Tinora High School Equity Audit

1. Tinora High School Equity Audit Juliann Shonk

2. Overview of School • Type: High School • Location: Rural Northwest Ohio • Enrollment: 350

3. Overview of Assessments Given at THS • OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) – a test that all sophomores are required to take and pass in order to graduate from high school. • PLAN – a practice ACT test that sophomore students have the option of taking. • PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test) – a practice SAT test that juniors may opt to take to prepare for the SAT. • ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) – another optional test for juniors to provide some career assessment and evalutation.

5. OGT • Purpose: State requirement for graduation • Grade Level: Sophomores • Description: To test the students' knowledge on the four core areas. • Date: March 11-15, 2013 • Results received: around May 6, 2013 • Teachers receive results: Soon after they are received. • Students receive results: Various dates during May. • Analysis: Students meet individually with the principal to discuss their scores.

6. PLAN • Group: Sophomores • Date Given: October 18, 2012 • Purpose: To prepare students for taking the ACT during their Junior and/or Senior year of high school. • Results received: November 12, 2012 • Analysis: After guidance counselors analyze data, it is filed. Teachers do not analyze data, but rather it is made available to view in the lounge. • Teachers receive results: November 16, 2012 • Students receive results: November 15, 2012 • Students are taken to study hall to discuss the results together. • Further analysis of results is not applicable.

7. PSAT • Purpose: To prepare students for taking the SAT the following year(s). • Description: Test students in the four core areas; reading, math, science, and history. Students could also qualify for the NMSQT scholarship. • Grade Level: Juniors • Date: October 17, 2012 • Scores Received: November 19, 2012 • Scores are made available to teachers in the lounge on the 19th, but no further analysis is done. • Students receive scores on November the 26th and review results with guidance counselors during study hall. • Principal reviews scores to determine recipient of scholarship.

8. ASVAB • Purpose: Career assessment, exploration, and evaluation to provide students with career path suggestions. • Description: A test given by the military, testing students on 8 different areas. • Grade Level: Juniors • Date: November 13, 2012 • Receive scores: November 26, 2012 • Scores are not shared with teachers, rather they are strictly for students' files. • Students receive scores November 30, 2012. • No data analysis is done.

9. Overall observation • When it comes to standardized tests at Tinora High School, it became evident to me that the staff as a whole is lacking in the area of data analysis. As can be seen in the previous slides, there is no group analysis done after each of the tests results come in. • The following slide will show some of the assessment results from the students of Tinora High School 

10. 2012 OGT Data All students must earn a score of 400 or better to pass the OGT. As the results show above, the girls average score was 430.3, the boys average score was 422.5, and the overall average score of the 2012 sophomore class was 426.4. As a result, the 2012 sophomore class averaged at the high end of proficient, almost to the accelerated category.

11. Score Conversion PLAN Score Estimated ACT Comp. Score Range 14 14-18 15 15-19 16 16-20 17 18-22 18 19-23 19 20-24 20 21-25 21 23-27 22 24-28 23 25-29 24 26-30 25 27-31 26 28-32 27 29-33 28 30-33 29 31-34 The following data shows the 2012 PLAN test. The juniors who took this test averaged the lowest in the area of English, but scored highest in science. These results could lead to some further analysis of focus for the upcoming school year to better the scores.

12. SAT Fall 2012 Results Based on a composite score of 1-36, the SAT results above show where our students struggle the most as well as their highest achieving areas. Since the test is open to all grades, there was 1 sophomore, and 2 juniors who took the test with the 16 seniors in the fall of 2012. Looking at these results, the school can analyze the scores and conclude that our students, as a whole, could use some improvement in the area of reading and English.

13. Interviewing Staff • After my interviews with 5 different educators at the high school, including our curriculum director, I would have to say that although there is not much, if any, analysis of assessments done by the teachers, the assessments themselves are being used effectively. Since our scores have been above average over the past several years, student achievement has improved as well. By challenging and pushing our students to excel as in the past, the student body has exceptional results on assessments. • The overall consensus was that the results of such tests are not communicated well to the staff. Although they may be available for us to view in the lounge, most teachers think that having a faculty meeting to discuss and analyze the results as a team would be much more beneficial. From such analysis, educators can guide their instruction in a way to improve scores in following years.

14. Support for assessment analysis • One of the recommendations I received from these educators was to have time put aside for the faculty to learn how to analyze the assessments in a way that will yield useful results. In addition, they suggested having the departments receive their specific results, and then meet as a group to discuss those results. • One of the purposes for test analysis is so that, "The instructor can then adjust the presentation the next semester to take advantage of this feedback, with more class time devoted to topics that a large percentage of students miss" (Wright, 2010). Through receiving and analyzing students' scores, an educator has the opportunity to learn and grow from those results and improve the following year.

