

Sarah L 2.67 Q 4.33

Allan N 3.33 S 5

Brent G 1.50 M 3.00 N 3.33 1.83

Brent made 1.66 years of growth in 2nd grade, and I would like to continue to push his reading growth at this rate. His growth accelerated at the end of last year, so I believe that it is both ambitious and feasible for him to make more than 1.5 years of growth. He also needs continue to grow at this rate if he is going to read on grade level by the end of 6th grade.

Greg S 5 V 6 U 5.67 0.67

Greg is a strong reader and will still be 1.67 years above grade level if he meets this adjusted goal. Meeting this goal will put Greg very close to middle school level reading ability by the end of 3rd grade. This is a more feasible goal for Greg, which he will be invested in and can attain with hard work by the EOY.

Annie B 0.33 K 2.33


Table 7: Reading Growth Grade Level Equivalencies Across Approved Reading Growth Assessments The table below contains the grade level equivalencies for the RGSE-approved assessments used in the Reading Growth Tracker.

F&P Level/ TCRWP

Grade Level Equivalent DRA2 Level

Grade Level Equivalent

Reading A-Z Level


Rigby PM Benchmark Levels


STEP Level


AA -0.25 A 0 AA 0 1 0 Pre Pre -0.66

A 0 1 0.25 A 0.25 2 0.5 Pre -0.33

B 0.33 2 0.5 B 0.5 3 1 1 0

C 0.67 3 0.75 C 0.75 4 1.07 2 0.33

D 1 4 1 D 1 5 1.14 3 0.66

E 1.16 6 1.14 E 1.14 6 1.21 4 1

F 1.33 8 1.28 F 1.29 7 1.29 5 1.33

G 1.5 10 1.42 G 1.43 8 1.36 6 1.66

H 1.67 12 1.56 H 1.57 9 1.43 7 2

I 1.83 14 1.7 I 1.72 10 1.5 8 2.33

J 2 16 1.84 J 1.86 11 1.57 9 2.66

K 2.33 18 2 K 2 12 1.64 10 3

L 2.67 20 2.25 L 2.16 13 1.71 11 3.33

M 3 24 2.5 M 2.33 14 1.78 12 3.66

N 3.33 28 2.75 N 2.5 15 1.85

O 3.67 30 3 O 2.66 16 1.92

P 4 34 3.33 P 2.83 17 2

Q 4.33 38 3.66 Q 3 18 2.17

R 4.67 40 4 R 3.25 19 2.34

S 5 50 5 S 3.5 20 2.5

T 5.33 60 6 T 3.75 21 2.67

U 5.67 70 7 U 4 22 2.83

V 6 80 8 V 4.33 23 3

W 6.33 W 4.67 24 3.33

X 6.67 X 5 25 3.66

Y 7.0 Y 5.33 26 4

Z 7.5 Z 5.67 27 4.33

28 4.66

29 5

30 5.5

This table lists the grade level equivalencies for commonly used literacy assessments. These are the equivalencies used in the Reading Growth Tracker.


THE ACHIEVEMENT FLOOR AND AMBITIOUS GOAL FOR WRITING GROWTH The Achievement Floor for writing growth is for students to grow one level in writing as measured by a five-point 6 traits rubric and 1.5 levels of growth for the Ambitious Goal. In some instances you will find that your school uses a 6 traits rubric with a different point system—most commonly a four- or six-point system. In this instance you may still use your rubric, but you will use the mathematical equivalent for a five-point 6 traits rubric. A sample from Table 4: RGSE-Prescribed Achievement Measures can be found below to illustrate this point.

Table 8: Prescribed Writing Growth Goal

Assessment Achievement Floor Ambitious Goal

Writing Growth: RGSE-approved, teacher-constructed or teacher-acquired 5 traits writing rubric and grade level anchor paper

4-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 0.8 levels in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 5-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1 level in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 6-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow by 1.2 levels in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric. Rationale: After receiving writing instruction for one year, students should grow at minimum one year in writing (with 1 level of growth on a 5-point 6 traits rubric being the closest proxy for one year of growth).

4-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1.2 levels as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 5-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1.5 levels in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric. 6-point rubric: On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1.8 levels in writing as measured by a 6 traits rubric.

FIRST ROUND OF DATA Until you know where students are starting from as a baseline, you cannot project where they should finish. In order to complete Step 3 of the Pathway, you therefore must collect baseline data for all your students. For Step 4, you will continue collecting and inputting that data into your tracker throughout the year, to gauge students’ progress toward their goals.

SETTING ALTERNATIVE AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR UNIQUE STUDENT POPULATIONS As educators, we are responsible for every student on our roster. More often than not, our rosters will include a diverse group of personalities and learning needs. It’s our mandate as educators to capitalize on each student’s strengths and work to support each student’s needs. You can expect that some of your students will face more challenges than others on their paths to academic achievement. Often these students fit into one of two populations: English Language Learners (ELLs) or Students with Special Needs. If you have students in your class who fall into one of these categories, the first step you should take in supporting them is to reach out to the relevant student support personnel in your school to


acquire any formal documentation that exists (e.g., Individualized Education Plan) and ensure that the students are receiving all the services and accommodations to which they are legally entitled.

Although you will hold yourself responsible for the outcomes of every student on your roster, we acknowledge that there are students who deserve more specialized or individualized learning environments and Academic Goals. There may be an occasion in which your class goal and assessment tools do not fit the academic needs of a specific student in your class due to the fact that she is an English Language Learner or a Student with Special Needs. Below is an outline of the steps you should take to determine whether you will need to a) establish an alternative ambitious goal for that student and b) remove the student from your data set.

English Language Learners Every school district has official criteria for identifying English Language Learners and determining the supports they should receive. Depending on a student’s performance on each of these indicators, the student may be given supplemental academic support, testing modifications, or placement in either a dual language or bilingual classroom. If you are unsure whether an individual student is officially classified as an ELL, you should reach out to the person in your school who coordinates academic support services or testing modifications. If you believe you have an unidentified ELL in your classroom, you should initiate a conversation with those same colleagues about that student’s needs. If you are measuring reading growth, the goal and assessment tool you are using are likely still a fit for evaluating the progress of an ELL. In fact, ELLs are likely to have more growth than your other students, given their starting language limitations. If you are measuring standards mastery, it is possible that your students’ English Language Development (ELD) needs will interfere with your ability to assess students’ learning with the same assessment tools you are using for the rest of the class. Ideally, however, your students will receive sufficient support and testing accommodations to make these tests an effective measure. For example, ELLs may be given time accommodations during tests, have tests read aloud, or be allowed to use bilingual dictionaries during state testing. In these instances, it would still make sense to include those students in your class goals. However, if these accommodations alone are not sufficient to place an ELL on a level playing field for your assessments, then you may request to set an alternative ambitious goal and exclude this student’s results from your overall measure of academic achievement. If you request to remove an ELL from your data set, you must provide compelling rationale for doing so and share the alternative ambitious goal you have set. At the end of the year you will be required to briefly describe this student’s overall progress to the alternative ambitious goal. Excluding an English Language Learner from your data set is subject to faculty advisor approval. Students with Special Needs In order for a student to officially be classified as a Student with Special Needs, the student must first progress through a set of due process steps as outlined in the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Although the details of this process vary by school district, if a student is determined to have a disability that interferes with her ability to learn in a school setting, she will be given an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Per IDEA, the IEP is a document that must include an overview of the child’s present level of academic achievement, annual goals, the special education and related services that will be provided, a description of how much of the school day will be spent in a general education setting, testing


modifications, modified promotional criteria if applicable, and a plan for measuring student progress toward goals. Throughout your career as a teacher, you will surely be responsible for teaching students with IEPs and therefore responsible for implementing the program and goals that are outlined in their IEPs. Ideally, the IEP is a meaningful and accurate guide for student support that all relevant personnel engage with regularly. If this is the case, then the IEP should help you determine whether your chosen goals and assessment tools are appropriate for the student. If the IEP you are given is not a meaningful or accurate guide, then you will need to spend more time getting to know your student’s needs and potentially administer additional 1:1 assessments. Once you have a picture of the student, you should ask yourself: are my class goals ambitious, appropriate, and feasible for this student? If yes, then your student should remain part of your class data set. If you are concerned that the goals are NOT feasible, ask yourself the following questions:

What is keeping this student from accessing the general education curriculum?

