Linking Instructional Practices to Value-added Student Learning

1. Linking Instructional Practices to Value-added Student Learning Minneapolis Public Schools November, 2001 www.mpls.k12.mn.us/REA/

2. Minneapolis Public SchoolsMeasuring Up Against High Standards • MPS developed standards-based reading and math tests - Northwest Achievement Levels Tests (NALT). • All students participate • Sensitive to growth • Predictive of high stakes outcomes • Developed indicators in concert with stakeholders who are internal and external to the district. • Indicators of school performance are based on multiple indicators. • 33 for elementary and middle schools • 24 for high schools

3. Linking Assessments to High Standards: • Choose items for the assessment bank which directly link to the standards. Use your teacher experts, curriculum specialists, and assessment personnel to create the bank • “All Means ALL” - create levels of the assessment which allow for 98% of students being assessed • Find out where the State benchmarks locate on the scale (linking studies) • Measure continuous progress towards the Standard

4. Criteria for Indicators • Meyer (1996) • Indicators must measure things that matter or are valued by society (MCA, MBST). • Indicators must be able to avoid being “corrupted.” • inclusion v. exclusion criteria • Indicators must be able to measure the unique contribution schools “add” for each measured outcome.

5. Northwest Achievement Levels Test Validity Coefficients with Minnesota State Tests

6. Linkage with State Standards

7. True gain model: Growth Curves

8. Improving Student Performance One Student at a Time

9. Correlation of Poverty and Math NALT Scores

10. Distribution of school average mathematics gain scores on the 1999 NALT by free or reduced price lunch percentages.

11. Percent of Students Making About One Year Growth or More on NALT Math by Racial/Ethnic Category National Norm = 57%

12. Elementary/Middle QPA 33 Indicators

13. Meeting Standards 2 years in a row: Armatage, Bancroft, Barton, Bethune, Bryn Mawr, Burroughs, Dowling, Downtown Open, Emerson, Ericsson, Field, Hale, Howe, Keewaydin, Kenny, Kenwood, Lake Harriet Upper & Lower, Lincoln, Lind, Longfellow, Loring, Lyndale, Marcy, Mill City, Pillsbury, Seward, Tuttle, Waite Park, Windom Meeting Standards first year Cooper, Hamilton, Northrop, Wenonah, Willard “Beat the Odds” High ELL, Poverty Bancroft, Bethune, Bryn Mawr, Cooper, Hamilton, Lincoln, Jenny Lind, Longfellow, Lyndale, Tuttle, Willard Special Recognition Schoolswww.mpls.k12.mn.us/REA/

14. Characteristics of “Needs Improvement Schools” in MPS • One school in this category two years in a row: • Student Stability 78% • Staff Stability 33% (14/21 new staff) • Three principals in three years • Low parent choice • Higher Poverty (84%) • Large ELL Population (32%)

15. Characteristics of “Distinguished School” in MPS • One school in this category two years in a row: • Student Stability 94% • Staff Stability 87% (3/23 new staff) • One principals in three years • High parent choice (waiting list) • Lower Poverty (40%) • Moderate ELL Population (20%)

16. Structured interviews with 3 Schools that “Beat the Odds” • Process:Interviewed 16 teachers at 3 sites (Lincoln, Lyndale, Sanford). The teachers were selected by the principal of each site and represented teachers early in their careers, mid-career teachers and veterans. • Key Factors: • Staff Stability • Administrative Cohesion • Unity of purpose • Collective Decisionmaking • School investment in instruction (mentors, reduced class size) • Administrator as instructional leader (principal observations) • Direct Instruction/ Mastery Learning • Extended class day

17. Value-added Model • Primary question is this, “How can an equitable accountability system be put in place when there is a large degree of variability in the way student characteristics are distributed among our schools?” • English language learners • Special education programs • Race/ethnicity • Poverty • MPS relies on an empirical- and literature-based model to make predictions, not set expectations! • Schools are acknowledged/rewarded for “Beating the Odds.”

18. Value-added Teacher Effects • Post-test reading score= • Pretest reading score • + Free or reduced price lunch • + Racial/ethnic code • + Neighborhood poverty concentration • + Lives with both parents code • + Limited English Proficiency status • + Special Education status • + Teacher effects

19. Teachers who “beat the odds” in second grade reading reported: • more use of small group instruction • more development of word attack skills • more individual student oral reading • more guidance during initial practice • more explicit and direct phonics instruction • more use of systematic motivation strategies

20. Current Study: Value-added Math and Reading by Grade by School for Students of Color

21. Measurement Recommendations • Measure students on standards-based assessments as soon as they enter school • Continuously monitor student progress towards the standards • Produce individual student growth curves • Use data to monitor the effectiveness of interventions • Identify schools and teachers who make exceptional progress with “at risk” students

22. Intervention Recommendations • Involve exceptional teachers in staff development (modeling,video tape, etc.) • Give incentives for exceptional teachers to work in the highest need schools • Place staff development in the schools with “hands on” modeling and support • Identify teaching practices that correlate with success and replicate them • Reward groups of teachers (e.g. schools) who “beat the odds”