15. Support for Professional Development • When it comes to increasing student achievement through the assessments and their results, they all agreed that this does not happen because we as the teachers don't know about the results. • Providing the faculty with professional development to familiarize them with the data analysis process is key to successful analyzing. As Pedulla, Abrams, Madaus, Russel, Ramos, and Miao (2003) supports in their article, professional development is highly adequate to prepare teachers for score analysis and taking further steps after the analysis (p. 108).

16. More Support for Assessment Analysis • Kennedy, Peters, and Thomas (2012) stress the importance of value-added analysis in their book which focuses on the student learning portion of assessment analysis. I feel that by using data from assessments in the ways these three focus on, could improve student learning and growth at Tinora High School.

17. Support for Improving Student Learning • Gusky's (2003) article focuses on the fact that many times, teachers do not receive the results of state-mandated assessments for up to months after it has been administered. He looks at the idea of making the results of assessments useful for future lessons and units within the classroom. By moving in this direction, many schools will see an improvement in their student learning, as well as in the growth and development of the staff.

18. Overall Conclusion from Interviews • The results of the assessments are communicated to the students and their parents, but beyond that there are no other parties who receive the data unless they ask for it. That being said, many teachers do not fully understand the purpose of the assessments, but rather just get irritated with the fact that students are being taken our of their class time for testing. • The overall conclusion to be made from the results of these interviews and by looking at our lack of analysis within the school, is that the district is lacking in this area, and could benefit greatly from such analysis.

19. Survey Process • After analyzing the results from interviewing the 5 educators at the high school, I then created a survey to send out to the faculty, parents of students, as well as administration. • The survey focused on equality as well as assessment analysis at THS. • From the results of the survey, I created several interview questions for the high school principal as well as the curriculum director for the high school. Below, you will find the link to the survey. • https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1e6QfSwwJadRtplk-oygRV41xAJZOXuRM18yunSdv2Gg/viewform?sid=6974fa357456480d&token=zvCeWT0BAAA.74GWNbTHHdo-Vaha2vT5Mw.umdyVP0ndZK3nUHVxnf0Nw

20. Survey Data • The survey was sent to: • 33 High School Teachers • 13 Responded • 39.4% • 2 Administrators • 0 Responded • 0% • 10 Parents • 2 Responded • 20%

21. Interview Protocol • Mr. Nofziger • Tinora High School Principal • 30+ years experience • Former math teacher • Successful leader • Mrs. Anita Brandeberry • Curriculum Director for THS • 30 years teaching • Now works for NWOESC

22. Responses to Interview Questions • How can you ensure that no one group is being treated differently when it comes to discipline? Does race play a role? SES? Sex? • Since we don’t have many minorities, I don’t see that as an issue. Basically we treat each case individually, not based on sex or skin color. The nature of boys makes them push the limits more, but we discipline each of them pretty evenly. -PN

23. Responses to Interview Questions • How can relay assessment results as well as analyze them as a staff more deeply? Professional development time? • If we weren’t so successful in our testing we would do more analyzing. We do put copies of test results into all teachers’ mailboxes for them to look over. -PN • I think a professional development day would be super beneficial to all staff members for them to see the results and hear an explanation for results. It would also helped their instruction in the upcoming school year. - AB

24. Responses to Interview Questions • Most everyone disagreed that THS should administer more standardized tests. The school as a whole does well with types of tests, could it benefit the school if we did more? • There would be no benefits from doing more. We spend enough time with testing already, we just want the students to be good thinkers. – PN • At this point, the school could not benefit from participating in more standardized tests. At this point, take all the time you can in your classrooms without more tests. - AB

25. Responses to Interview Questions • For those students who are not considered “good testers”, how could we better meet their needs? Is this a downfall when it comes to standardized testing? • My son has had 3 successful years of teaching and is an excellent teacher, but he still cannot get his Praxis score up high enough. With out students it’s more important to prepare them to be good thinkers rather than only receiving good scores. - PN

26. Responses to Interview Questions • With the world becoming so diverse, there are wishes that the district provided more multicultural opportunities for the students. What are your thoughts on this issue? • We can’t create cultural diversity at a non-diverse school. Unfortunately, I think that the students just have to experience it for themselves. -PN • There are countless ways to include multicultural diversity within schools, even if they are small rural ones like THS. Even if it’s not totally authentic, at least opening the students’ eyes to some new cultures and ways of living with make them more sensitive to others from all over the world. - AB

27. Issues to Look Into • Lacking in the area of assessment analysis • Do not use assessment data to further teacher instruction • Administration does not use time efficiently when it comes to professional development • Not many see the need for multicultural opportunities for students

28. Plan of Action Issue #1 Issue #2 • Provide staff with assessment results in a timely fashion • Meet with educators to analyze data • Within departments, make goals for upcoming school year • Have each educator look at their personal data (their subject area) • Create a brief outline of areas that need improvement • Create SMART goals for next school year.

29. Plan of Action Issue #3 Issue #4 • Create a survey for staff to get a better idea for professional development • Take survey results and develop PD days that will be beneficial for staff • Use faculty meeting times to cover small issues rather than cancelling and sending out a memo. • As an administrator, research and present staff with the advantages of multicultural opportunities for students. • Involve staff by asking them for creative ideas for developing opportunities for students. • Start with foreign language teachers asking for them to share some cultural info.