Could any accommodations make the general education curriculum feasible for this student? If yes, how can I secure these accommodations for the student?

If you are unable to make accommodations within the general education curriculum to make your goals ambitious, appropriate, and feasible for a student with special needs, you may request to set an alternative ambitious goal and exclude this student’s results from your overall measure of academic achievement. If you request to remove a student with special needs from your data set, you must provide compelling rationale for doing so and share the alternative ambitious goal you have set. At the end of the year, you will be required to briefly describe this student’s overall progress to the alternative ambitious goal. Excluding a student with special needs from your data set is subject to faculty advisor approval.


1. Have you used RGSE-approved measures for the AF & AG? 2. Have you successfully entered your first round of data? 3. Reading Growth: Have you finalized your SSAGs? 4. Have you set meaningful goals for students with special needs?

STEP 3: SUMMARY By this stage, you have set meaningful Academic Goals for all students. Congratulations! You are ready to move on to Step 4: Track Progress.


STEP 4: TRACK PROGRESS

At this point, the foundation of your Academic Pathway has already been built. You have determined content, you’ve solidified how and when you will assess to measure learning, and you’ve set goals for your students. You are ready to begin working with your students’ assessment data—let the excitement begin! The instructions for this step are much like those for shampooing hair—rinse, lather, repeat. Here, the rinse is data inputting; the lather is analyzing and verifying that data; and the repeat is, well, repeat. Throughout this step, you will be inputting student achievement data in addition to making any necessary updates to your student roster. You will continue updating the appropriate RGSE tracker with relevant assessment scores and information throughout the year. The sections below give a brief overview of how to do this. Please remember that more information about using your RGSE tracker is available via online tutorials.

RGSE STANDARDS MASTERY TRACKER The Standards Mastery Tracker is a Microsoft Excel macro-enabled workbook comprised of several different tabs (worksheets). The macros on the workbook optimize the tracker’s ability to calculate, back up, and streamline the data storage and analysis. In order for your tracker to function properly, you will need to have access to a current version of Microsoft Excel.


The most important starting point of the RGSE Standards Mastery Tracker is the first tab, labeled “Instructions.” This tab, in addition to online tutorials and support from your faculty advisor, will set you up to successfully populate your tracker with efficiency and ease. Above all else, please be certain to read the instructions. The RGSE Standards Mastery Tracker assumes that you will follow the sequence of the RGSE Pathway for Measuring Academic Achievement. Therefore, in order to function properly, the tracker requires foundational information from Steps 1 through 3 in the Pathway before it readily accepts ongoing student achievement scores in Step 4. This makes logical sense—there is no effective way to begin populating assessment data without first providing the student roster and the item map for that particular assessment. Below is a screenshot of the “Assessment 1” tab for the RGSE Standards Mastery Tracker. Please take a moment to read the comment bubbles embedded in the image.


This screenshot showcases the inseparable relationship between the tracker and the Pathway—both are sequenced in a way that relies on previous steps to move forward. The shaded section in the lower right of the screenshot, in which ongoing achievement data is entered (Step 4), cannot be populated unless the information contained elsewhere on the spreadsheet is entered first (Steps 1-3). Please be mindful when populating your tracker. If you are moving data from another source, please be especially careful to properly format rows and columns, being certain to copy/paste accurately and to paste as values (avoiding the risk of incorporating extraneous formatting into destination cells). For more information on specific use of this or any other tracker, please visit the online tutorials.

RGSE READING GROWTH TRACKER The RGSE Reading Growth Tracker is a Microsoft Excel workbook comprised of several different tabs (worksheets). In order for your tracker to function properly, you will need to have access to a current version of Microsoft Excel. The most important starting point of the RGSE Reading Growth Tracker is the Instructions tab. This tab, in addition to online tutorials and support from your faculty advisor, will set you up to successfully populate your tracker with efficiency and ease. Above all else, please make certain to read the instructions. The RGSE Reading Growth Tracker assumes that you will follow the sequence of the RGSE Pathway for Measuring Academic Achievement. Therefore, in order to function properly, the tracker requires foundational information from Steps 1 through 3 in the Pathway before it accepts ongoing student achievement scores in Step 4. This makes logical sense. As with the Standards Mastery Tracker, there is no effective way to begin populating ongoing assessment score data without first defining the student roster and obtaining baseline data for that particular assessment. Shown below is a screenshot of the “Reading Growth Tracker (All)” tab for the RGSE Reading Growth Tracker. Please take a moment to read the comment bubbles embedded in the image.


This screenshot showcases the inseparable relationship between the tracker and the Pathway—both are sequenced in a way that relies on previous steps to move forward. The unshaded sections in the middle columns, in which ongoing achievement data is entered (Step 4), cannot be populated unless the information contained elsewhere on the spreadsheet is entered first (Steps 1-3). Please be mindful when populating your tracker. If you are moving data from another source, please be especially careful to properly format rows and columns, being certain to copy/paste accurately and to paste as values (avoiding the risk of incorporating extraneous formatting into destination cells). For more information on specific use of this or any other tracker, please visit the online tutorials.

ROTATING READING GROUPS In one sense, measuring reading growth is very straightforward. You select an assessment system and periodically assess your students’ reading levels over the course of the academic year. This simplicity can seem to disappear if you use rotating reading groups. With rotating reading groups, some students may spend all of the academic year in groups with you while others may spend only a fraction or even none of the year with you. This raises the question of how much growth for each student should be attributed to your instruction. Don’t worry! We have an option available that will help you accurately measure and attribute your students’ reading growth. We believe that the most appropriate way to attribute your students’ reading growth to your instruction is with a prorated growth calculation. With this approach, students’ growth will be computed as a ratio of their actual growth relative to the proportion of how much of the year you were responsible for their reading instruction. Performing this calculation involves tracking the number of instructional days you had with each student throughout the year.


The RGSE Reading Growth Tracker has a tab specifically for rotating reading groups that will allow you to track instructional days. This tab will auto-calculate the proportion of the year that you were responsible for each student’s reading instruction. On the final tab of the tracker, labeled “Reading_Growth (All),” prorated growth will be calculated by adjusting the degree of learning for each student based on the percent of time they were taught by you.

ROTATING READING GROUPS FAQS Q: How do rotating reading groups work when students enter and exit my group? A: Every time a new student enters your group, you will want to collect baseline data for that student. Every time a new student prepares to exit your group, you will want to collect a final round of data for that student. This will allow you to measure growth for every student who falls under your instruction during the year. Baseline data should be inputted in the appropriate “Goals” tab of the Reading Growth Tracker to indicate a student’s reading level upon entering the group, and ongoing assessment data should be recorded in the “Reading_Growth (All)” tab. The designated “Rotating_Reading” tab is where date information about students’ entrance and exit from the class will be recorded. Q: I’m confused. I’m not sure if I teach rotating reading groups. Does this information pertain to me? A: The "Rotating Reading Groups" scenario is markedly different from simply teaching differentiated levels of readers at different times throughout the day in a self-contained classroom—meaning, for teachers who are teaching in a standard 1st grade classroom where they teach one group of students all day, every day, all year long, the rotating reading group label doesn't apply. The term “rotating reading groups” describes a situation where there are groups of students being taught reading by a teacher for only a proportion of the full year. For example, you may teach reading to one group of 10 students from September through November, and then that group will reshuffle and you'll teach reading to another group of 10 students from November to February (some students may overlap between the two groups), then that group will reshuffle, etc.

