Problems Arise Even When We Are Unaware

Two years ago I was faced with a problem that came to my attention that I was not aware of. It was brought to my attention by my principal and together we were faced with finding a solution. The problem stemmed from student test scores on a district assessment.

Let me first give some background information about the situation. My district gives a district wide assessment called the Fiction Common Assessment (FCA) in December or January to assess all of the students on their ability to read a short story, annotate it, analyze it and write two extended responses. Every 6th, 7th, and 8th grader takes the FCA and all scores are sent to the district office.

From my understanding was the FCA is a way to see where me students are at with extended response writing and what I needed to work on with them before the ISATs. For the three years I have been in the district I have used this test to assess my students and evaluate their needs.

The problem started when I was called into my principal’s office and asked why the big wigs at the district office were calling asking about my scores. This is the first time that I had heard anything about my scores. My principal reassured me that it was no big deal and not to worry about it. Obviously that didn’t happen and after a few conversations with my principal we decided to meet with the district office to see what the fuss was all about.

So this is where the problem became complex because we were not sure what “asking about my scores” meant. I tried to figure out and anticipate all of the possibilities of what the concerns could be. I went into the meeting with examples of student’s work, test scores, and lessons that backup my teaching strategies. I was not sure what this meeting was going to be about.

As the meeting began I was told that my students have had the lowest FCA scores for the last three years. This was the first time that this information was brought to my attention. I was a little taken aback, because if there was a concern with my scores then how come this was the first time that my principal and I were learning about it. I was told that we were meeting was nothing more than to discuss what I was doing to prepare my students for this test. The district has created a curriculum to be taught around the FCA.

During the meeting we discussed student work an analyzed the scores compared to the rubric that the district created. It became aware to my principal and me that I graded “harder” against the rubric them the rest of the teachers in the district. As we compared how I was grading my students it became obvious that when a students work was between two sections on the rubric that I downgraded the student rather than giving them the higher score. My principal made it a point to say that the rubric has some inconsistencies within the descriptions of what was required to meet each sections criterion. The district kept saying that it wasn’t about the rubric it was about the scores. We tried to point of that the two go hand-in-hand. It was hard to try to find a solution when we all didn’t agree on the same problem.

As the meeting went I the problem became clearer when it was stated that the FCA scores have been a good predictor of how the students will do in the ISATs. That is when I asked if my students scores for the ISATs were also the lowest in the district. I was told that my students were one of the top scorers in the district on the ISAT.

I realized at that point it was not the scores that were the concern for the district; it was that the district test was not conforming to their ideas that it is a good predictor of the ISATs. At that point I reevaluated what this meeting was ultimately about and defended the way that I was teaching and grading against the rubric.

My goal for the FCA was to see what my student could and should work on rather than giving the student the benefit of the doubt on the rubric. I believe that if you are going to give a pre-assessment then you look for what each student’s areas of strengths and weaknesses. I personally do not use the FCA for a student grade but rather to make a needs assessment plan of the students and then adjust my teaching to the needs of my students.

Ultimately this problem was solved, or at least come to an understanding, of what each of us were using the FCA for. The last two years I have graded the assessments with the district. Other teachers and I have worked on a new rubric to adequately evaluate the student’s work to better reflect what they know and where they still need to develop.

In dealing with this problem I was not immediately sure what all of the variables were when the problem was first introduced. I also wasn’t sure what the solution was or if there was an adequate solution. As I proceeded I was able to narrow down what was important and what wasn’t. From learning about the problem to finding a solution I had to move through the various stages of Bloom’s Taxonomies. Initially I had to define what the problem was (knowledge) and defend and explain my philosophy (comprehension). As the meeting went on I demonstrated what lessons were being used (application) and how that related to the construct of the FCA (analysis). Ultimately I was able to combine what the need of the district to my own needs and design a plan to implement those strategies into my curriculum (synthesis). Using the last two years worth of data and experience (evaluation) we created a new rubric to better serve the needs of the students, the teachers and the district.

The Problems We Face

I work on a three-person team teaching 6^th grade Language Arts and Reading. As part of our team we see 57 students for 74 minutes each day. Our day is divided into block schedules so that we see the students for two periods in a row. As a team we meet everyday to plan and discuss student needs. This is where the problem arises.

We have a couple of students on the team that do not follow many of our school rules and show an interest in learning. They are constantly interrupting the other students learning while they are not engaging in what is going on in the classroom. We have met with the parents and with our school’s social worker and psychologist and have tied to figure out how to get these students on track.

Our school and district have implemented the Positive Behavioral Interventions & Support (PBIS) (http://www.pbisillinois.org) program to try to help solve some of these types of students and to create a framework and language for all the students to understand and follow. We have a PBIS team that helps with challenging students to plan ways to get these students on task.

My grade level team and the PBIS team along with the parents have tried to figure out what the factors are that create the situation where the student is not succeeding. We have looked at various models and tried to eliminate factors that we as educators can control and factors that we cannot control. We have also tried to look at what will motive these students.

Because PBIS is about positive behavioral interventions and not disciplinary measures we have implemented a check in/check out system with a point sheet working towards a goal. If the goal for the day and week are met the student is rewarded with an opportunity to be apart of something that they are interested in; for example extra computer time.

This plan has been in place for at least a month and the interesting thing is that for one of the students his behavior in the classroom has improved. He is no longer shouting out and yelling at other students (most of the time). But for the other student his behavior has stayed about the same. He has his good days and his bad days and reminding him about his point sheet does not seem to motivate him.

Part of our model and plan was that if we can take away some of the behavioral struggles these students would be able to start performing academically. The truth at this time is that they are not performing any better. Their effort in and out of class is still minimal. The student, whose behavior in class is better, has helped because he is not distracting the other students and not taking the teacher’s time away from teaching to redirect him.

In our team meeting we spend a lot of time discussing and planning for these couple of students and at times are neglecting some of the other 55 students in the grade. As we try to redefine and restructure our model the old adage comes to mind: You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. No matter what the teacher, team, or parent does the student has to take some ownership in his or her own education. We need to be partners not adversaries.