30. Synthesis and Reflection Throughout the process of this Equity Audit, my eyes were opened to the success of our high school, but also to the areas that could use some improvement. Tinora High School does an excellent job when it comes to assessments, but when it comes to data analysis, it’s almost non-existent at the high school level. The concern that I have about this is that the administration's outlook is that if we are doing well, we don’t need to worry. With an attitude such as this, we are not pushing ourselves to continue to improve even if we are already receiving the highest rating as a district. In my opinion, there is always room for improvement. The advantages of data analysis are numerous, including improvement of future instruction for teachers, as well as finding areas in which the school as a whole is weak. From such findings, the departments and/or district can create SMART goals for the following year with hopes of improving scores. Eising focuses on the benefits of data analysis in his article where he states that, “The main benefits of data analysis are rather self-evident. How can someone improve their processes and identify problematic issues if they are not willing to look at the data?” (Eising, 2010). Tinora High School does no such analysis, and although our assessment scores are excellent, they data can also show if there is a department that needs to be improved as well. Through the survey I conducted, I realized just how many teachers are content with no data analysis throughout the high school. In addition, many teachers and parents were also content with the lack of multicultural opportunities available for students in the high school. I knew that the school and community were very tightly knit, but I though that in 2013 that more families would be open to creating opportunities for students to experience different cultures and histories. Just as Gay supports, “These unfamiliar groups, cultures, traditions, and languages can produce anxieties, hostilities, prejudices, and racist behaviors among those who do not understand the newcomers…” (Gay, 2004). If we continue to send our students out into the world without a knowledge of other cultures, we’re only hurting rather than helping humanity and our students.

31. Synthesis and Reflection As I reflect on the results of this Equity Audit of Tinora High School, I feel much more passionately about assessment analysis as well as using valuable time throughout the school year to educate the staff. The professional development offered at THS is lacking in that it does not fulfill the areas of need for the educators. Education Week sums up the current issues with PD; “Effective professional development is often seen as vital to school success and teacher satisfaction, but it has also been criticized for its cost, often vaguely determined goals, and for the lack of data on resulting teacher and school improvement that characterizes many efforts” (2011). Many of our professional development days are repetitive and do not suit the educators’ needs. By taking this time to analyze assessment data or to discuss goals for the school year and how we plan to reach those goals could be a much more productive use of everyone’s time.

32. Synthesis and Reflection • Would you do anything differently if you did this again? • If I were to do this project again, the only thing I’d change would be my usage of time. Specifically, I’d get in contact with my principal earlier, as well as the curriculum director. They were both so busy if was a challenge to meet with each of them. • What else do you want to know?   • I’d like to know if the school has plans to do more data analysis with the new Ohio Teacher Evaluation System coming into play where they look at student growth. I’d also like to know if I sparked any new ideas into my administrators head when it comes to use of professional development time, and faculty meeting time as well. • What roadblocks did you encounter? • As mentioned, it was a challenge to find a time to meet with both the principal and curriculum director without being interrupted. Both of my interviews were cut short because of a more pressing matter, and neither of them were able to get back with me. Instead, I just e-mailed them by last few questions. I also encountered a roadblock with getting responses for my survey. I didn’t want to be pushy with reminders, but therefore did not get a very strong response.

33. Resources • (June, 2011). Professional Development. Education Week. Retrieved from: http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/professional-development/ • Eising, Martin. (December, 2010). Data analysis overview, Retrieved from: http://www.dashboardinsight.com/articles/new-concepts-in-business-intelligence/data- analysis-overview.aspx • Gay, Geneva. (January, 2004). The importance of multicultural education. Educational Leadership. Retrieved from: http://www.achievementseminars.com/seminar _series_2008_2009/readings/importance_multicultural_education.pdf • Gusky, T. (February 2003). How classroom assessments improve learning. Educational Leadership, 60 (5). Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational- leadership/feb03/vol60/num05/How-Classroom-Assessments-Improve- Learning.aspx • Kennedy, K., Peters, M., Thomas, M. (2012). How to use value-added analysis to improve student learning: A field guide for school and district leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. • Pedulla, J. J., Abrams, L. M., Madaus, G. F., Russel, M. K., Ramos, M. A., Mioa, J. (March, 2003). Perceived Effects of State-Mandated Testing Programs on Teaching and Learning:Findingsfrom a National Survey of Teachers. NBETPP, Retrieved from: http://www.bc.edu/research/nbetpp/statements/nbr2.pdf • Wright, R.E., (March 2010). Standardized testing for outcome assessment: analysis of the educational testing systems MBA tests. College Student Journal, 44 (1). Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.mt.opal-libraries.org/ehost/detail?sid=f8f21f4e-a10c-4d4f- a10432100b5d162a%40sessionmgr111&vid=9&hid=104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc 3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=48646436