RGSE WRITING GROWTH TRACKER The RGSE Writing Growth Tracker is a Microsoft Excel workbook comprised of several different tabs (worksheets). In order for your tracker to function properly, you will need to have access to a current version of Microsoft Excel. The most important starting point of the RGSE Writing Growth Tracker is the Instructions tab. This tab, in addition to online tutorials and support from your faculty advisor, will set you up to successfully populate your tracker with efficiency and ease. Above all else, please be certain to read the instructions. The RGSE Writing Growth Tracker assumes that you will follow the sequence of the RGSE Pathway for Measuring Academic Achievement. Therefore, in order to function properly, the tracker requires foundational information from Steps 1 through 3 in the Pathway before it accepts ongoing student achievement scores in Step 4. This makes logical sense. As with the Standards Mastery and Reading Growth Trackers, there is no effective way to begin populating ongoing assessment score data without first defining the student roster and obtaining baseline data. Shown below is a screenshot of the “Writing Tracking” tab for the RGSE Writing Growth Tracker. Please take a moment to read the comment bubbles embedded in the image.


This screenshot showcases the inseparable relationship between the tracker and the SGA pathway—both are sequenced in a way that relies on previous steps to move forward. The sections to the right of the baseline data, in which ongoing achievement data is entered (Step 4), cannot be populated unless the information contained elsewhere on the spreadsheet is entered first (Steps 1-3). Please be mindful when populating your tracker. If you are moving data from another source, please be especially careful to properly format rows and columns, being certain to copy/paste accurately and to paste as values (avoiding the risk of incorporating extraneous formatting into destination cells). For more information on specific use of this or any other tracker, please visit the online tutorials.

MAINTAINING AN ACCURATE ROSTER In a perfect world, each of your students would enter your classroom at the beginning of the year and stay until the end of the year. Obviously this isn’t the reality, and enrollment changes often make tracking student achievement more challenging. Below is guidance for keeping your tracker current throughout the year when enrollment changes occur. Mid-Year Enrollment Changes: Standards Mastery Tracker When a new student joins your class, you should add the student to the bottom of your roster. For all rounds of instruction the student has missed, enter “NETR” in each student response field to reflect that a student was “Not Enrolled That Round” of instruction and assessment. This code will prevent the tracker from including those missing results when computing averages. Then, continue collecting assessment data for that student for all future rounds of instruction. Once a student is no longer enrolled in your class, enter “NETR” in each student response field for future rounds of assessment to reflect that a student was “Not Enrolled That Round” of instruction and


assessment. This code will prevent the tracker from including those missing results when computing averages. Mid-Year Enrollment Changes: Reading Growth Tracker When a new student joins your class, you should add the student to the bottom of your roster. Next, you should immediately collect baseline data for the student and enter that information in the “Goals” tab. Continue collecting assessment data for that student and input future rounds of data in the designated space associated with the assessment round. Because reading growth is calculated as the difference between the baseline and most current round of assessment data, this new student will have the opportunity to demonstrate growth as soon as she is assessed after the baseline round. Once a student is no longer enrolled in your class, simply leave blank the future rounds of assessment. Because reading growth is calculated as the difference between the baseline and most current round of assessment data, this student’s growth will be measured up to the point of her departure from your classroom. Mid-Year Enrollment Changes: Writing Growth Tracker When a new student joins your class, you should add the student to the bottom of your roster. Next, you should immediately collect baseline data for the student using the baseline writing prompt. Continue collecting assessment data for that student and input future rounds of data in the designated space associated with the assessment round. Once a student is no longer enrolled in your class, simply leave blank the future rounds of assessment. Since writing growth can only be calculated with an apples-to-apples comparison from an aligned baseline and final assessment, it is likely that you will not be able to obtain a measure of writing growth for a student who exits your classroom before the final round of assessment is administered.

KEEPING UP WITH YOUR ASSESSMENT CALENDAR In Step 2: Solidify Assessment Plan, you created an assessment calendar with the approximate dates on which you intended to administer your assessments throughout the year. Throughout Step 4: Track Progress, you should take stock of how well you are following your assessment calendar. If you are right on track—great. If not, you will need to consider what actions you will take to ensure you administer sufficient assessments at meaningful intervals for the remainder of the school year. Not only is frequent data an important part of measuring your Academic Goals, but it is also an important step in data-driven instruction. Please make sure you are entering each round of data in your tracker immediately after you administer each assessment and that you have assessment data for all students in your roster, administering make-up assessments if/when necessary.

STANDARDS MASTERY CONSIDERATIONS If you are measuring standards mastery, you will also want to consider the following topics while maintaining your data throughout the year. Complete Coverage If you are measuring standards mastery with the Periodic Option, you are continuing to collect ongoing, summative rounds of data that count toward your overall measure of standards mastery. This means that you should also consider how well you are maintaining your standards mastery coverage throughout the year. Are you on pace to teach 100% of your set of standards by the end of the year? Do


you have adequate assessment coverage for every standard you’ve taught so far this year? Have you ensured that you will assess each standard with a minimum of three items per standard by your final round of assessment? You should answer these three questions following each round of assessment data you enter in your tracker. Re-teaching and Re-testing Additionally, if you are measuring standards mastery using the Periodic Option and students fail to demonstrate mastery of a standard on a given round of assessment, you may choose to re-teach and re-assess that standard. Re-teaching and re-assessing should only occur if the decision is based on analysis of the data, is in the best interest of your students, and is feasible given the constraints of your instructional scope and sequence. If you decide to re-teach and re-assess, you should revise your assessment calendar and incorporate the additional re-assessment questions into your RGSE Standards Mastery Tracker. These new assessment questions will automatically be averaged with previous questions to provide an updated score for the particular standard that was re-taught. Quizzes are not considered an approved measure of academic achievement for your Academic Pathway. However, when re-teaching and re-assessing, it is acceptable to count results from a re-test quiz toward the measure of standards mastery, provided the re-test quiz meets the same criteria as other rounds of assessment (i.e., it is a summative assessment that aligns to the standards that were re-taught). Tracking Performance-Based Assessments Though not required for standards mastery Pathways, you may choose to incorporate performance-based questions or assessments in your assessment plan. If you are using performance-based questions to measure standards mastery, please make sure to conscientiously track those data using the considerations below.

Make sure the point value for each question is appropriate/proportional. It is possible that you can glean 10 times the information from a performance-based open-response question than you can from a single multiple-choice question. However, there is a balance here. 100 points for one question is probably too much. One point for a social studies DBQ question is probably too little. To find an appropriate balance, you should check that the point value of the question is proportional to the degree of information you can glean from the question and to the amount of time and/or effort it takes students to answer it.

Always have a rubric aligned to the range of point values associated with the question. If you have a 10-point open-response question, before administering the assessment you should know what kind of answer would earn one point, four points, six points, nine points, etc.

Consider whether a question is assessing more than one standard. If so, you should peg the item to more than one standard by creating an open-response question for each standard being assessed. For instance, a 10-point question that assesses two standards could become two open-response questions worth five points each.

Performance-based questions should be based on mastery. As with all standards mastery assessment questions, you should expect that all students who have fully mastered the grade level content could earn 100% of the points associated with that question.


