Using 4Sight to Improve Student Achievement by Creating a District-Wide Professional Development Focus

1. Using 4Sight to Improve Student Achievementby Creating a District-Wide Professional Development Focus A Partnership between the University of Pittsburgh and the Wilkinsburg School District

2. Background • Wilkinsburg School District • University of Pittsburgh • Partnership for School District Improvement in the School of Education • Assistance Teams • Wilkinsburg School District • Duquesne City School District

3. Introductions • 4Sight Team in Wilkinsburg • University of Pittsburgh: • Jim Turner • Debbie Raubenstrauch • Sue Goodwin • Stan Herman (Duquesne City School District) • Dan Morrow • Wilkinsburg School District • Diane Chessman • John Staudacher • Distinguished Educators—PDE • Marge McMackin

4. What is 4Sight • Benchmark assessment system • John Hopkins University—SFA Foundation • Series of 1 hour assessments in reading/math • Baseline and 4 quarterly assessments • Valid and reliable measurements correlated to PSSA exam • Multiple choice and open-ended questions • Indicates student performance on PSSA exam • Provides diagnostic sub-scale data aligned to state standards/assessment anchors in time to intervene • Can help to guide classroom instruction, after-school tutoring and professional development • After scoring data uploaded and stored in the member center—by student/class/grade/school

5. A Couple of Standard 4Sight Reports • Proficiency Reports (Blue) • With Details—last page • Subscale Reports (Green) • By Student—last page

6. Why 4Sight • Possibility of creating a unified professional development focus • Internalizes the Assessment Anchors • Concept of bringing “Teams of Teachers” together to improve academic achievement • Use data to develop academic improvement strategies at the student, classroom, grade, and school level • Ongoing training—PDE priority

7. Some of the “Many” Initial Challenges • Initial scanning inaccuracies—1st two tests • Correction function didn’t correct • System time-outs during uploading • Slow system for report generation • Concerns over some test questions • Missing graphs—student report • Labeling by hand • More initial training was needed

8. The System Can Still Improve(and we believe it will) • Scanning problems for the student ID • Labeling needs to improve • Need for a “read-only” function • Let’s number the tests 1 thru 5 vs. baseline… • Error-variance reports could be added • Add district summary reports • Uploading new student data

9. Our Approach • This is a district-wide priority • Created ½ time position • External help is involved (Pitt) • Devote in-service time • Use common planning time • Organize around “teams of teachers” • Principals and coaches facilitate • Hold Saturday “scoring parties” • Use data to tie anchors to lessons • Color-code and checklist everything

10. From a Principal’s Perspective • Given specialized training on 4Sight • Score open-ended items • Meet with teachers in grade-level meetings • Facilitate professional development workshops • Analyze the data from a school perspective • Identifies weak areas from an anchor perspective • Helps to align academic programs with the anchors/standards

11. From a Teacher’s Perspective • Has access/training to use the Member Center • Generate student reports • Develop “error-analysis” reports • Spend days with their grade-level colleagues • Have the opportunity to score open-ended items • Develop supplemental resource folders/materials • Starting to work on flexible grouping strategies • Can get assistance when help is needed

12. From a Superintendent’s View • Creates a central focus for improvement efforts • You get regular information on progress • You can combine this data with other data • Can be used with other State tools/strategies • Assessment Anchors (Adopt-an-Anchor) • E-metric • Grow Network--PAAYP etc. • You can view the situation from many different levels

13. The Airplane View(from 5,000 feet) • Where do we stand with respect to proficiency? • How are our AYP subgroups doing? • How many students have to improve to make safe harbor? • Is my job safe? • Go to Page 1

14. The Helicopter View(from 500 feet) • What are our strong areas? • Where are we weakest? • Are we making progress over time? • How do our subgroups compare to our students as a whole? • Go to Page 2

15. The View from the Ground(the most important view) • Will Jesse be proficient in math? • Does Kayla have a shot at proficiency? • Is Willie improving in “numbers and operations”? • Is our tutoring program working? • Is our latest intervention working? • The subscale level (green) report and the multi-colored bar chart

16. Diane Chessman

17. Lessons Learned (for Next Year) • Make this a K-12 priority • Stay the course • Teachers must score the open-ended items • Schedule some “double” in-service days • For “bad” questions—write our own practice ones • Turn around time—1 week • It’s not the test that makes you smarter!! • Focus on “Root Causes” • Need to better tie-in tutoring • Have teachers generating data from day 1

18. Some Interesting “Unintended” Consequences • Pressure on school boards and teachers’ unions to: • Provide more training time (in-service days) • Have more common planning time for teachers • Have more planning time for administrators/teachers • Push to create positions or use outside agencies to help organize and analyze data • Students and especially parents will become more aware of proficiency standards and assessment anchors

19. For More Information on Using 4Sight in Your School/District ContactJim Turner—Univ. of Pittsburghjwt7@pitt.edu412-871-2112orDiane Chessman—Wilkinsburgdchessman@wilkinsburgschools.org412-731-5883x2631