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Equity Audit

Equity Audit. Kaylin McCue University of Mount Union. District. Urban 40 Teachers 850 Students 99% White Blue Collar Community 49% Economically Disadvantaged 85% Graduation Rate. Student Data. Spring OGT Scores 2011. Student Data. Spring OGT Scores 2012.

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Equity Audit

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  1. Equity Audit Kaylin McCue University of Mount Union

  2. District • Urban • 40 Teachers • 850 Students • 99% White • Blue Collar Community • 49% Economically Disadvantaged • 85% Graduation Rate

  3. Student Data Spring OGT Scores 2011

  4. Student Data Spring OGT Scores 2012

  5. 75% of students who failed a test failed more than one Highest failing percentage – Science Highest passing percentage – Writing More males than females failed at least one test 74% of students who failed a test failed more than one Highest failing percentage – Science Highest passing percentage – Reading More females than males failed at least one test Data Analysis Spring 2011 Spring 2012

  6. Student Survey • Administered to sophomores the week after students took the OGT • Five questions about how prepared they felt, how difficult the tests were, and who helped them prepare

  7. Student Survey Results • Responses indicated that students felt most prepared for the math test. • Students felt least prepared for the Social Studies test. • 13% of students reported that their parents helped them to prepare for the OGTs.

  8. Staff Survey • Nine question survey distributed to the staff via e-mail using SurveyMonkey.com • 21 Teachers responded • 18 had more than 5 years of experience • 19 general education and 2 special education

  9. Staff Survey Results • The most shocking information that I found from the survey involved our staff’s relationship with parents. • 76% of teachers believe that home environment has the greatest impact on student success. • 40% of teachers do not contact parents even once a month.

  10. Principal Dr. Joe Shivers Admits that our school “could do a better job” of communicating with parents Won’t accept anything but the best; believes that we are holding our students to a very high standard Has confidence that the staff is doing their job when preparing students for testing Not happy with the state, new teacher evaluations, or testing Assistant Principal Hank Brock Strongly believes that there is a need to increase our communication with parents Thinks that we could hold our students to a higher standard, but is aware of the type of students we typically deal with Sees a need for the science and social studies departments to buckle down when it comes to preparing students for testing Interviews

  11. Plan of Action Step 1 • Meet with the social studies department • Students claim they felt least prepared for social studies OGT • Encourage teachers to begin class with 3-5 sample OGT problems from old tests • Request year-long lesson plans from teachers to ensure all of the state standards are being met.

  12. Preparing Students for Testing • Perhaps making more Social Studies assessments multiple choice throughout the year will help students perform better on standardized tests in the same format. • According to an article in Clearing House Jul/Aug 91, Vol. 64 Issue 6, “Well-constructed teacher-made tests can serve as measures of knowledge as well as practice for standardized testing” (p. 422).

  13. Plan of Action Step 2 • Meet with the math department • Students felt most prepared for math OGT • Determine what math teachers do to help students prepare for the test • Have math teachers share with the rest of the staff what they do in the weeks leading up to the test • Casually ask students why they felt that they were most prepared for math. • Is it because the test was relatively easy or because the math curriculum was relatively rigorous?

  14. “Teachers Helping Teachers in Urban Schools” • According to this article from School Psychology Review 2011, Volume 40, No. 4, written by a team of researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, “Feeling ineffective in the classroom is exacerbated by the alienation and isolation that often characterizes teaching” (p.467). • In order to be most effective as a staff we must work together. • This article embraces the value in sharing ideas that work and supporting one another as a staff in order to achieve more as a district.

  15. Plan of Action Step 3 • Suggest teachers begin making an effort to make at least one positive phone call a week to parents • Teachers in our district voiced a strong opinion about home-life/parents being the biggest factor in student success. • A large percentage of the staff contacts parents less than once a month. • There is a need to bridge a gap between staff and community and we can begin by telling parents when their child has done well.

  16. Staying Connected • Building relationships and communication with parents is essential. • According to the U.S. Department of Education in America 2000: An Educational Strategy, even former President George Bush agrees that American parents are an important component to their children’s academic success (1991). • Hosiin Shirvani from the University of Southern Mississippi did a study on parental involvement and the effects on student achievement. In the article “Effects of Teacher Communication on Parents’ Attitudes and Their Children’s Behaviors at Schools” (2007), the researcher concluded that, “Parent participation is not only critical in elementary school, but it is essential throughout children's middle school and high school years” (p. 35).

  17. Plan of Action Step 4 • Keep parents informed about testing and how they could help their child perform as the highest possible level • Only 10 out of 76 students reported that their parents helped them prepare for the OGT • Host a “pep-rally” for students and their parents a couple weeks before the testing in order to give out important information on testing procedures, tools to prepare and encourage the students.

  18. Parental Involvement • The March 2013 Issue of Phi Delta Kappan has an article titled, “Support Parents to Improve Student Learning,” by Joanna Cattanach, that reinforces how important it is to have parents involved in student learning. • Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School in West Dallas, Texas hosts a program to help parents improve the education and health of their families. • As a result, graduation rate has increased, school culture has improved, test scores have gone up, and the achievement gap has begun to close. • Tara Dunn, director of the program says, “If you have parents involved, children are going to do better and your schools are going to do better,” “You can’t bypass the parents” (p. 23).

  19. Conclusions After collecting and analyzing data it was clear to me that there was a need in the district to reach out to parents. Administration often gets focused on test scores and forgets that we are working with children and their families in order to prepare them for a successful future. We are in the midst of a time where testing is determining school funding, effectiveness of teachers, and readiness for graduation among students. With the distraction of this kind of pressure, it is a challenge to remember that our focus should be on educating and nurturing the next generation rather than just producing the numbers needed to satisfy the state.

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