STAYING ON TRACK TO MEET YOUR END-OF-YEAR GOAL Great teachers don’t achieve ambitious outcomes with their students by chance. They reach their goals through specific planning, intentionality, and dedication. As you continue to collect data for your Pathway, you should also continue to check progress to your Academic Goals by asking yourself the following questions:

Am I on pace to meet my Achievement Floor? Why or why not?

Am I on pace to meet my Ambitious Goal? Why or why not?

What steps am I taking in response to these data to improve student achievement? Answering these questions requires an in-depth exploration of your complete and accurate student achievement data. If you are on pace, keep it up! If not, you will need to make adjustments to your instruction and/or assessment plan to ensure that students learn a minimum of a year’s worth of content in a year’s time.


1. Are you maintaining an accurate student roster? 2. Are you keeping up with your assessment calendar and entering new data each assessment

cycle? 3. Standards Mastery: Are you on track to ensure complete coverage of standards by the EOY? 4. Are you on track to meet the Achievement Floor? The Ambitious Goal?

STEP 4: SUMMARY By this stage, you have a tracker aligned to your Academic Goal that you are populating with ongoing rounds of data. You should continue to update assessment data and roster data in your tracker as needed. Congratulations! You will be ready to proceed to Step 5: Verify Outcomes at the end of the school year.


STEP 5: VERIFY OUTCOMES

At the end of the year, you will need to take certain steps to ensure that your roster is accurate, that your student achievement results are complete, and that your tracker is error-free. Since you’ve been updating your students’ progress throughout the year, this should be a simple process!

FINALIZING YOUR ROSTER Before submitting your end-of-year student achievement data, you must confirm that your roster is finalized and that it reflects enrollment in your classroom throughout the year. Chronically Absent Students As the leader of your classroom, it is your responsibility to encourage and reward positive attendance patterns, as well as to actively intervene when students are chronically absent. However, we realize that your best efforts may not always solve attendance issues and there may still be students in your roster who were not there for a majority of the instructional time. Thus, any student who has been absent more than half of the instructional time (>50%) should be excluded from your overall roster at the end of the year. The same rule of thumb applies to students who may have entered or exited your class mid-year.


Process for Excluding Students from the Dataset While students should NEVER be deleted from your tracker file, there may be circumstances where their student achievement results are not representative of the instruction that you were able to provide. In the event that a student missed >50% of instructional time, you will want to exclude this student’s achievement results from your dataset. To do this, you will need written permission (email is acceptable) from your faculty advisor to exclude that student from your roster. When you email your faculty advisor, you will need to provide thorough rationale for excluding the student. We encourage you to share any relevant documentation such as withdrawal forms, attendance logs, etc., that help support your request. However, those documents are optional and not absolutely necessary to remove a student from your roster. Once you have received written approval to remove the student, you should then indicate, in the roster tab of your tracker, that the student’s data has been excluded. These exclusions must be approved by your faculty advisor prior to the due date for your end-of-year student achievement submission.

CONFIRMING YOUR DATA IS COMPLETE Just as you must confirm that your end-of-year roster is correct, you must also confirm that your end-of-year data is complete. You should have at least four rounds of data you submit. You must also have assessment data for all enrolled students, as well as an assessment calendar that accurately reflects the dates of each round of assessment you administered.

CONFIRMING YOUR TRACKER IS ERROR-FREE A tracker is error-free if all data has been properly inputted with no errors in the file. Only then will the tracker display the accurate degree of learning that students achieved. Quality-assuring your tracker file is your responsibility, so please ensure that all point values and information are entered correctly and the file is functioning correctly. Instructions on how to complete this quality assurance are provided throughout the Student Growth and Achievement modules. Should you experience any challenges with your RGSE trackers, you should first review the tracker instructions and watch all provided tracker screencasts, then consult with your faculty advisor. If you are unable to resolve the challenge at that point, you may email your tracker and outstanding concerns to [email protected]. If you are in need of tracker support prior to a module assessment submission, please make sure to email your tracker at least one week in advance of your assessment due date. We cannot guarantee tracker support on a last-minute basis.

CONFIRMING YOUR END-OF-YEAR OUTCOMES Now comes the fun part! As your final step in the SGA process, please identify whether your students have met or exceeded the Achievement Floor and Ambitious Goal for each subject you have measured this year.


1. Did you finalize your roster, removing students correctly when necessary? 2. Is your data complete? 3. Is your tracker error-free? 4. Did you meet the Achievement Floor? The Ambitious Goal?


STEP 5: SUMMARY By this stage, you have a clear picture of your students’ academic achievement this year. Hooray!


OTHER POLICIES RELATED TO MEASURING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT CREATING AN ACADEMIC PATHWAY FOR NON-CORE SUBJECTS If you teach art, music, drama, physical education, or other “non-core” subjects, you have an amazing opportunity to measure your students’ growth and achievement. Your colleagues who have come before you have often found this experience to be the first time anyone has ever asked, “Are your students achieving?” They have risen to the challenge of answering this question and have bravely begun to pave the way for greater accountability in, and focus on, the non-core subjects. However, without the institutional supports (e.g., robust state standards, clear assessments, rubrics) for all non-core subjects, you may need to work more closely with your faculty advisor to create a defensible and sensible Pathway for you and your students.

Preliminary Questions As you engage in this process, the first decision you will make is whether your content is better suited to a growth-based Pathway or a standards-mastery-based Pathway. Once you make this decision, you will follow the five steps of the RGSE Pathway outlined in this Handbook. To decide what type of goal is most appropriate for your content, you will want to answer the following preliminary questions: What standards are you using this year?

What standards exist for your grade and subject?

What standards have teachers in your role used in the past?

You may leverage school, district, state, or national standards.

You may also find that your professional organization (e.g., the National Association for Music Education or the Presidential Youth Fitness Program) endorses a particular set of standards. For example, please see:

o http://musiced.nafme.org/resources/national-standards-for-music-education/ o http://www.presidentialyouthfitnessprogram.org/docs/Teacher%20guide%209-6.pdf

Given the substantial number of students you are likely to teach and the relatively limited amount of time you are likely to have with them each week, you should be realistic about the number of standards for which you can meaningfully be responsible for measuring student achievement in a given year. We encourage you to work with your faculty advisor to determine a number that is both ambitious and feasible.

What assessment system will you use to measure your standards?

What assessments exist for your grade and subject?

What assessments have teachers in your role used in the past?

You may leverage existing assessments or create your own.

The same professional organizations that share content standards often have corresponding assessments. For example, please see:

o http://www.presidentialyouthfitnessprogram.org/assessment/index.shtml

Given the substantial number of students you are likely to teach and the relatively limited amount of time you are likely to have with them each week, you should be realistic about the size and frequency of the assessments you will be able to administer in a given year. We encourage you to work with your faculty advisor to determine an assessment system that is both meaningful and feasible.


Choosing a Growth-Based or Standards-Mastery-Based Pathway After you answer these preliminary questions, you will have greater command of your content and you will be ready to select a growth-based or standards-mastery-based Pathway. For almost all non-subjects we recommend selecting a standards mastery Pathway since most non-core content is best suited to this type of goal. However, the ultimate choice is up to you. Please continue reading to learn more about selecting the standards mastery method versus the growth-based method for creating your Pathway. Selecting a Standards Mastery Pathway: A standards mastery Pathway is most appropriate when you are teaching your students new, discrete content that can be mastered in one academic year. For instance, if you teach 3rd grade music (beginner recorder), you will likely want your students to be able to do things like the following by the end of the year:

Properly assemble, handle, clean, and store a recorder

Accurately play five left-hand notes: B, A, G, C, and D

Accurate play five right-hand notes: E, D, F#, F, and C

Play a whole note, half note, quarter note, and rest note

Perform a 30-second song using at least five notes and varying rhythm For this type of content, a standards mastery Pathway is likely most appropriate since a teacher would expect students to be able to perform these tasks by the end of the year. Selecting a Growth-Based Pathway: A growth-based Pathway is most appropriate when you are teaching your students content they should improve on over the course of the year but not necessarily master in one year (like reading and writing). For instance, if you teach 5th grade physical fitness you will likely want your students to improve on things like the following by the end of the year:

Aerobic capacity

Body composition

Muscle strength and endurance

Flexibility For this type of content, a growth-based Pathway may be best, since it is likely that students can continue to improve in these areas beyond the 5th grade. However, please note that baseline data is incredibly important when setting a growth-based goal and that you will need to take several extra steps when creating your Pathway. If you select a growth-based goal, you will need to 1) find or create a rubric for your content, 2) decide on the amount of growth that is ambitious and feasible for your grade and subject in a given year, and 3) ensure that all students in your roster can achieve this amount of growth on your rubric (e.g., ensure that no students will hit the assessment ceiling). To do this work well, you will need to conduct research and base your decisions on published research, student historical data, and/or student diagnostic data.


Table 9: Examples of Achievement Floors and Ambitious Goals in Non-Core Subjects

Subject / Grade

Achievement Floor Ambitious Goal

Music / 1st Grade


Note: 15 school-based music standards were selected. Sample standards include:

1.2 Students will sing and play on pitch and in rhythm while maintaining steady tempo.

1.6 Students will sing and play with appropriate form, breathing, and posture in order to produce sound.

2.1 Students will sing and play simple rhythms and melodies from score.


Note: 15 school-based music standards were selected. Sample standards include:

1.2 Students will sing and play on pitch and in rhythm while maintaining steady tempo.

1.6 Students will sing and play with appropriate form, breathing, and posture in order to produce sound.

2.1 Students will sing and play simple rhythms and melodies from score.

PE / 3rd Grade On average, 3rd grade students will improve their cardiovascular endurance by at least 15% as measured by the Fitnessgram 15m Pacer Assessment. Note: Amount of growth based on Fitnessgram guidance and historical school data.

On Average, 3rd grade students will improve their cardiovascular endurance by at least 25% as measured by the Fitnessgram 15m Pacer Assessment. Note: Amount of growth based on Fitnessgram guidance and historical school data.

Art / 6th Grade On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1 level as measured by a 5-point 6 traits art rubric. Note: 6 traits art rubric was created using the 6 primary-school-based art standards. The amount of growth was modeled after RGSE writing growth goals and was confirmed as feasible based on student scores on last year’s art assessments. All students will be able to earn 1 level of growth by the EOY based on their baseline round of data.

On average, students’ average rubric scores will grow 1.5 levels as measured by a 5-point 6 traits art rubric.

Note: 6 traits art rubric was created using the 6 primary school-based art standards. The amount of growth was modeled after RGSE writing growth goals and was confirmed as ambitious based on student scores on last year’s art assessments. All students will be able to earn 1.5 levels of growth by the EOY based on their baseline round of data.

Drama / 11th Grade

On average, students will achieve an average standards mastery of 70% of the selected set of standards. Note: 100% of the 9-12 National Standards for Theater Education were selected.

On average, students will achieve an average standards mastery of 80% of the selected set of standards. Note: 100% of the 9-12 National Standards for Theater Education were selected.


EVALUATING STANDARDS MASTERY ASSESSMENTS At Relay GSE, we want you to proudly demonstrate all the great learning that takes place in your classroom. To allow your students to fully prove their learning, you must administer rigorous, high-quality assessments that tightly align to your scope and sequence. Assessments of this caliber will clearly showcase your students’ knowledge of material you taught them. Because we want to ensure that your assessments are high-quality, we administer an external review to guarantee that results from your assessments are meaningful to you and your students. This process is referred to as the Relay GSE standards mastery assessment evaluation process. In your second year of the Relay GSE program, at the conclusion of the SGA-201: Year 2 Pathway module, your faculty advisor will evaluate your standards mastery assessment materials against a standardized rubric that scores on rigor, quality, and alignment. For more information on the assessment evaluation criteria, please reference the Features of High-Quality Assessment checklist, available within the Year 2 Pathway module. If you are using the Periodic Option, you will submit your most recent summative assessment. If you are using the Single Option, you must submit the end-of-year assessment you will be using to measure progress toward your Achievement Floor and Ambitious Goal.

You are likely to earn a passing score on the assessment evaluation rubric if you:

1. Leverage high-quality assessments that measure the standards you are teaching—these assessments should be high-quality, rigorous, aligned to the standards you teach, and should reflect the RGSE features of high-quality assessment.

2. Produce an item map linking each assessment item with the standard it is measuring—these maps should clearly identify the standard associated with each item on the assessment.

3. Produce a scoring guide for all questions on the assessment—you should have one correct answer for each multiple-choice question and short-response question, and a rubric for each long-response question and performance-based question.

You will receive strong support throughout the assessment evaluation process to furnish high-quality assessments and accompanying documentation. However, you will not pass this evaluation stage if any of the following are true:

1. You do not know what standards you are teaching and therefore fail to align an assessment to any particular set of standards.

2. Your assessments are non-rigorous, low-quality, or unaligned to your standards. 3. You’re unable to produce an item map for your assessments. For example, you may possess a set

of assessments but be uncertain about which standard each item is assessing.

In addition to faculty advisors’ evaluations of your assessment materials, we have instituted an external review process to confirm that we are evaluating consistently. Approximately 5-10% of all submissions will be randomly selected for an additional review.


CHAPTER 2: THE RGSE PATHWAY FOR MEASURING CHARACTER GROWTH

Relay’s mission is to teach teachers to develop in all students the academic skills and strength of character needed to succeed in college and life. While academic achievement is absolutely necessary for any student, it’s only part of what a student needs to develop to be successful beyond a given school year. For instance, a great 1st grade student not only grows at least one year in reading in a given year, but also develops the curiosity to learn and explore new things. A successful 6th grade math student masters all of the 6th grade math standards and develops the grit to struggle through learning new and challenging content in future math classes. An outstanding 10th grade science student completes top-notch scientific experiments, but also develops the social intelligence to work well conducting experiments with teams of peers. Because character growth is an important component to all students’ learning, you will also have the opportunity to measure character in Year 2 of your SGA coursework. We believe this is not only an inspiring aspect of a teacher’s job, but also a pioneering portion of your work as a Relay GSE graduate student.

Like academic achievement, you will use a Pathway to measure students’ character growth. Please read on to learn more about the RGSE Pathway for Measuring Character Growth!


STEP 1: DETERMINE CONTENT

SELECTING A CHARACTER STRENGTH In the defining text on character strengths, Character Strengths and Virtues, Christopher Peterson and Martin E.P. Seligman lay out a classification of 24 character strengths. For your Relay GSE coursework, we have chosen to focus primarily on what we call the great eight:

Zest

Grit

Curiosity

Love

Social intelligence

Gratitude

Self-control

Optimism We have chosen these eight character strengths because they are associated with all sorts of positive life outcomes and/or have already been implemented in character-focused work in schools throughout the country. In short, we know the most about, and have the most resources for, these eight character


strengths. Though you are welcome to select any character strength to measure for your SGA coursework, your Relay GSE instruction will focus primarily on these eight character strengths. For your Character Pathway, you will be asked to select one character strength to measure over the course of the school year. Though you are welcome to measure any character strength you believe will be important to build with your students this year, we recommend using one of the great eight since these strengths will be most aligned to your Relay GSE instruction.

SELECTING A ROSTER OF STUDENTS FOR CHARACTER GROWTH MEASURE For your character goal, you are required to measure character growth for one class only. For elementary teachers, this will be the same roster as your academic goal—you will measure character growth for all of the students in your class. For secondary teachers, you may choose one section of students you teach. This will likely be your advisory group, your homeroom class, or the class you teach most often. If you are a secondary teacher and would like to measure character growth for all of your students, you are welcome, but not required, to do so.

USING THE RGSE CHARACTER GROWTH TRACKER Once you have selected a character strength and identified your roster, you are ready to begin using the RGSE Character Growth Tracker. The RGSE Character Growth Tracker provides you with an aligned system of measuring character growth over the school year. There is only one Character Growth Tracker with a separate tab for each of the great eight character strengths. To use the Character Growth Tracker, you will select the appropriate character strength tab and enter your character student roster. If you are teaching a character strength other than the great eight, you may customize a tab in the tracker according to the character strength you selected. Determine Content FAQs

Q: My school has a different way of defining character strengths. For instance, we use “perseverance” instead of “grit.” Can I teach and measure “perseverance” for my SGA coursework? A: You bet. In many cases, school-based character strengths will align with the Relay GSE great eight. Though they may be different in name, they are the same in spirit. In this instance, we would recommend teaching and measuring “perseverance” with your students since this is the term that you will actually be using in your classroom and it will have the most meaning for your students.

Q: I want to measure a character strength not included in the great eight. What does that mean I need to do? A: You are more than welcome to teach and measure a character strength other than one of those in the great eight—particularly if this character strength is of great importance at your school, or if you believe it will make a positive impact on the lives of your students. In this instance, you will be responsible for creating your own assessments (i.e. Character Growth Card indicators) for the character strength you select. You can find more information on this topic in Step 2: Solidify Assessment Plan. Q: I’m a secondary teacher. Why don’t I have to measure character growth for all of my students? Doesn’t the character growth of all my students matter? A: Absolutely! While we hope that you will be leading character instruction for all of your students, we know that many secondary teachers have a particular class that they spend more time with—such as an advisory or a homeroom class—that is especially conducive to character instruction. Because of this, we


have prioritized measuring character growth for this class only. In addition, we also strive to make your Relay GSE coursework as feasible as possible. While we require you to measure one class only, if you have the capacity to measure growth for all of your students, we highly encourage you and support you in doing so. Again, even if you are not measuring character growth for all of your classes, we hope that you will be modeling character and working to develop character strength with all of your students. Q: I want to measure many character strengths. I think all of the great eight are really important. Why do I need to select only one strength to measure? A: For your SGA coursework, you are asked to measure one character strength. For your SOP coursework, you are asked to teach and develop that same character strength. That being said, you are more than welcome to teach and measure multiple character strengths. This would simply extend beyond the Relay GSE coursework requirements.

STEP 1: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS To successfully complete Step 1 of the Pathway, you should be able to answer the following qualifying questions:

1. Have you selected one character strength to teach and measure this year? 2. Have you selected a roster for your character growth measure? 3. Have you identified the appropriate character strength tab within the RGSE Character Growth

Tracker?

STEP 1: SUMMARY By this stage, you should know what character strength you are measuring for your SGA coursework, as well as the roster of students who will be included in your character goal. You should also have a RGSE Character Growth Tracker to measure character growth. Congratulations! You are ready to move on to Step 2: Solidify Assessment Plan.


STEP 2: SOLIDIFY ASSESSMENT PLAN

Now that you’ve selected one character strength to teach and measure, you are ready to solidify your assessment plan. One of the most challenging aspects of measuring character growth is attempting to assess character. Just how do you measure character? Should you use quantitative data? Qualitative data? Both? As a nation of educators, we are in the very first stages of learning how to appropriately measure character. However, we are fortunate to draw from some of the pioneers in this field, namely Professor Angela Duckworth’s work at the University of Pennsylvania and the Character Lab (run by KIPP, Riverdale, and UPenn). Through their combined work over the past several years, the Character Lab and Professor Duckworth have been able to develop a systematic way for measuring character growth, called “The Character Growth Card.” For your own character growth measures, you will have the opportunity to leverage these resources. You will also have the opportunity to innovate your own character growth measures if you want to go above and beyond the assessments being provided for you.

SELECTING CHARACTER ASSESSMENT INDICATORS: THE CHARACTER GROWTH CARD Using the Character Growth Card is one straightforward approach to measuring students’ character strengths. At four points over the course of the school year, you will you administer a two- to four-question character assessment to your students. You will collect students’ self-assessments and also score your own perception of each student’s character strength. You will use only the indicators related


to your selected character strength. The Character Growth Card assessment indicators are included in the table below. Table 10: Character Growth Card Assessment Indicators4

Character Strength Character Indicator

Zest Actively participates Shows enthusiasm Invigorates others

Grit Finishes whatever he or she begins Tries very hard, even after experiencing failure Works independently with focus

Curiosity Is eager to explore new things Asks and answers questions to deepen understanding Actively listens to others

Love5 Demonstrates care for others Demonstrates care for self Recognizes and appreciates others’ strengths

Social Intelligence Is able to find solutions to conflicts with others Demonstrates respect for feelings of others Knows when and how to include others

Gratitude Recognizes and shows appreciation for others Recognizes and shows appreciation for his/her opportunities

Self-Control

Remains calm, even when criticized or otherwise provoked Allows others to speak without interruption Is polite to adults and peers Keeps his/her temper in check

Optimism Gets over frustrations and setbacks quickly Believes that effort will improve his or her future

Table 11: Character Growth Card Scale

Score Student Response Teacher Response

1 Very much unlike me Very much unlike the student

2 Unlike me Unlike the student

3 Somewhat unlike me Somewhat like the student

4 Like me Like the student

5 Very much like me Very much like the student

ASSESSMENT CALENDAR As with academic data, it is important that you collect multiple rounds of complete character assessment data. For frequency, you are required to collect four rounds of student-level and teacher-level character assessment data by the end of the year. For your Character Pathway, you will be asked to identify the four times throughout the school year when you plan to collect student-level and teacher-

4 Zest, Grit, Curiosity, Social Intelligence, Gratitude, Self-Control, and Optimism indicators have been adapted from the KIPP Report Card

5 Love measures created by Relay GSE


level character assessment data. A round of student and teacher data will be considered complete if you have data for 100% of the students in your roster.

GRADE-APPROPRIATE ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS The character indicators listed in Table 12 have been tried and tested in real classrooms with real students. Because of that, we believe these are kid-friendly assessment indicators that you will be able to use in your own classroom. That said, you may teach in a lower elementary or high school classroom and may want to adapt the language in the indicators slightly to make them even more student-friendly for the grade level you teach. You are not required to adapt the character indicators in any way, but are welcome to adjust the language for grade-level appropriateness. Below, you will find three examples of how character indicators were adjusted for a kindergarten classroom. Table 12: Examples of Character Indicators Adapted for Grade-Level Appropriateness

Character Strength

Original Indicator Adapted for a Kindergarten Classroom

Zest Invigorates others Makes others happy

Grit Tries very hard, even after experiencing failure

Tries very hard, even when work is tough

Self-Control Remains calm, even when criticized or otherwise provoked

Remains calm during a struggle

In addition to adapting the language of the character indicators if necessary, we also urge you to consider the most grade-appropriate assessment method for the grade level you teach. If you are a kindergarten teacher, you may want to administer these assessments orally. If you are a middle school or high school teacher, you may choose to administer them in multiple-choice format. The choice is up to you!

OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE CHARACTER DATA Though not required, we also encourage you to collect additional quantitative or qualitative character data and/or parent-level Character Growth Card assessment data. The Character Growth Card data is just scratching the surface of all the innovative ways you could collect character data for your Relay GSE coursework, and you may find that you want other ways to bolster your character data this year. Below, you will find a few examples to get your creative juices flowing. Collecting Parent-Level Character Growth Card Data

Example: As a middle school reading teacher, you know the key to your students’ success in improving their reading levels is directly related to the amount of time they spend reading on grade-level texts. Because of this, you give your students ample time to read in your classroom, but you also assign 30 minutes of independent reading for homework each night. Now, your students need to be invested in their reading growth goal and in your class to complete this homework with diligence every night, but they also need grit. Specifically, they need to “work independently with focus.” You’ll be able to calibrate your students’ strength in this area in your classroom, but what about at home when they are completing their 30 minutes of reading each night? You might find that asking their parents to score them on the grit


indicators at four points throughout the year could give you very useful information about who is completing their reading homework consistently. Just like the academic data you use in your data-driven action plans, this parent-level data can help you make smarter decisions about the interventions you put in place for struggling students, and about the celebrations you plan for students who are going above and beyond. Not to mention all of the great things that can come for you and your students by building stronger, more collaborative relationships with families. Collecting Additional Quantitative or Qualitative Data

In addition to collecting parent-level data on the Character Growth Card indicators, you may also want to collect additional forms of quantitative or qualitative data to assess your students’ character growth. Depending on the character strength you are measuring, there are many additional ways you may want to assess your students. Below, you will find a few examples of ways previous Relay GSE graduate students have successfully measured their students’ character growth.

Examples:

Homework logs

Student video interviews

Longer student self-reflections (e.g., students answer “why?” after each Character Growth Card indicator)

Role plays (that the teacher measures with a rubric)

Character-focused shout-outs (that the teacher records quantitatively and/or qualitatively)

Solidify Assessment Plan FAQs

Q: Do I need to use the same indicators all year long or can I switch them up? A. To have an “apples-to-apples” measure, you should use the same indicators throughout the year. Q: What should I do if a student was absent for a character self-assessment? A: As with your academic data, you should administer the assessment on another date, when your student has returned to class. Q: If I’m collecting additional qualitative or quantitative character data, how should I track and submit that data throughout the school year? Will Relay staff make me a new tracker? A: If you choose to collect additional quantitative or qualitative character growth data, it will also be your responsibility to create a clear and consistent method for tracking and submitting this data throughout the year. Relay staff will not be able to make you a new tracker, though your faculty advisor will be happy to help you generate ideas for how to do this during office hours. Q: At my school, we focus on “perseverance,” which is similar but not identical to “grit.” Should I use the indicators for “grit” that already were created for the Character Growth Card, or should I create different indicators that are better aligned to “perseverance”? A: The character strength you choose to measure should be assessed using indicators that align to the meaning of that strength. If the difference between “grit” and “perseverance” is purely semantic, you should feel free to use the existing indicators on the Character Growth Card. If the indicators for grit do not align to the way your school defines perseverance, then you should adapt the existing indicators or write your own to best align to the true meaning of the strength of perseverance.


STEP 2: QUALIFYING QUESTIONS To successfully complete Step 2 of the Pathway, you should be able to answer the following qualifying questions:

1. Have you selected the appropriate character indicators? 2. Have you created an assessment calendar? 3. Optional: Have you adjusted character indicator language for grade-level appropriateness? 4. Optional: Have you created an assessment plan for collecting additional character data?

STEP 2: SUMMARY By this stage, you should know what specific character indicators you are using to measure character growth. Congratulations! You are ready to move on to Step 3: Setting Goals.


STEP 3: SET GOALS

Another aspect to the challenge of measuring character growth is identifying how much character growth is possible in a given school year. Unlike academic goals, we don’t have years’ worth of historical data to let us know what kind of character growth is ambitious and feasible. In addition, measuring character growth is different in that our assessments are based on perception, as opposed to a concrete skill or standard.

A classic example to illustrate this point is measurement of grit. Let’s say your students self-diagnose at the beginning of the year and, overall, they report that they are mostly “gritty” in that it is like them to “try very hard, even after experiencing failure” some of the time. After a year’s worth of character instruction in your classroom, you observe that your students, on average, now try far harder after experiencing failure at the beginning of the year. However, on average, students score themselves as less “gritty” than they were at the beginning of the year. Why might this be the case? One explanation is that your students’ definition of grit has changed over the course of the year. At the beginning of the year they may have perceived grit as trying for one extra minute in the face of a challenge, while at the end of the year they perceive grit as trying as long as it takes to solve the problem in the face of a challenge. These are two completely different interpretations of grit. While a student may say he does the former most of the time, he may in fact be “grittier” if he does the latter some of the time. This is just one example illustrating some of the challenges in measuring character growth.


Because of these challenges, at Relay GSE you will be assessed on the richness of the character data you collect, not the amount of quantitative growth your students made over the course of the year. You will adopt the Relay-prescribed Character Growth Goal as a target to drive toward, but you will not be responsible (to Relay) for meeting this goal. The purpose of the Character Pathway is to engage in the process of measuring character, not meeting a certain numerical outcome.

RGSE-PRESCRIBED CHARACTER GROWTH GOAL

On average, students will achieve a 4.0 average on the EOY Character Growth Card indicators as measured by the average of teacher and student responses at the end of the year.

Why did Relay GSE select this Character Growth Goal? The reason is that, to have achieved this goal, you and your students would agree that by the end of the year it is, on average, “like your class” to display this character strength. This is a good thing. This would mean that, on average, it is like your class to demonstrate social intelligence, curiosity, zest, etc. Though we know that we don’t yet have reliable enough data to hold graduate students responsible for meeting this goal, we do believe that it is responsible and in the best interest of students to drive toward this goal. As you learned in Step 2: Solidify Assessment Plan, you will be required to collect four rounds of complete student- and teacher-level assessment data throughout the year, using the Character Growth Card indicators. Regardless of your students’ end-of-year character growth, you will be able to earn a proficient score for your character coursework if you collect this level of character assessment data throughout the year. Progress toward your end-of-year character goal will be measured by taking an average of your fourth round of student- and teacher-level Character Growth Card indicator scores. All additional data you collect can be used in your end-of-year character growth reflection. Remember, your character growth will be scored on the quality of your data, not on the amount of character growth your data reveals.

Set Goals FAQs

Q: Am I allowed to increase or decrease my Character Growth Goal? A: For the purpose of your Relay GSE coursework, no. However, please remember this is a target to drive toward, not a target that your students must meet by the end of the year. If you would like to invest your students in a different character goal than the one you are measuring for Relay GSE, we encourage you to do that! Q: Do I have to set another Character Growth goal for the additional character data I am collecting? A: No. While you are more than welcome to set additional character growth goals with your students, you are not required to do this for your Relay GSE coursework. You will be able to use the additional character data you collect to reflect on your students’ end-of-year progress.


1. Have you confirmed your Character Goal? 2. Have you successfully entered your first round of data?


STEP 3: SUMMARY By this stage, you have set a meaningful Character Goal for your students, and you have entered your first round of character growth data. Congratulations! You are ready to move on to Step 4: Track Progress.


STEP 4: TRACK PROGRESS

At this point, the foundation of your Pathway has already been built—you have selected the character strength that you will measure and confirmed your roster, you solidified how you will assess this strength, and you’ve set a goal for your students. You are now ready to begin tracking progress on the particular character strength. To do this, you will use the RGSE Character Growth Tracker. The RGSE Character Growth Tracker is a tool to measure student, teacher, and parent responses to the Character Growth Card indicators for the great eight. If you are measuring a character strength for one of the great eight, you will select the tab in the tracker associated with your character strength. If you are measuring a character strength outside of the great eight, you may customize a tab in the tracker according to the character strength you selected and the report card indicators you created. Instructions on how to complete this adaptation are available online as part of the SGA-201: Year 2 Pathway module. If you are collecting quantitative or qualitative data outside of the Character Growth Card measure, you will need to create your own tracker tool to collect, input, and analyze that character growth data. Relay staff will not make you a new tracker, though your faculty advisor will be happy to help you generate ideas during office hours.


RGSE CHARACTER GROWTH TRACKER Below is a screenshot showcasing the Relay GSE Character Growth Tracker, using a fictitious set of students and data for the character strength of zest. As you’ll notice, the design is very straightforward. Zest is assessed with three indicators—each student produces a self-evaluation and each student is also evaluated by the classroom teacher, and space for providing optional parent evaluation is provided. The average indicator is computed, as is the percent of responses collected. For more information, please visit the online resources available in the SGA-201: Year 2 Pathway module.

MAINTAINING AN ACCURATE ROSTER In a perfect world, each of your students would enter your classroom at the beginning of the year and stay until the end of the year. Obviously this isn’t the reality, and enrollment changes often make tracking character growth more difficult and complicated. Below is guidance for keeping your tracker current throughout the year when enrollment changes occur. Mid-Year Enrollment Changes Students will inevitably join your class throughout the school year. When this happens, you should add the student to your roster (as you did when the school year was beginning), and begin collecting assessment data for that student in future rounds of assessment. Students will also inevitably leave your class during the middle of the academic year. Continue to collect rounds of assessment data up until the student exits your classroom. Naturally, you will not want these missing rounds of data to average as zeroes toward your overall assessment totals. You may enter “NETR” in a field to reflect that a student was “Not Enrolled That Round” (of assessment), and this code will prevent the tracker from including those missing results when computing score averages and participation percentages.

KEEPING UP WITH YOUR ASSESSMENT CALENDAR In Step 2: Solidify Assessment Plan, you created an assessment calendar with the approximate dates on which you intended to administer your assessments throughout the year. Throughout Step 4: Track Progress, you should take stock of how well you are following your assessment calendar. If you are right on track—great. If not, you will need to consider what actions you will take to ensure you administer sufficient assessments at meaningful intervals for the remainder of the school year. For required data,


each round will be considered complete if you have 100% of your data for student and teacher evaluations. For optional parent-level data and/or optional quantitative/qualitative data, each round will also be considered complete if you have 100% of your data.

Track Progress FAQs

Q: I’m measuring zest using the Character Growth Card indicators. Some of my students were absent for one of the self-evaluation assessments that I gave. What do I do? A: You should give the self-evaluation assessment to the student as soon as possible. You must obtain a 100% response rate for self-evaluations and also complete 100% of your teacher evaluations. Q: I created my own character assessment involving video interviews to measure the character strength of friendship. What kind of tracker should I create to collect, input, and analyze this data? A: You should produce a tracker that properly displays averages for all rounds of data (e.g., scores on a friendship rubric), that shows percent of data collected, and that shows overall progress toward the goal you set. Q: I asked my kindergarten students to self-evaluate using the Character Growth Card indicators on our first round of assessment and now, after reviewing their responses, I’m starting to think that students didn’t understand the wording. Can I return to Step 2 and rework my assessment? A: Absolutely! If this is the beginning of the academic year and you realize that either the indicators or the scoring scale is not appropriate for your group of students, you should go back to Step 2 of the Pathway and revise as necessary.


1. Are you keeping up with your assessment calendar and entering new data each assessment cycle?

2. Optional: If you are collecting additional character data, are you keeping up with your assessment plan?

STEP 4: SUMMARY By this stage, you have a tracker that you are populating with ongoing rounds of data. You should continue to update assessment data and roster data in your tracker as needed. Congratulations! You will be ready to proceed to Step 5: Verifying Outcomes at the end of the school year.


STEP 5: VERIFY OUTCOMES

As with your academic outcomes, at the end of the year you will need to take a few quick steps to make certain that your roster is finalized and that your character growth results are complete and accurate. Since you’ve been updating your students’ progress throughout the year, this process should be simple!

FINALIZING YOUR ROSTER Before submitting your end-of-year character growth data, you must confirm that your roster is finalized, reflecting enrollment in your classroom throughout the year.

Chronically Absent Students As the leader of your classroom, it is your responsibility to encourage and reward positive attendance patterns, as well as to actively intervene when students are chronically absent. However, we realize that your best efforts may not always solve attendance issues and there may still be students in your roster who were not there for a majority of the instructional time. Thus, any student who has been absent more than half of the instructional time (>50%) should be excluded from your overall roster at the end of the year. The same rule of thumb applies to students who may have entered or exited your class mid-year. Process for Excluding Students From the Dataset While students should NEVER be deleted from your tracker file, there may be circumstances where their character growth results are not representative of the instruction that you were able to provide. In the


event that a student missed >50% of instructional time, you will want to exclude this student’s character growth results from your dataset. To do this, you will need written permission (email is acceptable) from your faculty advisor to exclude that student from your roster. When you email your faculty advisor, you will need to provide thorough rationale for excluding the student. We encourage you to share any relevant documentation such as withdrawal forms, attendance logs, etc., that help support your request. However, those documents are optional and not absolutely necessary to remove a student from your roster. Once you have received written approval to remove the student, you should then indicate, in the roster tab of your tracker, that the student’s data has been excluded. These exclusions must be approved by your faculty advisor prior to the due date for your end-of-year character growth submission.

CONFIRMING YOUR DATA IS COMPLETE Just as you must confirm that your end-of-year roster is correct, you must also confirm that your end-of-year data is correct and accurate. You should have four sets of data within your Character Growth Tracker. Each round of data will be considered complete if you have 100% of your data for student and teacher evaluations. For optional parent-level data and/or optional quantitative/qualitative data, each round will also be considered complete if you have 100% of your data.

CONFIRMING YOUR TRACKER IS ERROR-FREE We are committed to providing you with top-notch tracker support. Should you experience any challenges with your RGSE trackers, you should first review the instructions and watch the tracker screencasts in your SGA modules, then consult with your Faculty advisor. If you are unable to resolve the challenge at that point, you may email your tracker and outstanding concerns to [email protected]. Please make sure to email your tracker at least one week in advance of your assessment due date. We cannot guarantee tracker support on a last-minute basis.

END-OF-YEAR CHARACTER DATA As the final step of measuring character, please identify how your students performed relative to your class Character Goal. What are your thoughts about your end-of-year data? Do think this data is representative of the character growth your students made this year?

Verify Outcomes FAQs Q: I created my own character assessment involving video interviews to measure the character strength of friendship. How do I verify outcomes for the tracker that I created? A: You should ensure that your tracker properly displays averages for all rounds of data and that it shows percent of data collected and overall progress toward the goal you set.


1. Have you finalized your roster, removing students correctly when necessary? 2. Is your data complete? 3. Is your tracker error-free? 4. How did your students perform relative to your class goal?

STEP 5: SUMMARY By this stage, you have a clear picture of your students’ character growth this year. Hooray!


FINAL THOUGHTS Conferring degrees based on student growth and achievement is one of the main characteristics that distinguish Relay GSE from other graduate schools of education. We are honored and excited to join you in this process this year, and we look forward to helping you drive toward ambitious student achievement gains and character growth with all of your students.

Documents

Year 2 Student Growth and Achievement Handbook …...student achievement, you’ll continue with TC-102: Using Data to Drive Instruction. In this module, you’ll In this module, you’ll